Imagination Theater’s Fourth  Annual Audio Drama Script Writing Contest again has drawn a good number of writers with stories to tell.Naturally, several of the winners submitted mysteries.

Here are the winners of the annual radio drama contest.

1st Prize: The Phil Harper Award:  “Holy Relics” (Supernatural Mystery) by L. Alan Gutierrez.

2nd Prize: “The Mutts” (Mystery) by John S. Fitzpatrick

3rd Prize: “Junior” (Humor) Evan C. Purcell

Honorable Mention goes to:”The Mendenhall Treasure” (Mystery) by John S. Fitzpatrick”A Heavenly Price” (Science Fiction) by Mike Murphy”12:30″ (Horror) by Mike Murphy

Prizes include production of the first and second prize winners, subscriptions to Mystery Scene Magazine, Script Magazine, AudioFile Magazine and books and CDs.

For more information on radio drama, visit these sites: Harry Nile, Sherlock Holmes on the radio, and radio mysteries.

The nominees and winners were:

Best Novel:
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews (Minotaur Books)
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry (Random House)
I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel:
Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell (Berkley Trade)
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis (Penguin Group)
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris (Minotaur Books)
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan (Midnight Ink)

Best Non-fiction:
African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Co.)
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography by Jeff Marks (McFarland & Co.)
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Metro Books)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher, or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Co.)

Best Short Story:
“The Night Things Changed” by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Penguin Group)
“Killing Time” by Jane Cleland, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine – November 2008
“Dangerous Crossing” by Carla Coupe, Chesapeake Crimes 3 (Wildside Press)
“Skull & Cross-Examinations” by Toni L.P. Kelner, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine – February 2008
“A Nice Old Guy” by Nancy Pickard, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine – August 2008

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams (Harper Collins)
A Thief in the Theater (A Kit Mystery) by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl Publishers)
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Children’s Books)
The Great Circus Train Robbery by Nancy Means Wright (Hilliard & Harris)

Congratulations to all!

The winners in all categories will be announced at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 4.

Best novel:
Linwood Barclay, Too Close to Home (Bantam)
Maureen Jennings, The K Handshape (Dundurn)
James W. Nichol, Transgression (MacArthur & Company)
Louise Penny, The Murder Stone (MacArthur & Company)
Michael E. Rose, The Tsunami File (MacArthur & Company)

Best first novel:
Nadine Doolittle, Iced Under (Bayeux Arts/Gondolier)
John C. Goodman, Talking to Wendigo (Turnstone)
April Lindgren, Headline: Murder (Second Story Press)
Howard Shrier, Buffalo Jump (Vintage Canada)
Phyllis Smallman, Margarita Nights (McArthur & Company)

Best juvenile novel:
Vicki Grant, Res Judicata (Orca)
Susan Juby, Getting the Girl (HarperCollins)
Elizabeth MacLeod, Royal Murder (Annick Press)
Norah McClintock, Dead Silence (Scholastic Canada)
Sharon E. McKay, War Brothers (Penguin Canada)

Best crime writing in French:
Jacques Côté, Le Chemin des brumes (Alire)
Maxime Houde, Le Poids des illusions (Alire)
Andre Jacques, La Tendresse du serpent (Québec Amerique)
Sylvain Meunier, L’Homme qui détestait le golf (La courte échelle)
Antoine Yaccarini, Meurtre au Soleil (VLB éditeur)

Best short story:
Pasha Malla, “Filmsong” in Toronto Noir (Akashic Books)
James Powell, “Clay Pillows” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (June 2008)
Peter Robinson, “Walking the Dog” in Toronto Noir (Akashic Books)
Amelia Symington, “An Ill Wind” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Sept./Oct. 2008)
Kris Wood, “Thinking Inside the Box” in Going Out with a Bang (RendezVous Crime)

