Mystery Writers Of America Unveils

2024 Edgar Allan Poe Award Noms

The Mystery Writers of America last Thursday announced the nominees for the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television published or produced in 2023. The nominees in select categories are:

Best Novel:

• Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)

• All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

• The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)

• Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster – Simon Element – Marysue Rucci Books)

• An Honest Man by Michael Koryta (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Mulholland Books)

• The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

• Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

Best First Novel:

• The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

• The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Macmillan Publishing – Minotaur Books)

• Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski (Macmillan Publishing – Henry Holt and Co.)

• The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

• Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (Simon & Schuster)

Best Paperback Original:

• Boomtown by A.F. Carter (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)

• Hide by Tracy Clark (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

• The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

• Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)

The 78th Annual Edgar Awards will be celebrated on May 1, 2024, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

The Most Anticipated Mystery And

Thriller Movies And Shows Of 2024

From the small screen to the big screen, 2023 proved to be an incredibly satisfying year for mystery and thriller movies and television shows. From what we at BunzelGram can tell, 2024 promises to be a new year of intrigue that will have you glued to your seat. From sequels to adaptations to stories based on true events, there’s something for every mystery and thriller lover coming soon to a screen near you. Here are just a few to look for:

• Fool Me Once: In this Harlan Coben adaptation, ex-soldier Maya tries to cope with her husband’s brutal murder when she sees him appear on her daughter’s nanny cam footage. As she tries to make sense of what this means, she’s drawn into a deadly conspiracy with roots stretching back decades.

• Monsieur Spade: Legendary detective Sam Spade is enjoying retirement in the picturesque South of France, when six nuns are murdered at a nearby convent. When stories begin to surface about a former adversary making a comeback, life changes dramatically for Spade. The war may be over, but for Spade, the battle may just be starting.

• True Detective: Night Country: When eight scientists disappear from a research facility during the dark winter months in remote Alaska, detectives Evangeline Navarro and Liz Danvers have to find out what happened while battling their own dark secrets.

• Death and Other Details: Finding herself in the wrong place at the very wrong time, Imogen Scott’s love of murder mysteries takes a dark turn. When she’s accused of being the prime suspect in a locked-room murder mystery, she has to turn to detective Rufus Cotesworth. He may be the world’s greatest detective, but he’s also a man she despises.

DNA COLDCASE

Human Remains Discovered In

Texas Lake In 1985 Finally Identified

The last time Gwen Tranum heard any news of her brother Clarence Lynn Wilson, it was 1985. As reported by USA Today, he was living in Texas with a woman he’d married and had traveled to Modesto, California to visit his parents. An argument ensued and they both left, never to be heard from again. “I don't know what happened because my mom would never tell me,” says Tranum, now 70. “She just said there was a big argument.” Wilson’s remains were found on Aug. 3, 1986 after people at Crater Lake—about 40 miles north of Houston—saw a human body partially submerged in the water. The victim had a tattoo on his left upper arm that read “Liz,” as well as another tattoo on his right upper arm that read “Baby Dawn.” Liz was his wife and Dawn was his daughter. The body had been weighed down with rocks, and Montgomery County Sheriff's Office deputies quickly discovered that the victim had been shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the head. With no other leads to go on, the case went cold until 2015, when investigators exhumed the remains to obtain DNA and enter it into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). There was no match, but in 2023 they exhumed his remains a second time and took them to the Othram forensic lab in The Woodlands, where they were able to get more DNA and conduct a genealogy assessment. Gwen Tranum was identified as one possible family member, so detectives asked her for a DNA sample, and several months later confirmed Wilson’s identity.

Left Coast Crime Announces

2024 Lefty Awards Finalists

Less than an hour after BunzelGram went out last Monday, Left Coast Crime announced the nominees for the Lefty Awards, which will be revealed at an awards ceremony in Seattle on April 13. Albeit a little late, here are some of the finalists:

Best Mystery Novel:

• Hide, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)

• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

• Odyssey’s End, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview Publishing)

• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland Books)

• Face of Greed, by James L’Etoile, (Oceanview)

• The Raven Thief, by Gigi Pandian (Minotaur Books)

Best Debut Mystery Novel

• Play the Fool, by Lina Chern (Bantam)

• Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Gillian Flynn Books)

• Dutch Threat, by Josh Pachter (Genius Book Publishing)

• The House in the Pines, by Ana Reyes (Dutton)

• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon, (William Morrow)

A shout-out from BunzelGram to all those nominated; you can read the full list of nominees here.

What Is A “Hang Film,” And

Why Should You Even Care?

If you’ve never heard of a “hang film,” join the club. I’d never known of the term until last week, when I came across an article by Duane Swierczynski in Crime Reads that used the term to identify a specific type of crime movie. Essentially, he defines hem as crime movies that “move at a more leisurely pace, where the relationships and culture and soundtrack and locations take center stage, while the plot kind of hums along in the background (if there even is a plot). In short, a ‘hang’ film is one where you enjoy hanging out with the characters, even if their lives are circling the drain.” Furthermore, Swierczynski says that as he’s gotten older, “I realize that real life is more like a hang film. There you are, eating donuts or drinking beer or driving around L.A. with Kris Kristofferson on the radio… all the while you have no idea that someone is out plotting your demise. Maybe you’ll clue into it in time. Maybe not. But hey, at least you had a good hang along the way.” From Jacques Demy’s Model Shop to Bill L. Norton’s Cisco Pike to Richard Fleischer’s The New Centurions, these are a few notable movies [and characters] you can hang with.

Coming March 19

Beyond All Doubt

[Reed Bunzel writing as Hilton Reed]

“Beyond All Doubt is an edge-of-your-seat fast-moving thrill-ride, kicked off by the reappearance of a dead man and propelling the reader along to the final bullet—and beyond.”— S.J. Rozan, best-selling author of The Mayors of New York

​

“Beyond All Doubt is a taut, smart, and emotionally rich thriller. Reed has a sharp eye for character and a screenwriter's feel for action. This tale is sleek as a mink and fast as a bullet.”— T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Rescue

“Beyond All Doubt is not a 'who done it,' but a twisty, compelling 'who did what.' Cameron Kane is a sympathetic, yet unrelenting bulldog in his pursuit of the truth about his wife's death. Intriguing and intense, Beyond All Doubt is a winner!”—Matt Coyle, bestselling author of the Rick Cahill crime novels

“In this action-packed and engrossing thriller, Reed masterfully balances between a husband’s drive to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and a father’s instinct to protect his family at all costs. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down!”— Matthew Farrell, bestselling author of The Woman at Number 6

“Beyond All Doubt has plenty of thrills—deadly snipers, false identities, shocking deaths—but at its heart, this book is about a grieving single father whose desperation propels the plot like a speeding car with its brake lines cut.”— Cayce Osborne, author of I Know What You Did