CONTENTS:

May 27th Bloody Thursday Panel of Up and Coming Authors

Chelsea Cain

We are looking forward to a panel of mystery authors who have received great reviews for their novels. Moderating the panel will be best-selling author Chelsea Cain. Also on the panel will be Bill Cameron, Mike Lawson, Dana Haynes and Brian Thornton. Each author has a different niche in the crime/thriller world, and they all write page-turning stories.

Moderator Chelsea Cain is a master of the psychological mystery. Her stories feature Archie Sheridan, a police detective who is obsessed with Gretchen Lowell, a psychopathic serial killer. Throughout the three book series, we feel the pain and frustration that Archie has as his involvement with Gretchen intensifies. Psychological thrillers are not Chelsea’s only talent. She is also the author of Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody. We see her humorous side in this Nancy Drew parody and in several other publications, including Does this Cape Make Me Look Fat?, written with Marc Mohan.

Bill Cameron

Bill Cameron has just published his third gritty Portland-based thriller, Day One. Retired homicide detective Skin Kadish is searching for a runaway teenager who was a witness to a murder. Skin Kadish was also featured in Bill’s previous thriller, Chasing Smoke, the first runner-up for the 2009 Spotted Owl Award. His first novel, Lost Dog, was a runner-up for the 2008 Spotted Owl award. Bill has also had short stories published in Killer Year, Portland Noir and Spinetingler. In addition, Bill is our own very talented Web Master and Publicity Chair.

Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson is a former nuclear engineer who worked for a government agency and now lives in the Seattle area. His political thrillers are set in Washington, D.C. and feature former lawyer Joe De Marco. While De Marco works for John Fitzgerald Mahoney, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the association is one that is not widely known or acknowledged. De Marco’s “jobs” are investigations of those who operate in the shadow of the Capitol. House Justice, his fifth in the series, is scheduled for an early release at our Bloody Thursday meeting. Previous titles in the series are The Inside Ring, The Second Perimeter, House Rules and House Secrets.

Dana Haynes

Dana Haynes has worked for 20 years in Oregon newspaper newsrooms, and is currently the Public Affairs Manager for Portland Community College. Under the name of Conrad Haynes he had three traditional mysteries published in the 1980’s. His first thriller, Crashers, involving the world of the National Transportation Safety Board’s aviation disaster investigations, will be published in June of 2010.

Brian Thornton

Brian Thornton’s mystery short stories “Counting Coup,” “Suicide Blonde’ and “Paper Son” have appeared in such venues as Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the new Akashic Books anthology Seattle Noir. A native Washingtonian, he lives in Seattle and is also the author of several full-length works of non-fiction, including 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Lincoln (Adams Media 2005) and The Book of Bastards: 101 Scoundrels and Scandals from the World of Politics and Power (Adams Media, August 2010). Brian serves as President of the Mystery Writers of America Northwest Chapter.

Please join us Thursday, May 27, 2010, for our books sale at 6:30 pm and the program at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held in the White Auditorium of Terwilliger Plaza at 2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd. The meeting is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the lots of 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, May 27, 2010, 7:00pm
Location: Terwilliger Plaza, 2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd, Portland, OR

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Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Committee Names 2010 Winner

Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin

Alan Bradley was named the winner of the 2010 Spotted Owl award for his novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The mystery, set in 1950’s Britain, is the first in a series featuring young Flavia de Luce as the protagonist. The novel has won several other awards including the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award and the Dilys award presented by the Independent Booksellers as the book they most enjoyed selling. A second Flavia de Luce mystery, The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, was just published in March 2010. Mr. Bradley lived in British Columbia and now resides in Malta.

The 2010 award marks the 15th year of Spotted Owl winners. Previous winners are Kate Wilhelm, Kris (Nelscott) Rusch, and Lowen Clausen, who have each won the award twice. Other winners include Earl Emerson, John Straley, Tom Mitcheltree, L.L. Thrasher, Marcia Simpson, G.M. Ford, Kevin O’Brien, Mike Doogan and Phil Margolin.