Best non-fiction:
Daphne Bramham, The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect (Vintage Canada/RHC)
Sharon Butala, The Girl in Saskatoon: A Meditation on Friendship, Memory and Murder (Phyllis Bruce Books/HarperCollins)
Alex Caine, Befriend and Betray: Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods (Vintage Canada/RHC)
Michael Calce & Craig Silverman, Mafiaboy: How I Cracked the Internet and Why It’s Still Broken (Penguin Canada)
Kerry Pither, Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror (Penguin Canada)

Best unpublished novel:
Pam Barnsley, This Cage of Bones
Gloria Ferris, Cheat the Hangman
Stephen Maher, Salvage
Douglas A. Moles, Louder
Kevin Thornton, Condemned

  The 2009 Thriller Award nominees from the International Thriller Writers is such a list.

  Not only does the list contain some of the best writers producing thrillers, but it also shows a wide range of authors.

 I know it sounds cliched, but to be nominated truly is an honor — especially when these authors are in such good company.

I also think that is ultra cool that it will be tough deciding the winners in each of these categories.

The winners will be announced at ThrillerFest on Saturday, July 11.

The nominees are:

BEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross, right,
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer’s Wife by Bill Floyd

BEST SHORT STORY
Between the Dark and the Daylight (Ellery Queen Magazine) by Tom Piccirilli
Last Island South (Ellery Queen Magazine) by John C. Boland
The Edge of Seventeen (The Darker Mask) by Alexandra Sokoloff
The Point Guard (Killer Year Anthology) by Jason Pinter
Time of the Green (Killer Year Anthology) by Ken Bruen

THRILLERMASTER AWARD
David Morrell honoring his influential body of work

SILVER BULLET AWARD
Brad Meltzer, right, for his outstanding charitable contributions

One of the first changes is that I will be blogging at least twice a week for the Mystery Scene blog.

Many of you may already know me as the mystery fiction columnist for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. I also review mystery fiction for McClatchy Tribune Features Wire, often giving that wire service an original review once a week. Through the MCT wires, my reviews are distributed worldwide and end up in about 250 publications and Web sites.

For the past couple of years, I also have been supplying Mystery Scene magazine with author profiles and, during the past year, reviews, too. OK, that’s who I am.

Now, what can I do for you, the Mystery Scene reader. This blog is meant to complement the plethora of articles and reviews that run in the magazine. It won’t take the place of the magazine – please, we want you to subscribe – but it will offer a behind the scenes look at some of the articles, maybe tidbits that we can’t get in print because of space. Sometimes it will be an opinion on a trend in the mystery genre.

As I do for the Sun-Sentinel, I’ll be writing about a variety of subjects, mystery fiction, for sure, but also movies, DVDs, publishing trends, and more. I’ll still be co-writing the Sun-Sentinel’s blog Off the Page. But, hey, I’ve got a big mouth and lots to say without duplicating.

The plan is to update the Mystery Scene blog each Sunday and Wednesday, though I may add a bonus or two when the mood strikes.

We also want to hear from you readers. You are why we are doing this. Write a comment in the space below. Maybe you have something to add to my thoughts, or totally disagree with me or have another prespective to offer. Or maybe you want to offer a suggestion for a blog.   The mystery genre is a community and Mystery Scene readers are indeed a community.  Please, whatever the comments, we want to hear.

Mystery Writers of America has announced its Nominees for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2008. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 63rd Gala Banquet, April 30, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

Missing by Karin Alvtegen (Felony & Mayhem Press)
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Night Following by Morag Joss (Random House – Delacorte Press)
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Kind One by Tom Epperson (Five Star, div of Cengage)
Sweetsmoke by David Fuller (Hyperion)
The Foreigner by Francie Lin (Picador)
Calumet City by Charlie Newton (Simon & Schuster – Touchstone)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Random House – Doubleday)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Prince of Bagram by Alex Carr (Random House Trade)
Money Shot by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
Enemy Combatant by Ed Gaffney (Random House – Dell)
China Lake by Meg Gardiner (New American Library – Obsidian Mysteries)
The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli (Random House – Bantam)

