September 2026
In this issue of The Blood-Letter from Friends of Mystery: upcoming Bloody Thursday plans, memorials, award news, noteworthy reads, and more.
CONTENTS:
- Friends of Mystery Takes a Short Break
- In Memoriam: Alan Bradley and Steven F. Havill
- Deadly Pleasures is now FREE!
- Macavity Award Nominees
- Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards
- Shamus Award Nominees
- Other Awards…
- New and Noteworthy
- Member News
- Buy Books by FOM Speakers at Annie Bloom’s
- Membership Renewal
- Submissions Needed
- Friends of Mystery Mailing Address
BLOODY THURSDAY
Friends of Mystery Takes a Short Break
We are taking a short programming break, but we will be back in November (11/19/26), if all goes as planned, with new programming and a new venue where we will be able to meet in person. Stay tuned for our new location at a bookstore in NE Portland. Please check our website (www.friendsofmystery.org) for updated information as the time gets closer and look for the November Bloodletter for more details.
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IN MEMORIAM
Alan Bradley
1938 – 2026
Bradley retired early from working as a Director of Television Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan to become a full-time writer in 1994. His first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, was the winner of several awards, including our own Spotted Owl Award. He went on to write 12 books in the Flavia de Luce mystery series.
Steven F. Havill
1945 – 2026
A high school teacher of biology and English by day, Havill was the author of 34 books. He wrote two series of police procedurals – The Bill Gastner mystery series and The Posadas County mystery series. His mysteries were set in fictional Posadas County, New Mexico. He also wrote four novels of the American West.
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Deadly Pleasures is now FREE!
Subscriptions to the online mystery review magazine are now free to everyone. A link to download each issue will be on the Deadly Pleasures website and if you want an email to alert you to each new issue just send your name and email address to george@deadlypleasures.com. The approximate dates of publication are February 10, May 10, August 10, November 10.
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Macavity Award Nominees
Best Mystery Novel
- Crooks, by Lou Berney
- King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby
- Clown Town, by Mick Herron
- River of Lies, by James L’Etoile
- The White Crow, by Michael Robotham
- All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Best First Mystery
- Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
- Dead Money, by Jacob Kerr
- Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg
- Stillwater, by Tanya Scott
- History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook
Best Mystery Non-Fiction
- Vacation Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay
- 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
- V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup
- Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kopley
- Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins
Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery
- Bye Bye Blackbird, by Elizabeth Crowens
- A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder, by Dianne Freeman
- City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson
- The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, by Kelly Oliver
- The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler
- No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal
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Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards
(Presented July 2, 2026)
Diamond Dagger: Mark Billingham
Gold Dagger: The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean
Whodunnit Dagger: A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant
Twisted Dagger: We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough
Steel Dagger: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby
First Novel Dagger: The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey
Historical Dagger: A Granite Silence, by Nina Allen
Non-Fiction Dagger: That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger: The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen
Short Story Dagger: “The Apple Falls Not Far”, by Ambrose Parry
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Shamus Award Nominees
(to be presented on October 22, 2026)
Best P.I. Novel
- The Big Empty, by Robert Crais
- Photograph, by Brian Freeman
- Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale
- Gray Dawn, by Walter Mosley
- Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen
Best P.I. Paperback Original
- The Hook and the Eye, by Raymond Benson
- Sunday on the Highway, by Cindy Fazzi
- City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson
- Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber
- Catch Me on a Blue Day, by M.E. Proctor
Best First P.I. Novel
- Chase Harlem, by Elise Burke Brown
- Miles in Time, by Lee Mathew Goldberg
- Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski
- Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, by Josh Mendoza
- The Witch’s Orchard, by Archer Sullivan
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Other Awards…
Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Awards
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year: The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths
McDermid Debut Award: A Bad Bad Place, by Frances Crawford
Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award: David Balducci
International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch, declared the winner of the 2026 Hammett Prize for “literary excellence in crime writing” is Ron Currie for The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne. The other nominees were: El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott; Party of Liars, by Kelsey Cox; The Big Empty, by Robert Crais; and The Lizard, by Domenic Stansberry.
A Bad Bad Place, by Frances Crawford won both the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and the McIllvanney Prize for “best Scottish Crime book of the year.” Crawford is the first double winner in the history of these annual commendations.
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New & Noteworthy…
The Shadow Step, by Mark Billingham
The Shadow Step: one taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards (“in the shadow”).
A perfectly executed shadow step demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with one another. It does not normally end with someone stone-dead in a lake.
DS Declan Miller is a magnet for strange cases, but an innocent man confessing to the crime? That’s a first. Things rapidly escalate when the murder that isn’t really a murder attracts the unwanted attention of a drug Queenpin, a deranged ex-squaddie, and a lovesick gangland enforcer. And when a real murder follows—and a student is kidnapped—all evidence points back to the same innocent man.
Throw in a wobbly dog, a pair of ceramic leopards, and the distracting smell from a biscuit factory, and Miller’s only option to save a young man’s life is to waltz all the way into the shadows.
Too Deep to Cross, by Kerri Hakoda
A shocking discovery on a remote beach brings Detective DeHavilland Beans back to his Yukon River hometown—and a missing person’s case turns into a murder investigation. On administrative leave after an unsettling officer-involved shooting, Beans comes to the aid of his childhood friend and sole police officer in the village, Felicia Gunnerson, who is leading the case.
