Blood-Letter #181

March 2026

In this issue of The Blood-Letter from Friends of Mystery: Bloody Thursday guests Audrey J. Cole and Jamie Lee Sogn, In Memoriam, Award News, and new books.

CONTENTS:

• On March 26, 2026, Friends of Mystery Welcomes Audrey J. Cole & Jamie Lee Sogn
• In Memoriam
• Award News
• Spotted Owl Award To Be Announced
• New and Noteworthy
• New Mailing Address
• Member News
• Buy Books by FOM Speakers at Annie Bloom’s
• Membership Renewal
• Submissions Needed

BLOODY THURSDAY

On March 26, 2026, Friends of Mystery Welcomes Audrey J. Cole & Jamie Lee Sogn

Friends of Mystery is pleased to welcome Audry Cole and Jamie Lee Sogn as our speakers for the March meeting.

Audrey J. Cole is a USA TODAY bestselling thriller author, and her work has been translated into multiple languages. She resides in the Pacific Northwest with her two children. Before writing full-time, she worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse for eleven years. Her novel, Missing in Flight, came out on March 1, 2025, and a novella, Final Descent, in November of 2025. You can sign up for her email list at www.audreyjcole.com to receive free bonus content, promotions, and new release updates.

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, came out in August 2025. Learn more at www.jamieleesogn.com.

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In Memoriam

JAMES SALLIS

1944-2026

LEN DEIGHTON

1929-2026

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Award News

Lefty Award Winners

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel

Scot’s Eggs, by Catriona McPherson

Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel

The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel

Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories)

River of Lies, by James L’Etoile

Edgar Award Nominees

Best Novel

• The Big Empty, by Robert Crais
• Fagin the Thief, by Alison Epstein
• The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami
• Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy
• Hard Town, by Adam Plantinga
• The Inheritance, by Trisha Sakhlecha
• Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow

Best First Novel By An American Author

• Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch
• All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman
• Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr
• Johnny Careless, by Kevin Wade
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook

Best Paperback Original

• Listen, by Sacha Bronwasser
• The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, by Holly Kennedy
• Broke Road, by Matthew Spencer
• The Backwater, by Vikki Wakefield
• One Death at a Time, by Abbi Waxman

Best Fact Crime

• They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, by Mariah Blake
• Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, by Michael Cannell
• Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser
• Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home, by Gregg Olsen
• Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold

Best Critical/Biographical

• V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup
• The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness, by Andrew Klavan
• Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kipley
• Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins
• Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece, Strangers on a Train, by Stephen Rebello.

Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award

• Five Found Dead, by Sulari Gentill
• Savvy Summers and Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
• No Comfort for the Dead, by R.P. O’Donnell
• All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan
• Last Dance Before Dawn, by Katharine Schellman

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award

• Cold as Hell, by Kelley Armstrong
• Rage, by Linda Castillo
• Fallen Star, by Lee Goldberg
• The Red Letter, by Daniel G. Miller
• Gone in the Night, by Joanna Schaffhausen

The Lillian Jackson Braun Memorial Award

• Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library, by Amandah Chapman
• A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run, by Gwen Florio
• The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, by Jo Nichols
• Murder Two Doors Down, by Chuck Storia
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man), by Jesse Q. Sutanto

2026 Malice Award Nominees

Best Contemporary Mystery Novel

• A Grave Deception, by Connie Berry
• At Death’s Dough, by Mindy Quigley
• Murder in the Fifth Position, by Lori Robbins
• The Devil Comes Calling, by Annette Dashofy
• Waters of Destruction, by Leslie Karst

Best Historical Mystery Novel

• Bye Bye Blackbird, by Elizabeth Crowens
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks
• Murder at the Moulin Rouge, by Carol Pouliot
• The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, by Kelly Oliver
• The Hindenberg Spy, by L.A. Chandler

Best Non-Fiction

• Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilberg King
• Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold
• The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder and the Real Hester Prynne, by Kate Winkler
• Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States, by Dawn M. Barclay

Best First Mystery Novel

• Murder in the Crazy Mountains, by K.L. Borges
• Player Elimination, by Shelly Jones
• Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
• Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg
• Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover

2026 Thriller Award Nominees

Best Standalone Novel

• Cross My Heart, by Megan Collins
• Zigzag Girl, by Ruth Knafo Setton
• The Burning Library, by Gilly Macmillan
• The Locked Word, by Sarah Pekkanen
• So Happy Together, by Olivia Worley

Best Series Novel

• Chain Reaction, by James Byrne
• The Big Empty, by Robert Crais
• Head Cases, by John McMahon
• The Tourists, by Christopher Reich
• Terminal Moonlight, by Vincent Zandri

