In this issue of the Blood-Letter: a preview of our September guest Jon Talton, awards news, a book review by Pete Scott, and more!

September 2016
CONTENTS:

For Bloody Thursday, September 22, 2016, We Welcome Jon Talton, Spotted Owl Award Winner

Friends of Mystery is happy to welcome our 2016 Spotted Owl Award winner, Jon Talton, as our speaker to kick off the 2016-2017 season.

High Country Nocturne, by Jon TaltonJon is the author of 11 novels, including the David Mapstone mysteries and the Cincinnati Casebooks. His latest book, High Country Nocturne, was the book which won him our award.

Talton’s award-winning work has been widely praised by the critics. The Washington Post Book World called Concrete Desert “More intelligent and rewarding than most contemporary mysteries.” In a starred review, Booklist labeled it “a stunning debut.” The Chicago Tribune lauded Camelback Falls for its “twisty and crafty” plot. The New York Journal of Books praised South Phoenix Rules as “A haunting noir story vividly rendered by Talton’s white-hot prose…original…impressively unyielding.”

Jon is also a veteran journalist. He is the economics columnist of the Seattle Times and is editor and publisher of the blog Rogue Columnist. Prior to that, he was a business and op-ed columnist for the Arizona Republic. He also worked for newspapers in San Diego, Denver, Dayton, Cincinnati and Charlotte. Before journalism, he spent four years as a paramedic in the inner city of Phoenix. He also was an instructor in theater at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Jon is a fourth-generation Arizonan. He splits his time between Seattle and Phoenix.

We hope you will be able to join us at The Old Church in downtown Portland (1422 SW 11th Avenue). This event is free and open to the public. A reception (with cash wine bar) begins at 7:00 pm.

Parking is available in the neighborhood, and there is a City Center Parking lot next to The Old Church on Clay @ 10th, and metered parking in the area. Directions on how to find the church are available at: www.theoldchurch.org/directions/

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Book Review

By Pete Scott

Willnot, by James Sallis

sallis_willnotI first found James Sallis through his Lew Griffin crime novels. It was a well-used paperback, The Long-Legged Fly. Griffin is a part-time professor of French literature and occasional detective in New Orleans. His ability to portray the solitary individual, his circumstances and actions, was very compelling. The Lew Griffin novels are crime novels, but more character studies than plot or dialogue driven books. Then I found the Salt River trilogy about John Turner, a retired detective from Memphis who moves to a small town. Drive (which was made into a very successful movie starring Ryan Gosling) is about a wheelman with no name. These are totally different characters and settings, but Sallis writes as if he knows each of them intimately. He is also an accomplished poet, biographer, editor, short story writer and translator.

His current book, Willnot, billed as a crime novel, is set in a small Eastern town that is big enough to have a hospital. Dr. Lamar Hale, as the book jacket says, is the town general practitioner, surgeon and conscience The very first sentence begins ‘We found the bodies two miles outside town—’ and by the end of the book we still don’t know who they are or who killed them. But in-between we are introduced to some wonderful individuals who you would like to meet and a town that you might want to visit someday. I hope we are able to visit with Dr. Hale and the folks of Willnot again soon.

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Bouchercon 2016

Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, is taking place in New Orleans this September 15-18, and two of our Spotted Owl Committee readers will be attending. Many mystery awards are given during the convention, and here are the nominees:

Shamus Award Nominees

These awards are given annually by the Private Eye Writers of American to honor the Private Eye genre.

Best P. I. Novel

  • The Promise, by Robert Crais
  • Dance of the Bones, by J.A. Jance
  • Gumshoe, by Rob Leininger
  • Brush Back, by Sara Paretsky
  • Brutality, by Ingrid Thoft

Best P.I. Paperback Original

  • Circling the Runway, by J.L. Abramo
  • The Long Cold, by O’Neil De Noux
  • Split to Splinters, by Max Everhart
  • The Man in the Window, by Dana King
  • Red Desert, by Clive Rosengren

Best First P.I. Novel

  • The Red Storm, by Grant Bywaters
  • Night Tremors, by Matt Coyle
  • Trouble in Rooster Paradise, by T.W. Emory
  • Depth, by Lev AC Rosen
  • The Do-Right, by Lisa Sandlin

