May 2025

In this issue of The Blood-Letter from Friends of Mystery: Bloody Thursday guests Roz Noonan and Jamie Lee Sogn, awards, and new books and TV.

CONTENTS:

• On May 22, 2025 Friends of Mystery Welcomes Roz Noonan and Jamie Lee Sogn
• And the Spotted Owl Award Winner is: Marc Cameron
• In Memoriam
• Edgar Awards Announced
• Agatha Awards Announced
• More Awards and Nominations!
• For Your Viewing Pleasure…
• New and Noteworthy
• Member News
• Buy Books by FOM Speakers at Annie Bloom’s
• Membership Renewal
• Submissions Needed

BLOODY THURSDAY

On May 22, 2025 Friends of Mystery Welcomes Roz Noonan and Jamie Lee Sogn

Roz Noonan is a former New Yorker and editor at Simon & Schuster, a bestselling fiction author and graduate of Wagner College.

She penned books in various genres for Kensington Publishing before arriving in the cozy mystery land of Alice Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Puzzle Club, where librarian Alice works with her golden gals to piece together jigsaw puzzles and mysteries. The debut mystery, Puzzle Me a Murder, will be followed by That Missing Piece is Killing Me in August 2025, and Malice in Puzzleland in 2026.

Roz lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest in a home similar to “Alice’s Palace,” where she writes in view of Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens.

Jamie Lee Sogn is a Filipina American author of adult thriller novels. She grew up in Olympia, Washington, studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Washington and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law.

She is a “recovering attorney” who writes contracts by day and (much more exciting) fiction by night. While she has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and even Eugene, Oregon, she calls the Pacific Northwest and Seattle home.

Her debut novel, Salthouse Place, was an Amazon First Reads and was long listed for The Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize.

Her second novel, Always the Quiet Ones, comes out in August 2025.

Please join us at TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont Street, Portland, Oregon 97215. We will be making an audio recording of the event which you will be able to access later on our website. The event is free and open to the public. A social time begins at 7:00 pm, with the program beginning at 7:30 pm. Free parking is available in the block across from the entrance. Bus line #15 will drop you off right by the door.

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And the Spotted Owl Award Winner is: Marc Cameron

For the second year in a row, Marc Cameron was announced as the winner of the Spotted Owl Award at the March meeting of Friends of Mystery. The committee considered 71 books by authors living in the Pacific Northwest. The finalists were:

• Marc Cameron, Bad River (1)
• Baron Birtcher, Knife River (2)
• Rene Denfeld, Sleeping Giants (3) tie
• Warren Easley, Deadly Redemption (3)
• J.A. Jance, Den of Iniquity (4)
• Phillip Margolin, An Insignificant Case (5)
• Katrina Carrasco, Rough Trade (6)
• Frank Zafiro & Colin Conway, The Silence of the Dead (7)
• Kerri Hakado, Cold to the Touch (8)
• Eric Redman, Death in Hilo (9)

Thank you to the committee members: Janet Bechtold, Kris Field-Eaton, Jan Rogers, Carrie Richards, Sheila Sweet and Judy Wyss.

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In Memoriam

Andrew Gross

Mary 18, 1952 – April 9, 2025

Peter Lovesey

September 10, 1936 – April 10, 2025

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Edgar Awards Announced

The Mystery Writers of America announced their annual awards on May 1, 2025. The winners were:

BEST NOVEL

The In Crowd, by Charlotte Vassell

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Holy City, by Henry Wise

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Paris Widow, by Kimberly Belle

BEST FACT CRIME

The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective, by Steven Johnson

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, by Nathan Ashman

BEST SHORT STORY

“Eat My Moose,” Conjunctions: 82, Works & Days by Erika Krouse

BEST JUVENILE

Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Stolen Key by Margaret Peterson Haddix

BEST YOUNG ADULT

49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Episode One” – Monsieur Spade, Written by Tom Fontana & Scott Frank

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“The Jews on Elm Street,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2024 by Anna Stolley Persky

THE SIMON AND SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Mystery Writer, by Sulari Gentill

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

The Comfort of Ghosts, by Jacqueline Winspear

THE LILLIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD

The Murders in Great Diddling, by Katarina Bivald

GRAND MASTERS

Laura Lippman
John Sandford

RAVEN AWARD

Face in a Book Bookstore & Gifts, El Dorado Hills, CA

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Peter Wolverton, St. Martin’s Press

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Agatha Awards Announced

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL

A Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian

BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL

To Slip the Bonds of Earth, by Amanda Flower

BEST FIRST NOVEL

You Know What You Did, by K.T. Nguyen

BEST NON-FICTION

Writing the Cozy Mystery: Author’s Perspectives on Their Craft, edited by Phylis M. Betz

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More Awards and Nominations!

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Mystery Thriller Category

• Havoc, by Christopher Bollen
• The Waiting, by Michael Connelly
• Guide Me Home, by Attica Locke
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
• *The Puzzle Box, by Danielle Trussoni

*winner

Barry Nominees

BEST MYSTERY NOVEL

• The Waiting, by Michael Connelly
• Spirit Crossing, by William Kent Krueger
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
• Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin
• California Bear, by Duane Swierczynski
• All the Color of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

BEST FIRST MYSTERY NOVEL

• The Expectant Detectives, by Kat Ailes
• Paper Cage, by Tom Baragwanth
• Ordinary Bear, by C.B. Bernard
• In the Blink of an Eye, by Jo Callaghan
• First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston
• Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL MYSTERY NOVEL

• Double Barrel Bluff, by Lou Berney
• All the Rage, by Cara Hunter
• Smoke Kings, by Jahmal Mayfield
• Someone Saw Something, by Rick Mofina
• Wordhunter, by Stella Sands
• Sin City, by James Swain

Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year – 2025 (Long List)

• The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre
• Our Holiday, by Louise Candlish
• A Stranger in the Family, by Jane Casey
• The Mercy Chair, by M.W. Craven
• The Wrong Sister, by Claire Douglas
• The Last Word, by Elly Griffiths
• Estella’s Revenge, by Barbara Havelocke
• Redemption, by Jack Jordan
• The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, by Ellery Lloyd
• Finding Sophie, by Imran Mahmood
• The Woman on the Ledge, by Ruth Mancini
• The Kill List, by Nadine Matheson
• Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee
• Blood Like Mine, by Stuart Neville
• To Die in June, by Alan Parks
• Deadly Animals, by Marie Tierney
• The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton
• All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

The winner will be announced on July 17th.

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For Your Viewing Pleasure…

By Jeannette Voss

Blackshore – Acorn (2024) 6 episodes

With her career in Dublin in jeopardy, DI Fia Lucey is sent back to her hometown of Blackwater to investigate a missing persons case. There, she finds herself back in a tight-knit community steeped in secrets and revisits the killing of her mother and brother.

The Chelsea Detective, Season 3 – Acorn (2024) 4 episodes

DI Max Arnold and DS Layla Walsh delve beneath Chelsea’s glossy façade as they investigate the brutal murders plaguing their city.

I, Jack Wright – Britbox (2025) 4 episodes

Kelly suggested this – it’s British and has a Succession meets mystery vibe. I will be checking it out.

Ludwig – Britbox (2025)

One twin brother (a police officer) is missing, and his wife asked the other brother to impersonate him to find out what has happened to him. That brother is a master puzzler who goes by the professional name of Ludwig. This six-episode series is a delight to watch and has been renewed for a second season. If you enjoyed “Monk”, then this will be your cup of tea.

The Scotland-based adaptation of Department Q launches on Netflix on May 29th.

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New and Noteworthy…

(Summaries provided by the publishers)

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

1926. On the cliffs of Yorkshire, men are lowered on ropes to steal the eggs of the sea birds who nest there. The most beautiful are sold for large sums. A small girl—penniless and neglected by her family—retrieves one such treasure. Its discovery will forever alter the course of her life.

A century later. In a remote cottage in Wales, Patrick Fort finds his friend, Nick, and his mother tied up and robbed. The only things missing: a carved case containing an incredible scarlet egg. Doggedly attempting to retrieve it, Patrick and Nick discover the cruel world of egg trafficking, and soon find themselves on the trail of a priceless collection of eggs lost to history. Until now.

Making a Killing by Cara Hunter

In 2016, eight-year-old Daisy Mason vanished from her Oxford home.

Her disappearance made the national press and the identity of the culprit shocked everyone. DCI Adam Fawley remembers the case well – he arrested Daisy’s mother for murder himself.

But her body was never found.

Now, forensic evidence at a current murder scene calls the whole case into question. DCI Adam Fawley and the team are brought back in to investigate. And they all have one question on their minds.

What really happened to Daisy Mason?

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

Forty years ago, a woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the Icelandic snow, being together as though they were sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved, and there were no arrests, no convictions. Just a suspicion: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is reeling from a devastating injury, desperate to clear her grandfather’s name and escape the shambles of her once-stable life. Agreeing to an interview on popular true crime podcaster Nora Carver’s show, Agnes hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifrost, Iceland—where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and daughter.

But when a local girl goes missing the same weekend Agnes arrives, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down. Suddenly, everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Unearthing new and old secrets alike, Agnes finds herself in a web of lies that threatens the redemption she is hell-bend on delivering, as well as her life.

A Voice in the Night by Simon Mason

Thames Valley has a new Superintendent – DCS Wainwright—young, charismatic and ruthless, charged with pushing through big reforms. Her in-tray is full of problems – and at the top of the pile is the problem of Wilkins and Wilkins.

Trailer park boy DI Ryan Wilkins, interesting-looking in baggy trackies and oversized lime-green puffa. In his personnel file is a handwritten note scribbled by the outgoing Super: ‘Do not, repeat not, give him responsibility.’ And posh boy DI Ray Wilkins, improbably handsome in navy blazer and tan chinos: ‘Thinks too highly of himself. More experience needed at the wet end.’ Their previous investigations – though somehow successful – were models of disorder and dysfunction. The new Super needs to take action.

There’s been a shocking murder in the heart of Oxford, the stabbing of a security guard during an attempted armed robbery. Meanwhile, an elderly professor of linguistics goes missing from his home in cozy Iffley Village.

The high-profile murder investigation can be safely handled by reliable detective DI Hare. The entry-level enquiry into the wandering academic can be given to the problem duo, with instructions to keep it simple. But when the body of the professor is found, still dressed in his pajamas, dripping wet and spreadeagled on a hotel lawn, things get interesting for the Wilkinses. Will Ray keep on top of the brief? Will Ryan keep it together?

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Member News

Share Your 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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Buy Books by Friends of Mystery Speakers Online at Annie Bloom’s Books

If you want to order any of our speaker’s books, you can find them at our special Friends of Mystery page at Annie Bloom’s Books!

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Membership Renewal

It’s never too late to consider renewing your membership to Friends of Mystery! Dues are $20.00 annually. FOM is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. Dues and additional donations are deductible to the full extent of the law. Please mail your check, made out to Friends of Mystery, to PO Box 8251, Portland, Oregon 97207. Your newsletter will be sent electronically unless otherwise requested.

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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.

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Have a great, mystery-filled summer!