BEST FACT CRIME

For The Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz (HarperCollins)
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Crown Publishers)
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To The Revolution by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren by Jonathan Lopez (Harcourt)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Company)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Company)
Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia University Press)
Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction by David Geherin (McFarland & Company)
The Rise of True Crime by Jean Murley (Greenwood Publishing – Praeger)
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Sterling Publishing – Metro Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” – Hardcore Hardboiled by Sean Chercover (Kensington Publishing)
“Skin and Bones” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by David Edgerley Gates (Dell Magazines)
“Scratch of a Woman” – Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
“La Vie en Rose” – Paris Noir by Dominique Mainard (Akashic Books
“Skinhead Central” – The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)

BEST JUVENILE

The Postcard by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Enigma: A Magical Mystery by Graeme Base (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff (Random House Children’s Books – Wendy Lamb Books)
The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow by Riford McKenzie (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books)
Cemetary Street by Brenda Seabrooke (Holiday House)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd (Random House Children’s Books – David Fickling Books)
The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Harry N. Abrams Books – Amulet Books)
Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
Torn to Pieces by Margo McDonnell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

BEST PLAY

The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza (Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the story by Robert Lewis Stevenson (Arizona Theatre Company)
Cell by Judy Klass (International Mystery Writers’ Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Streetwise” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Paul Grellong (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
“Prayer of the Bone” – Wire in the Blood, Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (BBC America)
“Signature” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Judith McCreary (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
“You May Now Kill the Bride” – CSI: Miami, Teleplay by Barry O’Brien (CBS)
“Burn Card” – Law & Order, Teleplay by David Wilcox (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

The Bank Job, Screenplay by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (Lionsgate)
Burn After Reading, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Focus Features)
In Bruges, Screenplay by Martin McDonagh (Focus Features)
Tell No One, Screenplay by Guillaume Canet, based on the book by Harlan Coben (Music Box Films)
Transsiberian, Screenplay by Brad Anderson & Will Conroy (First Look International)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Buckner’s Error” – Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTERS

James Lee Burke
Sue Grafton

RAVEN AWARDS

Edgar Allan Poe Society, Baltimore, Maryland
Poe House, Baltimore, Maryland

 

A sad finale to 2008 came with news of Donald Westlake’s death. Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933-December 31, 2008) was a giant on the contemporary crime scene, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He was a three-time Edgar Award winner (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, “Too Many Crooks”; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society. Westlake also wrote the Parker crime novels under the name Richard Stark.

In Mystery Scene’s 2008 Fall Issue #106, Ed Gorman interviewed the author about his work.

DONALD WESTLAKE: THE STARK TRUTH

Levi Stahl, the publicity manager of the University of Chicago Press, has exciting news for Richard Stark fans. “While we don’t reprint many mysteries, we explained to the editorial board that these weren’t just any crime novels, these were regarded as masterpieces…. great novels that have influenced writers around the world. We’re starting with The Hunter, The Man with the Getaway Face and The Outfit but we’re already negotiating for more books in the series.” This means, the Press hopes, that the initial three will be followed in chronological order by the next thirteen Parker novels, ending with Butcher’s Moon, originally published in 1974.

Ed Gorman for Mystery Scene: For all the ferocity of the criminals in the Stark novels, you present a hierarchy based on competence. Strictly Darwinian. There are times when I almost feel sorry for a few of the more feckless ones.

Donald Westlake: Okay, let’s see what we got here. You begin by suggesting the Parker novels are about competence, an idea I like very much. I’ve always said Parker is basically a workman, with the professional workman’s goal of getting the job done ably, efficiently and without interruption. It’s true his job is a dramatic one, but it’s still a job. The only way somebody’s going to be interested in watching a guy take the hinges off a door is if there’s a hundred thousand dollars on the other side.