The new evidence suggests the missing man, Lloyd Paul, the overindulged scion of a prominent family, was murdered. Lloyd had a contentious relationship with many of the locals, especially with Beans and his mother, Mari.
As Beans and Felicia dig deeper, events that neither of them could have predicted are set in motion. Meanwhile, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mari uncovers secrets that threaten to rewrite the Beans family’s history.
Spanning a sprawling time frame ranging from World War II to the present day, the danger has never felt closer to home.
Missing, by E.A. Jackson
In August 1990, London is suffering through an unprecedented heat wave when baby Bella Carpenter disappears from her family’s hotel room, seemingly snatched through the open window. Detective Inspector Martha Allen is assigned the high-profile case and, knowing that it could make or break her career, is determined to find the missing child.
When a young woman named Nell Beatty walks into the police station with a baby who appears to be Bella, and whom Nell claims she found on a bench, it seems that the mystery is solved. Bella’s family, the police, and the press are overjoyed at her return. But DI Allen isn’t convinced; something about Nell’s story doesn’t ring true. As much as she wants to continue investigating, however, now that the baby is safe, she’s ordered to close the case.
Thirty years later, Nell Beatty is found dead. Allen, who has risen up the ranks, has never really gotten over her doubts about the Carpenter case. She can’t resist doing a little digging, eager to find out what happened to Nell, and about her involvement in the baby’s disappearance all those years ago. But will her efforts uncover something darker than she could have ever imagined? And what is she risking as she tries once and for all to reveal the truth?
Three Reasons for Revenge, by Dervla McTiernan
Alexis Turner walks into the police station to report an assault. By the end of the day, she is nowhere to be found.
Soon after she disappears, three identical packages arrive at three very different doors: a respected psychologist’s home, a socialite’s mansion, and a struggling single father’s run-down apartment. Inside, each gift is perfectly tailored to its recipient—and each will tear apart the life of its intended victim.
Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is smart and experienced, but this is no ordinary case. Someone with intimate knowledge of their targets is orchestrating these attacks. Someone who knows exactly how to hurt each victim where they’re most vulnerable.
As she races to uncover the connection between three unrelated people, Judith discovers she’s no longer just investigating the game—she’s being forced to play.
The Night Hunter, by Natalie Moss
When their conservationist mother passes, Danielle and her estranged sister, Grace, must return to their isolated family house nestled within a wild-game reserve. While Grace, their mother’s favorite, clings to nostalgia, only Danielle carries the knowledge of her final request: “Find the storehouse…Burn everything inside.”
To ease the pain of their homecoming—and the tension between them—each sister invites a pair of friends on the two-day journey through the bush. What starts as a safari adventure turns into a nightmare when one of them is murdered on the first morning at their campsite. In the chaos that follows, they crash their vehicle, stranding themselves, with no way to call for help.
Now, with dwindling supplies and only one rifle, Danielle must lead them on foot across miles of merciless savanna. They have days of walking ahead—if they survive that long. As the group navigates land where every rustle could mean death, a truth emerges: Someone is sabotaging their escape.
A Killer Plot, by E.C. Nevin
Jane Hepburn has almost made it. After solving the murder of her literary agent at last season’s crime-book festival, Jane receives a burst of internet fame that lands her an invite to a splashy book launch in London. Visiting beloved bookstores along the winding alleyway of Cecil Court and brushing shoulders with famous writers and the editors and agents who made them stars, Jane is looking forward to a fun, murder-free weekend and a distraction from her own writer’s block. The party might not be for her novel, but still, Jane’s happy to celebrate her far more successful friend’s book release with free wine and plenty of books. However, things take a turn for the worse when her friend’s hotshot editor is nowhere to be seen. And they really go south after Jane discovers a body in a bookshop cellar.
To ensure that another event isn’t overshadowed by an unsolved murder, Jane and her two friends—debut novelist and star of the party Natasha Martez and clumsy publicity assistant Daniel Thurston—must put their sleuthing skills to the test. But nothing is as it seems at a party full of attendees with secrets they’d do anything to keep.
Night Objects, by Eli Raphael
Lenny Winter is fifteen years old when she moves with her parents to an aging houseboat off the rugged coast of Washington. She imagines a quiet life spent charting constellations and chasing her dream of becoming an astronomer. Instead, a sudden tragedy shatters her world and catapults her to Blanchard, a renowned boarding school for the Pacific Northwest’s elite, where wealth and tradition rule.
Blanchard is dazzling, insular—and haunted by its own legends. At its heart lurks the Pascalianum Club, a secret society known to shape the school’s greatest and most notorious students, and whose influence stretches far beyond campus walls. Hungry to belong, Lenny is drawn into its orbit, even as she senses that the club feeds on the very vulnerabilities she is desperate to hide. As privilege collides with shame and loyalty warps into obsession, Lenny’s choices will lead to an unforgettable reckoning—and a murder investigation that will test every story she tells herself about guilt, power, hope, and who she is becoming.
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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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Friends of Mystery Mailing Address
If you need to contact us by mail, our address is:
Friends of Mystery
P.O. Box 332
Sherwood, Oregon 97140
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Settle into a cozy fall with a great mystery!