Janet Rudolph of Mystery Fanfare announced her picks for Best Mysteries of 2009. Her number one choice: Dog On It by Stephen Quinn.

New York lawyer-turned-novelist Joseph Teller has won the 2009 Nero Award for his novel The Tenth Case (Mira). That announcement came during the annual Black Orchid Weekend, hosted in New York City by the Nero Wolfe fan organization, The Wolfe Pack. The other two crime novels in contention were The Dark Tide, by Andrew Gross (HarperCollins), and The Fault Tree, by Louise Ure (Minotaur Books).

His victims are young, beautiful and viciously mutilated. He calls himself the Beijing Ripper. Award-winning, Peter May's terrifying new addition to his China Thrillers series, Chinese Whispers pits Beijing detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell against an unscrupulous foe who could prove to be their deadliest enemy yet.

Stuart Kaminsky, a former Grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America and author of many mystery series and stand-alone novels, died Friday, October 9, 2009 at the age of 75. His four series featuring Lew Fonesca, Abe Lieberman,Toby Peters,and Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov were extremely popular. Kaminsky's Inspector Rostnikov novel A Cold Red Sunrise received the 1989 Edgar Award for Best Novel. He earned six other Edgar nominations, most recently for the 2005 non-fiction book "Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed", which was also nominated for an Anthony Award, a Macavity Awards, and an Agatha Award.

Author Colin Dexter, the creator of British Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse and his onetime “sidekick,” Robbie Lewis, who is now the star of his own excellent TV series (Inspector Lewis) celebrated his 79th birthday this week.

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the nominees for the 28th. Annual Shamus Awards on Friday. Eleven of the fifteen novels nominated are available at our library. Which book(s) do you choose for the three categories: Best Hardcover, Best First PI Novel, and Best Paperbook?

William G. Tapply, author of the Boston lawyer-turned crime-solver Brady Coyne mystery series, died of leukemia Tuesday, July 28 at his Hancock, NH home. He was 69. He was known also for his collected essays, a book about his father, and his articles and columns in "Field & Stream" and other magazines. Mr. Tapply had also introduced a new series featuring Stoney Calhoun in 2004. The third book in this series will be published posthumously, this fall.

In the Shadow of Gotham, Stefanie Pintoff's debut, won the first Minotaur Books/MWA Best First Crime Novel award. It's the Twentieth Century and crime detection has begun to take advantage of the new sciences available: fingerprints, profiling. Detective Simon Ziele has moved to Dobson, a small town in New York's Westchester county, a train-ride from New York City, following the tragic death of his fiance in the wreck of the steamship General Slocum in 1904. Ziele had been one of the NYC detectives called to scene to rescue survivors, but he was unable to save Rachel, his fiance.

Are youlooking for  someone new to read?  Maybe a new mystery author?  I'm hoping I'll find time to read at least one of these five titles this summer.  Meredith Cole won  the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Competition.  Let us know what you think.

Question: What one crime, mystery, or thriller novel do you think has been most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years? In honor of The Rap Sheet’s first birthday, they invited more than 100 crime writers, book critics, and bloggers from all over the English-speaking world to choose crime/mystery/thriller novels that they thought had been 'most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years.' Any book you would like to add to this list?

If you're a fan of Walter Mosley and enjoy stories featuring a 'real' private eye try...Loren D. Estleman, Robert J.

Looking for something new to read? These debut mysteries are get high marks from readers:

• Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark
• Posed for Murder by Meredith Cole
• Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye
• Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
• Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn.

Greg Iles’ stories have been described as terrifying, suspenseful, and intense, words which also describe Jefferson Bass's FLESH & BONE, DEJA DEAD by Kathy Reich, Alex Kava's A PERFECT EVIL, DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER by  Jeff Lindsay, or  Karin Slaughter's BLINDSIGHTED.

This month I will be attending a high school reunion.  I started thinking about the expectations, the memories, and just why do people go to these events?  Six mystery writers thought class reunions can stir up a great deal of feeling, perhaps even murderous thoughts...  Mrs. Murphy saves the day for postmistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, in Pawing Through the Past by Rita Mae Brown and Jo Dereske's Miss Zukas finds more than she's looking for at her 20th.

So why not check out a historical mystery series featuring a strong female character? One of my favorites is Miriam Grace Monfredo's Glynis Tyron, an advocate for women and slave rights living in Seneca Falls, NY where the first women's rights'convention was held in 1848.  In Seneca Falls Inheritance, Glynis Tryon, the town's librarian, agrees to help organize the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 expecting controversy and opposition, but not murder!