Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mysteries. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Courtesan's Pirate: A Venice Beauties Mystery by Nina Wachsman


SMFS list member Nina Wachsman reported that today is publication day for her book, The Courtesan's Pirate: A Venice Beauties Mystery. Published in digital format by Level Best Books - Level Historia, this is the third book in the series that began with TheGallery of Beauties: A Venice Beauties Mystery. The read is available at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Amazon Description:

1614. At long last, Belladonna has been reunited with Isaak, a pirate captain, on the island of Jamaica. Amidst the chaos of hurricanes and Spanish marauders, they are separated. When she discovers her beloved Isaak is captured and bound for execution in Spain, Belladonna goes back to Venice, planning to leverage her allies to save him, only to learn her influence has diminished. Now facing cunning adversaries and shifting alliances, she must navigate perilous intrigues in a high-stakes bid to rescue Isaak from a tragic fate. Belladonna risks everything, including her own safety, in a daring gambit to save the man she loves.

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

SMFS Member Publishing News: To Err is Cumin: A Spice Shop Mystery by Leslie Budewitz


Today is publication day for SMFS list member Leslie Budewitz’s new book, To Err is Cumin: A Spice Shop Mystery. This is the eighth book in the series that originally started with Assault and Pepper. Published by Seventh Street Books, the book is out today in multiple formats at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Amazon Description:

One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback left on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.

Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, but Pepper refuses to help him search. When Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.

On the hunt for Talia, Pepper discovers a web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. The more she probes, the harder it gets to tell who’s part of an unsavory scheme of corruption—and who might be the next victim.

Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up where she’s not wanted, asking probing questions.

One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .

Saturday, June 1, 2024

SMFS Member Nominees for the 2024 Macavity Awards

 

The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends and supporters of MRI who all nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories. The full list of the 2024 nominees can be found at the Mystery Fanfare website. The SMFS list members that reported being nominated and their works are:

 

 

Best First Mystery 

Josh Pachter with Dutch Threat (Genius Book Publishing).

 

Best Mystery Short Story 

Barb Goffman with “Real Courage” (Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14, Oct. 2023). 

Curtis Ippolito with “Green and California Bound” (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine: September/October 2023). 

Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski with “Ticket to Ride.” (Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, Editor. Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books) 

Stacy Woodson with “One Night in 1965” (More Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, Editor Michael Bracken, Down & Out Books)

Thursday, October 5, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: Tales in the Shadows: A Kaye George Collection by Kaye George


SMFS list member Kaye George’s new book, Tales in the Shadows: A Kaye George Collection, was recently published. Released by Untreed Books in digital format only, the mystery short story collection is available at Amazon.

 

Amazon Description:

Fourteen collected tales by Kaye George.

Some more shadowy than others, all intensely entertaining.

Some extra spooky.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Courtesan's Secret: A Venice Beauties Mystery by Nina Wachsman

  

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Nina Wachsman's mystery, The Courtesan's Secret: A Venice Beauties Mystery. Published in digital and print by Level Best Books, this is the second book in the series that began with The Gallery of Beauties: A Venice Beauties Mystery.

 

Amazon Description

When an envoy from the New World comes to Venice, the elite courtesan Belladonna fears the secret of her origins may be revealed. The Spanish are after him, for he carries the map to a great treasure. When the envoy disappears, his enemies shift their pursuit to Belladonna, their only key to his whereabouts.

To avoid capture by the Spanish, Belladonna must abandon her luxurious palazzo, and take refuge in the Ghetto with her friend, Diana, the rabbi’s daughter. Hiding in plain sight behind the Ghetto walls, she must find the envoy and confront her past. Faced with terrible choices and an uncertain future, Belladonna must decide whether to sacrifice all she has achieved for a love she has always desired.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

SMFS Member Nominees for the 2023 Macavity Awards


The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends and supporters of MRI who all nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories. The winners will be announced at Bouchercon in San Diego, California, in late August.

Three SMFS list members reported being nominated in two different categories. The members, their works, and the categories they are nominated in are:

 

Best Mystery Short Story 

Barb Goffman for "Beauty and the Beyotch.” (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Issue 29, February 2022) This story also won the 2022 Agatha Award in the Best Short Story category this past April. It is also a 2023 Anthony Award Nominee in the Best Short Story category. 