Runners up for the 2010 Spotted Owl award are:

  1. Mike Lawson for House Secrets
  2. Robert Dugoni for Wrongful Death
  3. Stan Jones for Village of the Ghost Bears
  4. Chelsea Cain for Evil at Heart
  5. Phillip Margolin for Fugitive
  6. Steve Martini for Guardian of Lies
  7. Aaron Elkins for Skull Duggery
  8. Dana Stabenow for Whisper to the Blood
  9. Clyde Ford for Whiskey Gulf

The committee evaluated 72 books. Members of the committee are Marlyne Stuckey, Sheila Sweet, Pete Scott, Jeannette Voss and Carrie Richards.

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The 2010 – 2011 Bloody Thursday Season

As this season of our lecture series concludes, the Executive Committee members are reviewing the past meetings and planning our meetings for the 2010-2011 season. Our meeting dates will be September 23, November 18, 2010 and January 27, March 24, and May 26, 2011. Terwilliger Plaza has welcomed us back to use their beautiful White auditorium and the conference room for our presentations. Guest speakers will include authors and those who are “practitioners’ in our areas of interest. If you have any suggestions of speakers or topics, please let us know. We are always looking for new ideas. You can contact us by mail at our PO Box 8251, Portland, OR 97207or by email at info@friendsofmystery.org.

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Executive Committee Members

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child. It is also true that it takes the Executive Committee members who volunteer their time and talents to give the organization the leadership it needs to continue to thrive. As the president and chair of the Spotted Owl committee, I am so appreciative of the efforts of the following members:

  • Bill Cameron – Web Master and Publicity Director
  • Jeannette Voss – Editor of the Blood-Letter
  • Carrie Richards – Treasurer Nancy Thomas – Membership Chair
  • John Walsdorf – Chair of Special Events and Spotted Owl Books
  • Stan Johnson and Jay Margulies – FOM founders and Ex-Officio members
  • Carolyn Lane and the staff at Murder By The Book bookstore
  • Carrie Richards, Jeannette Voss, Jeanette Scott, Marilyn Katz – Meeting Refreshments
  • And all the members of the Spotted Owl Committee

— Elinore Rogers, President

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Submissions Needed

Members and readers are encouraged to submit book or film reviews, comments on authors, recommendations for books to read, or questions about mysteries, crime fiction and fact. You can mail these to our PO Box 8251, Portland, OR 97207 or send to our email address at info@friendsofmystery.org.

Annual Book Sale Prior to the May 27th Meeting

Be sure to arrive early for our annual book sale. Starting at 6:30 pm we will have hardbacks, paperbacks, audio books and DVD’s for sale. Most hardbacks will be priced at $1.00 with paperbacks at 50 cents. There will also be some signed first edition mysteries. These books were donated by members for the sale. If you have books you would like to donate for the sale, you can bring them to the sale or call Elinore Rogers at 503-244-5271 for pick up.

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The Riverside Adventure

Book Review By Stanley Johnson

Add another title to the growing list of detective fiction written by authors of the Northwest. It is The Riverside Adventure, by Eugene Snyder, a retired professor of Economics at Reed College. The book concerns the adventures of a Sherlock Holmes club in New York City (similar to the Sherlock Holmes club in Portland.) The members of the club meet regularly and they read papers and present talks, but they get bored. They want to solve a real mystery. Fortunately, one of their members suddenly disappears, so they resolve to investigate the disappearance and find out what happened to him. They explore the disappearance, track down clues, and much to their credit, solve the crime. This is the author’s first mystery novel, but he’s been an active writer in the past, writing books in his field and on Portland history. It’s a bright, lively book with an unusual plot structure.

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Late Breaking News: the Edgar Allan Poe Awards

The Last Child, by John Hart
  • Best Novel: The Last Child, by John Hart
  • Best First Novel by an American Author: In the Shadow of Gotham, by Stefanie Pintoff
  • Best Paperback Original: Body Blows, by Marc Strange
  • Best Fact Crime: Columbine, by Dave Cullen
  • Best Critical/Biographical: The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, ed. by Otto Penzler

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