Gorman: Brian Garfield wrote that you once described  Parker as a 1930s Depression character. Then as more European than American. Were you trying to avoid the various hardboiled clichés of the early sixties by thinking of him in these terms?

Westlake: It’s true that Parker comes out of the 30s bank robbers, and I knew in the 60s he was already from another era. The fact is, for a guy in the Midwest in the 30s who had brains and daring but no education and no contacts, crime was one of the very few open career paths. Later on, as other career paths opened up, fewer competent people went in that direction. In that way, he’s an anachronism, but anachronisms have their uses, like chiaroscuro, to highlight the contrasts. Every once in a while in the books, somebody living in our world finds himself in confrontation with this unreconstructed guy from a much harder age. I always like to watch those meetings.

Let me tell you a story about my father. He was a low-pay traveling salesman for much of his life. When I was a kid in Albany, NY, his territory for the various things he sold—you don’t make a living from one item—was eastern Pennsylvania through all of New England except Maine. He’d had a couple of heart attacks and one Friday, in Harrisburg, he felt another one coming on. (There’s no health insurance in this story.) He told the desk clerk he’d stay for the weekend, then bought a bottle of rye and went to bed. Every time he woke up he’d sip a little rye, and Monday morning he woke up hungry and alive. He never told the family until, a few years later, when he was hospitalized with another one, the doctors found the evidence and he admitted to it. That unblinking attitude of just-keep-moving is much of Parker.

Early on, I made a couple mistakes with Parker—socializing him in one way or another—but it was like a cook putting just the wrong thing in a recipe; you could taste it right away. So, as I got to know him better, I stopped making those mistakes. He’s already there; just let him be himself and everything will be fine.

Gorman: Is the story true that you showed a portion of The Hunter  to some of your writer friends for their input before you finished it? Did your group back then do that often?

Westlake: I didn’t show The Hunter to anybody for input. I’ve rarely done that with any book. In fact, the only time I can remember doing that was with my first mystery, The Mercenaries, when I wasn’t at all sure what I was doing and I showed the first draft to a writer friend of mine, Larry Harris (who later, for some reason, became Larry Janifer), because I knew he was a good writer and a good editor and far better attuned to the market than I was. He called and said he wanted to come over and talk. When he got to the apartment he had the manuscript box in one hand and a six pack of beer in the other, and he said, “We’re in trouble.” We went through the manuscript, and if there was a beginner’s mistake I hadn’t made I can’t think what it might be. It was a terrific learning experience, and the next draft sold to Lee Wright at Random House, who later became Larry’s editor as well. Otherwise, my first three readers, only when the book is done, are, in order, my wife, my agent and my editor.

Gorman: One critic noted “Westlake has been the mad scientist of crime fiction for nearly 40 years now, and the Stark books showcase some of his more daring experiments with style and structure.” Do you make a conscious decision about approach before you write or do you let the story make the decisions?

Westlake: Story defines the books for two reasons, both because story is what fiction is about and because, since I don’t outline or prepare in any other way, the story is forced to emerge or die. “Narrative push,” as I know you know. Once we have the fuel on board—and then, and then, and then—it’s nice to be able to try different things. Not to get digressive, but to give the story little extras. For instance, in one book I saw I had an opportunity, if I wanted, to tell one section in first person from Parker’s point of view. Since he isn’t someone who tends to want to tell other people anything, particularly anything unnecessary, I wondered if I could do it, what he would sound like, and would it turn out to be one of those false notes. In the event, it was fine.  (And no, I can’t right now remember which book.) More recently, in Ask the Parrot, I suddenly realized I could do one chapter from the parrot’s point of view, and that made me very, very happy.

Gorman: You’ve written that you didn’t know how editors let alone readers would react to a hero like Parker. Were you surprised when your editor asked for more?