Anna Scotti for "Schrödinger, Cat" (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: March/April 2022). This story was also a 2023 International Thriller Award Finalist earlier this year. This story also won Third Place in the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Awards this past April.

 

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery 

Gary Phillips for One-Shot Harry: A Harry Ingram Mystery. (Soho Crime, April 2022)

 

The full list of nominees and their categories can be found here.

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

SMFS Member Publishing News: Between a Wok and a Dead Place: A Spice Shop Mystery by Leslie Budewitz

 

Today is publication day for SMFS list member Leslie Budewitz’s new book, Between a Wok and a Dead Place: A Spice Shop Mystery. This is the seventh book in the series that originally started with Assault and Pepper. Published by Seventh Street Books, the book is out today in digital and print formats at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Publisher Description:

It’s the Lunar New Year, and fortunes are about to change.

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, loves a good festival, especially one serving up tasty treats. So what could be more fun than a food walk in the city's Chinatown–International District, celebrating the Year of the Rabbit?

But when her friend Roxanne stumbles across a man's body in the Gold Rush, a long-closed residential hotel, questions leap out. Who was he? What was he doing in the dust-encrusted herbal pharmacy in the hotel's basement? Why was the pharmacy closed up—and why are the owners so reluctant to talk?

With each new discovery, Pepper finds herself asking new questions and facing more brick walls.

Then questions arise about Roxanne and her relationship to Pepper's boyfriend Nate, away fishing in Alaska. Between her worries and her struggle to hire staff at the Spice Shop, Pepper has her hands and her heart full. Still, she can't resist the lure of the Gold Rush and its tangled history of secrets and lies stretching back nearly a century.

But the killer is on her tail, driven by hidden demons and desires. As Pepper begins to expose the long-concealed truth, a bigger question emerges: Can she uncover the secrets of the Gold Rush Hotel without being pushed from the wok into the fire?

Friday, October 21, 2022

SMFS Member Publishing News: Before There Were Skeletons: A Marketville Mystery by Judy Penz Sheluk


Today is publication day for Before There Were Skeletons: A Marketville Mystery by Judy Penz Sheluk. Published by Superior Shores Press, the read is available in digital and print formats at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Synopsis:

The last time anyone saw Veronica Goodman was the night of February 14, 1995, the only clue to her disappearance a silver heart-shaped pendant, found in the parking lot behind the bar where she worked. Twenty-seven years later, Veronica's daughter, Kate, just a year old when her mother vanished, hires Past & Present Investigations to find out what happened that fateful night.

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is drawn to the case, the similarities to her own mother's disappearance on Valentine's Day 1986 hauntingly familiar. A disappearance she thought she'd come to terms with. Until Veronica's case, and five high school yearbooks, take her back in time...a time before there were skeletons.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

SMFS Member Publishing News: The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin: An Accidental Alchemist Mystery by Gigi Pandian


Today is publication day for SMFS list member Gigi Pandian’s new book, The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin: An Accidental Alchemist Mystery. Published by Gargoyle Girl Productions, the read is the sixth book in the Accidental Alchemist Mystery series. It is available in digital and paperback formats at Amazon and other vendors.

 

Amazon Synopis: 

A riddle, a game, and a clue in the garden. Don’t miss the page-turning sixth book in the award-winning Accidental Alchemist Mystery Series, perfect for fans of cozy mysteries and urban fantasy.

When Zoe Faust sees the ghost of a murdered young woman, is it really a spirit—or a flesh and blood woman who stopped aging because she’s a fellow alchemist?

Sixteen years ago, high school student Ridley Price discovered a secret she planned to reveal through a party game—but someone killed her first. The baffling crime was never solved. Zoe’s friend Heather has always wondered: which of the seven guests at the party killed Ridley? When the newly-appeared ghost turns dangerous, threatening people they love, Zoe teams up with her gargoyle roommate Dorian to unmask the supposed specter.


Thursday, July 28, 2022

SMFS Member Nominees for the 2022 Macavity Awards

 
The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends and supporters of MRI who all nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories. The winners will be announced at Bouchercon in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September. 


This year we have five members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society nominated in the category of Best Short Story. The nominees are: 

Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)

Steve Hockensmith: “Curious Incidents” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: January/February 2021)

R.T. Lawton: “The Road to Hana” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: May/June 2021)

G.M. Malliet: “The White Star” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)

Gigi Pandian for “The Locked Room Library” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: July/August 2021)  The story is also nominated for an Anthony Award.

