Jeanne Matthews: “I attended Left Coast Crime in Albuquerque this month after a long absence and caused quite a stir among acquaintances who had assumed I was dead. Not only was I able to demonstrate proof of life, but I had a new book to promote (Devil by the Tail). Several of the panels were right up my alley – No Skirting the Issue: Female Protagonists in Historical Mysteries; A Dickens of a Time, in which five writers reflected on their highs and barrel-scraping lows while researching, writing, and promoting; and The Contradiction of Humor & Crime.
“I participated on the History & Mystery panel and tested my endurance in the speed-dating event in which authors circulate among twenty tables of readers and reel off a timed, two-minute spiel hyping their books and passing out swag. The interview with Guest of Honor Catriona McPherson was funny and inspirational. Who knew her first novel had been rejected forty times? And the interview with Guest of Honor Mick Herron introduced me to a marvelous new series of espionage novels. Mick Jagger, a serious fan, sings the theme song in the TV adaption of Herron’s Slough House thrillers. Can’t wait for Trouble in Tucson, Left Coast Crime 2023.”
Alice K. Boatwright has met twice with Jamshed’s Fiction Book Club in Karachi, Pakistan over Zoom. This book club was created by a medical school professor to encourage his students to read literature as a way of broadening their knowledge of people, places, and history. He discovered Alice through a short story she published in an online journal. These two lively discussions covered a wide range of topics about reading and writing.
Three-time Agatha Award winner Leslie Budewitz sold the untitled 7th book in her Spice Shop mystery series, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, to Seventh St. Books, for publication in July 2023.
Shop owner Pepper Reece investigates when a friend discovers a body in an old hotel in the Chinatown-International District on the night of the Lunar New Year celebration. Death, dragons, and the ghost of Bruce Lee.
Peppermint Barked: A Spice Shop Mystery (coming July 2022)
Blind Faith: written as Alicia Beckman (coming October 2022)For book news and a free short story, visit www.LeslieBudewitz.com
Harriet Cannon is pleased to announce Exiled South has been awarded two 2022 Firebird Book Awards; a first for Southern Fiction and second for First Novel.
Gerald Elias: One of my favorite activities as a writer is meeting with local book clubs. On May 7, I’m meeting with a local Seattle club to talk about my most recent mystery, Cloudy With a Chance of Murder, and perform selections from Vivaldi’s beloved violin concerto, “Summer” from the Four Seasons, that inspired the story. The group that’s hosting the event is the Eta Beta Education Foundation, which raises money to provide scholarships to young women currently attending the University of Washington who belong to their sorority. They’ll be charging a $5 entry fee, which will also include raffling off three of my other mysteries. It’s my pleasure to help raise money for these young women who are not only high achievers scholastically, but are also active in serving their community.
Bharti Kirchner participated in a mystery author’s roundtable done via Zoom. The discussion centered around craft—plotting, setting, character, and crime. This was part of a nationwide academic conference from Ohio and was well conducted.
Catherine Linka is pleased to announce that on April 26, Little Brown released a paperback edition of her suspense novel, What I Want You to See. It received a starred review from Booklist and Kirkus called it “an engrossing novel about art, self-expression and making amends.”
Winning a scholarship to California’s most prestigious art school seems like a fairy-tale ending to Sabine Reye’s awful senior year. After losing both her mother and her home, Sabine longs for a place where she belongs.
Erica Miner will be participating in the Edmonds Bookshop booth at the Edmonds Arts Festival at the Anderson Center, 700 Main Street, on Father’s Day weekend, June 17-19, 2022. She will be meeting and greeting, talking about the craft of writing, and signing copies of Death by Opera on Friday, June 17, from 2 to 3 PM. Facebook event page
Elizabeth Pantley’s first cozy mystery was released November 11, 2020, and the SIXTH book in her Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Book series will release May 20, 2022.
A boyfriend who’s missing. Or was… Or is… A boat full of old bones. A community ice cream social. A friend in trouble. A spiteful witch, and an angry villain. The mysteries abound in Destiny Falls, but Hayden, Latifa and their family and friends are up for the excitement and adventure.
Old Bones and Ice Cream Cones follows the series format of combining two stories that blend into one. A murder mystery and the island mystery.
“Intriguing and totally unput-downable!” —Goodreads
Charlotte Stuart’s third book in her Discount Detective series – Shopping Can Be Deadly – was a finalist for the 2022 Book Excellence Award.
Joyce Yarrow was interviewed about her coming-of-age crime novel, Sandstorm, by Lainey Cameron on her Best of Women’s Fiction video podcast.The publisher of the Spanish edition of Zahara and the Lost Books of Light is going to host a bilingual book launch in Seattle. Joyce will send out an invite as soon as the date is set.