Westlake: When I wrote The Hunter it was supposed to be a one-off. A difficult unpleasant guy without redeeming qualities bent on revenge. Then Bucklyn Moon, an editor at Pocket Books, said he liked the book and wondered if Parker could escape at the end and me write “three more books a year about him.” (I actually did, the first two years.) I really had to concentrate on that, because Parker was everything a main character in a novel was supposed to not be. The big question was, could I go back to him, knowing he was going to be a series character, meeting the readers again and again, and not soften him. No sidekick or girlfriend to have conversations with, no quirks or hobbies. That was the goal. Somebody who, in a western, would be a lone traveler in the dimness on the other side of the campfire from the hero. Now that menacing but unimportant minor character would be asking for everybody’s attention. No, not asking, assuming.

Gorman: Do you still hear from prisoners commenting on Parker’s skills and offering suggestions for taking care of business?

Westlake: Prisoners used to be readers, but now they’re weightlifters. I used to get letters from guys because they thought they could shoptalk with me, that I wouldn’t moralize or condescend. Techniques and stuff weren’t part of it, but they did have some very nice stories to tell, none of which got directly into any book, though the attitudes show through.

Gorman: There have been so many editions of the Stark books around the world that you might be forgiven for not getting excited each time you see a new one. But given the breadth of the University of Chicago publishing program for the Parkers, you must feel pretty damned proud.

Westlake: I know I should get over being astonished by Parker’s longevity and success, and pretty soon I will. The University of Chicago Press was not a scalp I ever expected to see on my belt. Just to get that 3-D effect, later this month at a comics convention in San Diego, a small outfit is announcing the launch (some day) of Parker graphic novels. (They’ve promised me a T-shirt.) The illustrator, Darwyn Cooke, is hard at work in Canada. When you’ve got the University of Chicago Press and a graphic novel publisher both looking at the same material, the only thing to do is just keep moving on.

Gorman: Finally, the late Bill DeAndrea once quoted you as saying `You don’t know what it’s like to have a pen name who’s doing better than you are.” How do you feel about that today?

Westlake: The issue of being one-upped by your pen name—it isn’t quite the same thing as Evan Hunter, who was just about drowned out completely by Ed McBain, but Stark does tend to outperform Westlake whenever they start even. It happened the first time around, when Point Blank became one of the seminal movies of the twentieth century and Stark was earning more than Westlake, and it’s happened again this time around. I am very glad I don’t have to figure that out.

Ed Gorman’s latest novel is Sleeping Dogs (St. Martin’s Minotaur). Visit his website at <www.newimprovedgorman.com>.

Hi everyone,

Once again we’ve searched high and low for items for the annual Mystery Scene Gift Guide. In fact, Kevin Burton Smith found so many great gifts that we couldn’t fit them all in. You’ll see a couple of ideas on this page and there will be even more on our blog in the coming weeks. Feel free to post suggestions! And we’d love to hear your thoughts on the first ever color section in Mystery Scene.

Left: Dust jackets are at the intersection of the literary and visual arts and Diane Plumley’s engaging jewelry proclaims your love of both. Prices range from $10.00-18.00 for pins, necklaces, earrings, and tie tacks. Visit picture-perfect-designs.com to see more offerings.

Reading the financial news these days is more horrifying than anything Stephen King ever dreamed up. Don’t you wish that someone as competent as John Putnam Thatcher of the Sloan Guaranty Trust were in charge? Jim Huang is a long-time fan of Thatcher’s creator, Emma Lathen, and in his timely article, “Right on the Money,” makes a convincing case that you should be, too.

As the hometown of our next president, Chicago is also in the news. Sean Chercover gives a rousing tour of “the ultimate insider town” in his well-reviewed sophomore effort, Trigger City. In this issue, he talks to Oline Cogdill about writing, politics, and his ongoing love affair with the Windy City.

After you read the news, you’ll need some cheering up. May we recommend Donna Andrews? Her funny, sweet-tempered mysteries are just the thing to get you back on the sunny side of the street.