Macavity Award Nominees

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by the members of Mystery Readers Internationl

Best Mystery Novel

  • The Long and Faraway Gone, by Lou Berney
  • Little Black Lies, by Sharon Bolton
  • The Hot Countries, by Timothy Hallinan
  • The Child Garden, by Catriona McPherson
  • Life or Death, by Michael Robotham
  • The Cartel, by Don Winslow

Best First Mystery Novel

  • Concrete Angel, by Patricia Abbott
  • Past Crimes, by Glen Erik Hamilton
  • The Killing Kind, by Chris Holm
  • Where All Light Tends To Go, by David Joy
  • The Unquiet Dead, by Ausma Zehanat Khan
  • On the Road with Del & Louise, by Art Taylor

Best Critical/Biographical

  • The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, by Martin Edwards
  • A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, by Kathryn Harkup
  • Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald, by Suzanne Marrs & Tom Nolan, editors
  • Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime, by Val McDermid
  • The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett, by Nathan Ward

Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award

  • The Masque of a Murderer, by Susanna Calkins
  • A Gilded Grave, by Shelley Freydont
  • Tom & Lucky and George & Cokey Flo, by C. Joseph Greaves
  • The Lady from Zagreb, by Philip Kerr
  • The Secret Life of Anna Blanc, by Jennifer Kincheloe
  • Dreaming Spies, by Laurie R. King

Anthony Awards

These awards are voted on by those attending Bouchercon.

Best Novel

  • Night Tremors, by Matt Coyle
  • The Killing Kind, by Chris Holm
  • The Child Garden, by Catriona McPherson
  • The Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny
  • What You See, by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best First Novel

  • Concrete Angel, by Patricia Abbott
  • Past Crimes, by Glen Erik Hamilton
  • New Yorked, by Rob Hart
  • Bull Mountain, by Brian Panowich
  • On the Road with Del & Louise, by Art Taylor

Best Paperback Original

  • The Long and Faraway Gone, by Lou Berney
  • Gun Street Girl, by Adrian McKinty
  • Little Pretty Things, by Lori Rader-Day
  • Young Americans, by Josh Stallings
  • Stone Cold Dead, by James W. Ziskin

Best Critical or Non-Fiction Book

  • The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, by Martin Edwards
  • Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald, by Suzanne Marrs & Tom Nolan, editors
  • Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime, by Val McDermid
  • The Last Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett, by Nathan Ward
  • The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For, by Kate White, editor

How many of these have you read? Look for the names of the winners in these categories in the next Blood-Letter.

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New Releases

Look for these new and upcoming releases from some of your favorite authors:
burke_jealouskind

  • Burke, James Lee. The Jealous Kind (August 30th)
  • Connelly, Michael. The Wrong Side of Goodbye (November 1st)
  • Jance, J.A. Downfall (September 6th)
  • Le Carre, John. The Pigeon: Stories from My Life (September 6th)
  • Penny, Louise. A Great Reckoning (August 30th)
  • Todd, Charles. The Shattered Tree (August 30th)

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Membership Renewal

It’s once again time to think about renewing your membership to FOM. Dues are $20.00 annually. Friends of Mystery is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Dues and additional donations are deductible to the full extent of the law. Please send your check to: Friends of Mystery, PO Box 8251, Portland, Oregon 97207. Include your name, address, city, state, zip, email and telephone. The newsletter will come to you electronically unless otherwise requested.

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Member News

Friends of Mystery is happy to publish news and press releases from our members in our Member News section, with the following considerations:

  • The news must be related to mystery or true crime writing, films, and television, as well as non-fiction examinations of the mystery genre.
  • Friends of Mystery will not be able to edit announcements, and will publish them as provided.
  • Friends of Mystery will include one image with each announcement, if provided.
  • Friends of Mystery is not responsible for the content of news announcements, and we reserve the right to not publish any announcements which we feel will reflect poorly on the organization and do not advance the organization’s mission.

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Submissions Needed

Members and readers are encouraged to submit book or film reviews, comments on authors, and recommendations for books to read or questions about mysteries, crime fiction and fact. If you have suggestions of mysteries worth sharing, please contact the editor at: jlvoss48@gmail.com