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FRIENDS OF MYSTERY MEETING, March 25, 2010 at 7pm

Friends of Mystery is honored to welcome two outstanding Pacific Northwest authors of legal thrillers, Robert Dugoni and Phillip Margolin, and to present the 2009 Spotted Owl Award for best mystery novel written by an author living in the Pacific Northwest to Phillip Margolin for Executive Privilege.

Phil Margolin

Phil Margolin grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. After graduating from the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1965, he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. He received his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1970 and moved to Oregon to clerk for Herbert M. Schwab, the Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. From 1972 until 1996, he served as an attorney in private practice in Portland, Oregon, specializing in criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. As an appellate attorney he appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Oregon Supreme Court, and the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin

As a trial attorney he handled criminal cases in state and federal court and represented approximately 30 people charged with homicide, including several who faced the death penalty. He was the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women’s Syndrome to defend a woman accused of murdering her spouse. In 1996, he began writing full-time, and all his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. Since 1996, he has been the President and Chairman of the Board of Chess for Success, a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary and middle school children in Title I schools.

Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni was born in Idaho, raised in California, and currently lives in Seattle, Washington. Growing up the middle child in a family of ten siblings, he jokes that he didn’t get much of a chance to talk, so he wrote. He wrote his way to Stanford University, majoring in communications/journalism and creative writing, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He worked briefly as a reporter in the Metro and San Gabriel Valley offices of the Los Angeles Times before deciding to attend UCLA law school. Dugoni went on to practice law full-time in San Francisco as a partner. In 1999, he quit full-time practice of law and moved to Seattle to write novels. In the next three years, he completed three novels. His nonfiction expose, The Cyanide Canary, published in 2004, chronicled the investigation, prosecution, and aftermath surrounding an environmental crime in Soda Springs, Idaho. It became a Washington Post Best Book of the Year and the Idaho Book of the Year. His debut novel, The Jury Master, became a New York Times bestseller. His latest book, Bodily Harm, will be in stores in May 2010. In addition to writing novels, Dugoni teaches the craft of writing throughout the United States. His novel, Damage Control, was a runner-up for the 2008 Spotted Owl Award.

Please join us Thursday, March 25, 2010, for a reception at 7:00 pm, with the program at 7:30 pm. The address is 2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd., and the meeting is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the lots on Sixth Avenue and on Sheridan Street, with a lower level entrance just behind the bus shelter. Handicapped parking is up the driveway to the front entrance.

Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 7:00pm
Location: Terwilliger Plaza, 2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd, Portland, OR

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Recent Book Awards

The 2009 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana in October was the venue for a number of book awards.

Michael Connelly: The Brass Verdict

Anthony Awards

  • Best Novel – Michael Connelly for The Brass Verdict
  • Best First Novel – Stieg Larsson for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  • Best Paperback Original – Julie Hyzy for State of the Onion
  • Best Short Story – “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” by Sean Chercover in
    Hardcore Hardboiled

Shamus Awards

Reed Farrel Coleman: Empty Ever After

(Presented by The Private Eye Writers of America)

  • Best Novel – Reed Farrel Coleman for Empty Ever After
  • Best First Novel – Ian Vasquez for In The Heat
  • Best Paperback Original – Lori G. Armstrong for Snow Blind
  • Best Short Story – “Family Values” by Mitch Alderman in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

Barry Awards

Arnaldure Indridason: The Draining Lake

(Presented by Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures)

  • Best Novel – Arnaldure Indridason for The Draining Lake
  • Best First Novel – Tom Rob Smith for Child 44
  • Best Paperback Original – Julie Hyzy for State of the Onion
  • Best Thriller – Brett Battles for The Deceived
  • Best British Novel – Stieg Larsson for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  • Best Short Story – James O. Born for “The Drought” in The Blue Religion

Macavity Awards

Deborah Crombie: Where Memories Lie

(Presented by Mystery Readers International)

  • Best Novel – Deborah Crombie for Where Memories Lie
  • Best First Novel – Stieg Larsson for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  • Best Short Story – Dana Cameron for “The Night Things Changed” in Wolfsbane & Mistletoe

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Mystery Conventions Announced for 2010 – 2011

Mystery conventions are a great place to meet and hear your favorite authors and to be in the company of mystery fans from all over the world. If you get a chance to attend one, you will want to be at another. The following is the calendar for 2010.

March 11 – 14: Left Coast Crime, Los Angeles, California www.leftcoastcrime.org/2010

April 30 – May 2: Malice Domestic 22, Arlington, Virginia www.malicedomestic.org

May 28 – 30: Mayhem in the Midlands, Omaha, Nebraska www.omahapubliclibrary.org

June 17 – 27: International Mystery Writer’s Festival, Owensboro, Kentucky www.newmysteries.org

July 7 – 10: Thrillerfest 2010, New York, New York www.thrillerwriters.org/thrillerfest

August 20 – 22: Killer Nashville, Nashville, Kansas www.killernashville.com

October 14 – 17: Bouchercon 2010, San Francisco, California www.bcon2010.com

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Member Submissions Needed

Reading a great book or discover a new or old author we shouldn’t miss? We enjoy hearing from members whose enthusiasm inspires us to try something new and different. Want to comment on the direction that mystery and crime fiction is going? We would be interested in providing a forum for a discussion among members. Send your comments and review to Friends of Mystery, PO Box 8251, Portland, OR 97207 or by email to info@friendsofmystery.org.

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Mark Your Calendars for the May 27th Meeting

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

The May 27th Bloody Thursday event will start with our annual book sale beginning at 6:30 pm. We will have hardbacks, paperbacks, audio books and DVD’s for sale. Most hardbacks will be priced at $1.00 and paperbacks at 50 cents. These books were donated by members for the sale. If you have books to donate, please bring them to the March or May meeting, or call Elinore Rogers at 503-244-5271 for pick-up.

The program for the May meeting will be a panel of up-and-coming authors and will be moderated by local best-selling author Chelsea Cain. The program will start at 7:30 pm. We are billing this event as “Fresh Blood”.

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In Memoriam

Linda Clarke

Linda Clarke, a long-time member of Friends of Mystery, passed away in January. She was president of FOM in the early years, and was the winner of the competition to name this newsletter. In recent years she was unable to attend meetings due to ill health.

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

Robert B. Parker 1932 – 2010

Robert Parker, the author of more than 60 books, passed away on January 18, 2010, of a heart attack while working on his latest novel. He was best known for his series featuring Boston private detective Spenser, who first appeared in 1973 in The Godwulf Manuscript. Spenser, along with his girlfriend, Susan Silverman, and his friend Hawk, were featured in nearly 40 novels. He also wrote series featuring Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall.

Dick Francis 1920 – 2010

Dick Francis, former steeplechase jockey who went on to have a distinguished career writing mysteries, passed away on February 14, 2010, at his home in the Cayman Islands. The author of more than 40 novels, most were set in the world of thoroughbred horse racing. He was a three-time winner of the Edgar Award, and was made a grand master in 1996. He was awarded the Diamond Dagger award by the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain in 1990.

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