It’s not only criminals who are crafty these days. “The Arts & Crafts of Crime” takes a look at a variety of sleuths who interrupt their knitting, pot-throwing, doll-making, home-canning, and quilting to catch bad guys.

Brian’s hands-down favorite article this issue is “Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered,” Scott Ratner’s look at puzzle mystery films from the 1930s. Also in this issue, we’ll look at the intriguing Baroness Orczy of Scarlet Pimpernel fame, check in on Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan who is crossing boundaries yet again, and find out what happened to Erle Stanley Gardner’s missing “Fiction Factory.”

This coming March, Brian and I will be travelling to Left Coast Crime, our first ever trip to this conference as well as to Hawaii. (Hmm, coincidence? I think not.) Mystery Scene is sponsoring a “Meet the New Authors” Breakfast and a “History of Mystery” lecture showcasing fantastic art from the Mystery Scene archives. Hope to see some of you there!

Best wishes from all of us for a happy, healthy, and highly entertaining New Year.

Kate Stine
Editor-in-chief

Brian and I are back from Bouchercon in Baltimore where a great time was had by one and all. Here are the winners of the Anthony Awards announed yesterday. Congratulations to all!

Best,

Kate Stine, Editor

ANTHONY AWARDS 2008

Best Novel: WHAT THE DEAD KNOW- Laura Lippman Morrow

Best First: IN THE WOODS- Tana French Viking Adult

Best Paperback Original: A THOUSAND BONES P.J. Parrish Pocket

Best Short Story: HARDLY KNEW HER Laura Lippman- from Dead Man’s Hand edited by Otto Penzler for Harcourt

Best Critical Work: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: A LIFE IN LETTERS by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley Penguin

Special Services: Ruth and Jon Jordan

Best Web Site: Stop You’re Killing Me: Stan Ulrich and Lucinda Surber

In addition to running the excellent Mystery Company, Indiana bookseller Jim Huang is a small press publisher, chair of the 2009 Bouchercon, a consulting editor for Mystery Scene, and an all-around champion of the mystery community.

And apparently, he is also having a very bad business day.

Read Jim’s note below and then take a jaunt to The Mystery Company website for that vacation reading you’ve been meaning to buy. You can look through recent reviews in our Mystery Scene Review Database or get ideas from selected articles on the website.”

Jim’s a great guy who deserves support from the mystery community, if you can please help him out. — Kate Stine, Mystery Scene

JIM HUANG, THE MYSTERY COMPANY:

“The power’s out in our building; looks like it’s going to be out for a little while now. We’re closed at the moment; will re-open as soon as we possibly can. The phones are also down.

“A pole behind us snapped, crashing down on the roof of the building behind us, wires, transformers and all. Duke Energy crews are working as I write this. (I’m out of the building myself right now; I left to find an internet connection so that I could send this message.)

“I’ll continue to monitor the situation, and let you know as soon as we re-open.

“In the meantime, we are of course open online at www.themysterycompany.com. I hope you’ll browse our inventory there. You can make purchases using our shopping cart and secure server. As always, there’s free standard shipping on all orders placed over the website to all US addresses. We can really use your orders, being forced to closed like this; we need to find some dollars somewhere today! We’ll offer 20% off ALL website orders of 2 or more in-stock books for the next 24 hours, ’til 3 pm tomorrow.

I’d intended to write you all today to tell you about how much we enjoyed all our events last week, including the overtime victory of Austin Lugar’s Shameless Shamuses team in our 100 Favorite Mysteries gameshow at Glendale on Saturday. And I planned to encourage you to attend our send-off party for Austin, this Sunday evening, August 17, at 5:30 at the store (for dinner). But I’m kind of frazzled by the disruption here.

Hope to be back in touch with you all soon with the news that we’re open again.

Yours in the dark,

Jim Huang
The Mystery Company
233 2nd Ave SW
Carmel, Indiana 46032
Phone: 317-705-9711
Tollfree: 800-643-6737
Fax: 317-705-1402