 

The full list of nominees and their categories can be found here.

Monday, March 1, 2021

SMFS Members Published in Mystery Weekly Magazine: March 2021

Several SMFS list members are published in the Mystery Weekly Magazine: March 2021 issue. The read is available in both print and eBook from the publisher and at Amazon. The SMFS members in this issue are:

 

BV Lawson with “Suite In The Key Of Death.”

 

Jeff Soloway with “The Hook-Up Scam.”

 

Mark Thielman with “Exhibiting Signs Of Death.”

 

Synopsis:

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Weekly Magazine presents original short stories by the world’s best-known and emerging mystery writers.

The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty.

Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery.

In this issue:

“Damaged People” by David Bart: Creed didn’t keep his promise to Leah and now it’s too late. She's dead.“Suite In The Key Of Death” by BV Lawson: When Scott Drayco was hired to investigate a suspicious death, he didn't count on an oddball suspect. Or that he'd wish he'd never taken the case at all.

In “It Was Always Temporary” by Chris Preston, a hitman takes on an assignment to make up for recent missteps. Is his loyalty in the right place?

“The Hook-Up Scam” by Jeff Soloway: The woman was not who she claimed. But neither was he. And neither was his wife. Would any of them get their revenge?

“Short Con” by Brandon Barrows: At last, Eli Farris has the freedom he wanted so badly, but he needs money to sustain it. Working is for marks, but he has a plan—only it includes his sister. Amber doesn't take direction well and the buzzing in Eli's head is getting really bad.

In “Billy The Kid, GED” by Jack Clark, a private-eye test for an ambitious young man leads him down a dark alley.

In “Spanky And Delilah Are In Love” by Roger Johns, a dog park romance and a chance encounter with an aging mobster renew Alex Abraham’s desire to find his long-lost brother.

“Exhibiting Signs Of Death” by Mark Thielman: During a quick stop at a museum gift shop, a retired cop finds a dead body on display. He and the shop clerk must solve the murder.

Monday, February 1, 2021

SMFS Members Published in Mystery Weekly Magazine: February 2021

Several SMFS list members are published in the Mystery Weekly Magazine: February 2021 issue. The read is available in both print and eBook from the publisher and at Amazon. The SMFS members in this issue are: 

 

The “You-Solve-It” solution to last month’s “A Conventional Murder” by Peter DiChellis.

 

John Floyd with “Wanted.”

 

Steve Liskow with "Adam's Prime Rib."

 

Brian Silverman with “"Gastrofunkalicious."

 

 

Synopsis: 

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Weekly Magazine presents original short stories by the world’s best-known and emerging mystery writers.

The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty.

Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery.

In this issue: In our cover story, “Ghost Eyed Gift” by Marilee Dahlman, it's late 1800s Chicago and barber Nathaniel Tall Cloud just wants to get by. Then a killer strolls in for a shave.“My Year With The Perfect Family” by Mark Nutter: A documentary filmmaker plans to film a perfect family for a year. His plan needs rethinking after he murders the mother, father, son and daughter on the first day.“Wanted” by John M. Floyd: Thirteen-year-old Eddie Webber's dog was dead, his pa was a drunk, his stepmother was a witch, and a killer outlaw was on the loose. And then things got worse …In “Flinders' Flit” by H.L. Fullerton, a woman's husband goes missing and people suspect she had something to do with it. She feels it's history repeating itself.“After Thoughts” by Edward Ahern: Waking in a hospital bed and visited by the people in his life, Jerry discovers sometimes you can't help but change the way you think.“Nightshift In Strange Rain” by Zandra Renwick: Green blood and trench coats and death in the rain—an old-fashioned murder detective and his coroner ex-flame tackle a newfangled problem in this retrofuture gumshoe tale set in a small town not at all close to you.“Jinx” by Cory Braidon: Crime and cats—bad or good luck? Big-time crooks and small-time thugs work it out.In “Adam's Prime Rib” by Steve Liskow, Randi has a date with a chef, and nothing is cut and dried … yet.In “Gastrofunkalicious” by Brian Silverman, a New York food tour guide brokers a deal to import a rare gourmet delicacy to the city. He discovers that what he carries, many will kill to possess.