Stacey Abrams’ First Legal Thriller

Coming From Doubleday Next Month

Many people know Stacey Abrams from her ten years with the Georgia House of Representatives, her gubernatorial campaign in 2018, and her voting rights activism. Few, however, know she has written eight romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery, and her first legal thriller—titled While Justice Sleeps—is set to be released next month by Doubleday. It stars a law clerk named Avery Keene whose boss, a Supreme Court justice, appoints her as his legal guardian days before he falls into a coma. The justice, who was secretly researching a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, has left Avery clues she must unravel to expose a conspiracy. Completed in 2011 and then stuffed into a drawer for eight years, the original manuscript features a corrupt president, a deadly virus, and even a character conspicuously named Jared. “No one wanted to buy it!” she recently told Publishers Weekly. “They thought the president seemed far-fetched, and that the Supreme Court was not that interesting of a subject.” It was only in 2019, when a Hollywood producer asked if she was working on anything new, that she dusted off the manuscript and sold it. “It turns out back then I was far-fetched and now I’m prescient.”

2021 Derringer Nominees Announced

Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringer Awards—named after the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding short stories published in the previous year. These awards are bestowed in four regular categories, including Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words); Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words); Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words); and Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words). The nominees for this year’s Derringers in the Short and Long Story categories are:

Short

• "That Which Is True," Jacqueline Freimor
• "River," Stacy Woodson
• "The Crossing," Kim Keeline
• "The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom," Eleanor Cawood Jones
• "The Homicidal Understudy," Elizabeth Elwood

Long

• "Chasing Diamonds," Joseph S. Walker
• "Lord, Spare the Bottom Feeders," Robert Mangeot
• "Mary Poppins Didn't Have Tattoos," Stacy Woodson
• "Etta at the End of the World," Joseph S. Walker
• "Hotelin'," Sarah M. Chen

The full list of nominees can be found here.

COLD CASE CLOSED

Suspect Charged In Death Of Teen

Who Disappeared 45 Years Ago

Evelyn Colon was one of five siblings in Jersey City, NJ when she got pregnant in 1976 at age 15 by her 19-year-old boyfriend, Luis Sierra. The young couple moved into an apartment together and stayed in touch with their families—until one day Mrs. Colon went to visit her daughter only to find they had moved, and no one knew where they were. Relatives later received a letter from Sierra saying that he and Colon were doing well, and that she didn't want to have any contact with her family ever again. And there wasn’t any. What the family didn't know was that her remains were found in 1976, but were known only as "Beth Doe" until Pennsylvania State Police identified them as Evelyn nearly 45 years later. She had been dismembered and stuffed into three suitcases, along with the fetus of her unborn daughter, all of which were found on the banks of the Lehigh River, underneath a bridge in Carbon County, PA. Problem was, no one knew until last week that “Beth Doe” was actually Evelyn Colon. Authorities promptly arrested 63-year-old Luis Sierra, a resident of Ozone Park, NY, and charged him with one count of criminal homicide.

The 25 Best Mystery Novels of All Time

I’ve read a lot of mysteries. Chances are, you have too. But considering all the plots, characters, dialogue, literary devices, and subtle nuances—and the writers who conceived them—I wouldn’t dare to pick the all-time best of the best. Especially since, within the mystery genre, you find police procedurals, detective stories, hard-boiled detective stories, espionage, medical mysteries, some thrillers, some speculative fiction, cozies, and closed-room mysteries. Canadian author Cynthia White is a lot braver than I am, however, and spent countless hours developing this list of The 25 Best Mystery Books of All Time. Written by some of the true masters of the genre—from Thomas Harris to Umberto Eco, Carl Hiaasen to Ed McBain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Dashiell Hammett—these novels represent the best of the best. Some won literary awards and prizes, some won nothing. Some were critically acclaimed when first published, some were panned. As noted at the top of this week's BunzelGram, in matters of taste there can be no disputes. And As Ms. White says, “What’s important in a great book are the characters and their motives, the themes which rise above the written page, the structure, the pacing, the figures of speech, diction and the dialogue. And most of all the story.” Note: these 25 novels are not ranked; they are listed by date of publication.

Five Fearless Female Spies

And Resistors During WWII

One night during a company dinner a little more than a decade ago I was fascinated to learn that the 80-year-old woman sitting next to me had served as an Allied spy in the waning years of World War II. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was far from alone: U.S. and British agencies hired numerous women to infiltrate the Nazi ranks, and many also served in the resistance during the German occupation of France. One of the most notable of these was Virginia Hall, an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services. As novelist Erika Robuck wrote in CrimeReads last week, “Nazis largely didn’t think women were as brave, intelligent, and even devious and vengeful as men. Because of this, women were often overlooked in the hunt for resistors and spies. How surprised Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, ‘The Butcher of Lyon,’ was to discover one of the most troublesome resistors in his region was not only a woman, but a woman with a prosthetic leg. Barbie christened Virginia Hall ‘La Dame qui Boite (The Lady who Limps),’ and put her face on wanted posters. Little did he know she was just one of many women operating in the shadows to destroy the Nazis—women whose stories would be unbelievable if they weren’t true.” This is the story of many who served, and died, for a noble cause.

HISTORICAL CRIME

First U.S. Murder Trial With

Formal Record Was Held In 1800

While researching an issue for a new manuscript, I recently came upon a story that claimed the first murder trial in the U.S. for which there is a formal record was that of the killing of Manhattan resident Gulielma Sands, who disappeared on the evening of December 22, 1799. [I triple-checked it and found that this was, indeed, the first such trial in America.] Elma Sands, as she was known to friends and family, had entered into an extramarital relationship with a man named Levi Weeks, who was the brother of Ezra Weeks, a prominent and widely respected citizen of New York. She confided to several acquaintances that the two were going to elope that night but, when she went missing, people began to grow suspicious. A few days later the muff she’d been wearing was found near the newly constructed Manhattan Well, and on January 2, 1800 her body was recovered from its depths. Levi was arrested and hired a team of lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The state’s case was highly circumstantial and the defense produced witnesses who testified that Levi was in the company of his brother Ezra and other friends during the evening in question. The judge insisted there was not sufficient proof against Levi Weeks to warrant a decision against him, and the jury, deliberating for only five minutes, acquitted Weeks of the crime.

Cover Praise For

Jack Connor Mysteries

"Raw, irreverent, and witty, Jack Connor is someone you want with you in a foxhole or the bloody back roads of South Carolina." —Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

“Sweeps you in with intrigue and authority and never lets you go.”—Michael Connelly

"Bunzel peels away the layers of mystery like a master of the genre”—T. Jefferson Parker

“Lights up the Southern sky with taut, exciting action.”—Michael McGarrity

“It may be hot in South Carolina, but Iraq War vet and crime scene clean-up specialist Jack Connor is nothing but cool. Reed Bunzel has created a winning series.” —Alafair Burke