Best First Novel

• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall
• Party of Liars, by Kelsey Cox
• Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook
• Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang

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Spotted Owl Award To Be Announced

The Spotted Owl Committee has been hard at work reading books written by authors living in the Pacific Northwest. The winner will be announced at our Zoom meeting on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

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New and Noteworthy…

(summaries provided by the publishers)

Murder Your Darlings by Jenna Blum

Simone “Sam” Vetiver is a mid-career novelist finishing a lukewarm publicity tour while facing a deadline for a new book on which she’s totally blocked. Recently divorced, Sam is worrying where her life is going when she receives glowing fan mail from stratospherically successful author William Corwyn, renowned for his female-centric novels. When William and Sam meet and their literary sympathy is as intense as their chemistry, both writers think they’ve found The One.

But as in their own novels, things between Sam and William are not what they seem. William has multiple stalkers, including a scarily persistent one named the Rabbit. He lives on a remote Maine island, where his author-life resembles The Shining. And when writers turn up dead, including from The Darlings support group William runs, Sam has to ask: Is it the Rabbit—William’s number one stalker? Or another woman scorned? Can William be everything he seems?

The Briars by Sarah Crouch

Desperate to escape a relationship gone bad, Annie Heston flees north to accept a job as a game warden in Lake Lumin, a picturesque town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

A cougar has been spotted in the area, and as Annie warns the community of the threat, she quickly discovers that citizens of this tight-knit town aren’t overly welcoming to outsiders. One exception is Daniel Barela, a reclusive carpenter who lives in the shadow of the mountain. They form an instant bond, though Annie soon comes to realize there is more to his past than meets the eye.

When the body of a young woman is found in the briars that border Daniel’s property, the peace Annie has found in Lake Lumin shatters. As she assists the local sheriff with the investigation, Annie must rely on her wilderness training and intuition to find a murderer hiding in plain sight.

A Deadly Clue by Victoria Gilbert

Cameron Clewe and Jane Hunter, lovers of all things bookish, are slowly cataloging Cam’s private collection of first edition books acquired from the deceased patriarch of the wealthy Stewart family. When Jane finds a note from Kimberly Stewart Ward, one of the daughters of the Stewart patriarch—who supposedly committed suicide—she discovers someone was actually targeting her with the intention of killing her.

Jane and Cam decide to look into the supposedly closed case, but their investigation becomes urgent when another member of the Stewart family is found dead from a drug overdose. The victim’s friends claim he’d been clean and sober for years and refuse to accept the cause of death.

Believing both cases to be connected, Jane and Cam are determined to solve them before any other direct heirs of the family are targeted.

No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah

You think it will never happen to you.

The doorbell. The policeman. The words that turn your world inside out. I’m afraid there’s been an incident…

For Sally Lambert, those words mean only one thing—danger. Not just for her family but for Champ, their loyal and beloved dog. A single accusation, a neighbor’s grudge, and suddenly, the Lamberts are trapped in a nightmare with no escape. Unless they make one.

Most people would never run. Most people would never leave behind everything they know to protect an animal who can’t defend himself. But for Sally, Champ is more than a dog—he’s one of her children. And most people aren’t the Lamberts.

No one has ever done this before. No one has ever gone this far. But the Lamberts have never been quite like any other family…

The Award by Matthew Pearl

David Trent is an aspiring novelist hoping to make a name for himself in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a place where ambitious writers lurk around every corner.

He lives in an apartment above a Very Famous Author, named Silas Hale, who, behind his celebrated image, is…haughty and disdainful, definitely not of the mentor variety.

Until David wins a prestigious award for his new book.

Silas is at last interested…and jealous.

But soon the administrator of the award comes to David with alarming news, which forces the writer into a set of desperate choices. Then fate intervenes—and nothing can ever go back to normal.

The Patient by Tim Sullivan

When a young woman is found dead, with no apparent foul play and no witnesses, the Bristol Crime Unit is ready to close the case as suicide, especially after the coroner cites the victim’s long history of drug abuse. But her mother is convinced it was murder, saying that her daughter had been clean and sober for over two years.

DS Cross is determined to defy his bosses and reopen the case, even if it costs him his career. Soon he is mired in a labyrinth of potential suspects—but can he solve the case before his superiors shut it down for good?

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Friends of Mystery has a new mailing address

If you need to contact us by mail, the new address is:

Friends of Mystery
P.O. Box 332
Sherwood, Oregon 97140

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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 P.O. Box 332, Sherwood, OR 97140. 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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Spring into a great mystery!