MWA Announces Laurie R. King

Its 2022 Grand Master

The Mystery Writers of America last week named Laurie R. King its 2022 Grand Master, widely considered the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing, recognizing a body of work that is both significant, and of consistent high quality. Laurie R. King is the bestselling author of 30 novels and other works, including the Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes stories, beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (named “One of the 20th Century’s Best Crime Novels” by the IMBA.)  She has won the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, Lambda, Wolfe, Macavity, Creasey dagger, and Romantic Times Career Achievement awards. “For more than a quarter century, King has entertained readers around the world with her writings,” said MWA President Alafair Burke.  “[Her books] range from historical fiction to contemporary police procedurals to gripping standalones and scores of anthology contributions. She is also a generous supporter of readers and fellow writers, and a leader within the literary community. She exemplifies the excellence that defines the Grand Master Award, and we are delighted to recognize her achievements.”

Meet “Gentleman Thief” Arsène Lupin,

France’s Very Own Sherlock Holmes

Most American mystery readers have never heard of the French “gentleman burglar” Arsène Lupin, the literary creation of former journalist and novelist Maurice Leblanc and as popular in France as Sherlock Holmes is in the English-speaking world. As noted by Paul Grimstad in an Air Mail article last week, in 1905, at the advice of an editor at the French magazine Je Sais Tout, Leblanc "re-purposed many of the stock devices of sensational fiction—revolving bookcases, underground passages, impossible escapes from locked rooms, jewels hidden in hollowed bronze busts—in a series of 17 novels and 39 novellas featuring the top-hatted, monocle-wearing Lupin. Lupin is not a detective but a thief of freakish cunning and dexterousness; when he does do detective work, it is usually to elucidate some criminal feat of his own." He is a “gentleman and rogue, detective and criminal,” is how Emma Bielecki puts it in her introduction to a new edition of The Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Thief, part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library series. The reissue of a selection of Leblanc’s stories seems in part inspired by the hit Netflix series Lupin, which reimagines the character as Assane Diop, the son of a Senegalese immigrant in Paris whose father gives him a leather-bound copy of the Lupin tales as a boy. Many of the original stories involve scenarios of landed gentry being stealthily relieved of precious possessions, and the TV show re-purposes Leblanc’s The Queen’s Necklace for a plot about the theft of a diamond necklace that once belonged to Marie Antoinette.

Seers, Mystics, And Scam Artists:

The Rise of Spirituality In America

There’s hardly ever been an era in U.S. history that hasn’t been called “a tumultuous time,” but the period from 1910 to 1920 was a decade of innovations (from canned soup to Oreo cookies), as well as political turmoil in the years leading to the Great War (later known as World War I). The decade ended with widespread deaths worldwide due to a flu pandemic first diagnosed among soldiers in 1918; nine million people died in the war and about 50 million worldwide died from the flu. Is it any surprise, then, that the public would turn to mystics, seers, and scam artists to help them navigate what seemed like an increasingly frightening world? That’s the question raised by Crime Reads’ Keith Roysdon, who earlier this month chronicled the birth of spiritualism and psychic mediums in the United States, and the desire for folks to speak with deceased loved ones and “reach out across the divide that is uncross-able by the living.” This quest for spiritual truth arguably began with a newspaper ad placed by a clairvoyant named Professor Stanley, who offered psychic readings for 50 cents. Not to be outdone, a Professor Sidney Elkins—billed as “The Man from India”—pitched his psychic powers in the Chicago Examiner, for twice what Stanley charged. Whether it’s a true crime story in which a suspect was apprehended in part because of the help of a mystic, or a mystery novel that features a character with psychic powers, the notion of spiritualism abounds in contemporary fiction.

7 Of The Greatest Con Artist TV Shows And Movies Of All Time

"There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase closely associated with American showman P. T. Barnum and, while there’s no evidence he actually said it, it’s the notion that keeps con artists and scammers in business. A quick check of my spam folder tells me I have a new cell phone waiting for me, a bed I didn’t order waiting to be delivered, a settlement check ready to be cashed, and a warrant out for my arrest by the IRS. Con artists and scammers are just about everywhere, and behind all the get-rich-quick schemes and fake eBay shipments and princes trying to move money out of Nigeria, are ruthless hustlers who specialize in cheating gullible targets. While many scammers today operate out of boiler rooms or internet cafes, those we read about in books or see in the movies are highly sophisticated, and their schemes extremely complex. Who can forget Ryan O’Neal and daughter Tatum O’Neal in the classic film Paper Moon, or Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting? This list, compiled by Investigation & Discovery, highlights some of the lesser-known true cons to hit the screen, large or small.

Notorious Con Man Barry Minkow:

“I’ve Done More Evil Than You”

Speaking of con artists (see above), few are as notorious as Barry Minkow. As a 1980s California high school sophomore, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best carpet cleaners, which grew at such an astronomical rate that it swiftly turned the 16-year-old into a local (and then national) celebrity. The problem was, the entire operation was a mob-funded Ponzi scheme, and it eventually netted Minkow 25 years behind bars. He only served seven and a half years of that sentence, during which he converted from Judaism to Christianity—a transformation that led him, once released, to become a pastor at San Diego’s Community Bible Church. Hardly reformed, Minkow embezzled over $3 million from his flock, and also engaged in insider trading, libel, and extortion. Ironically, he founded the Fraud Discovery Institute, an outfit designed to exploit his criminal expertise to uncover corporate fraud, but which wound up functioning as a vehicle for perpetrating more of it. As The Daily Beast points out, a new three-part series on Discovery+ titled King Of The Con, focuses on Minkow’s multiple rises and falls, told not only via interviews with relatives and victims (and a wealth of archival footage), but through prolonged commentary from Minkow.

8 Unforgettable Mysteries And

Thrillers Featuring Secret Societies

Whether it’s the real-life Yale University organization known as Skull and Bones, or the Greenwich Global Group in my upcoming thriller Greenwich Mean Time, secret societies are almost always seen as suspicious and/or treacherous. As Novel Suspects points out in a recent article, “The thing about secret societies in mystery books (and probably in real life) is that they are almost always nefarious. Sure, they have cool handshakes and secret passwords and some great perks, like power and prestige. But they also commit crimes, even murder, to accomplish their goals, and it’s up to the protagonists to find them and stop them. Sometimes that requires going undercover to infiltrate them, or finding someone in the organization willing to spill the beans. It’s always high-stakes, dangerous, and full of suspense. So get ready: These eight mystery and thriller books will bring you underground (sometimes literally) to explore villainous organizations at many different levels and spill some dark secrets.”

 Greenwich Mean Time

Set For Q3 Release

I'm awaiting the final line edits for Greenwich Mean Time, which is set for release in the third quarter of this year. Not sure yet of the exact date, but rest assured I’ll keep you informed of all developments in the publishing cycle. Until then, here’s a peek at what to expect:

On assignment to photograph the Baltoro glacier in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains, Monica Cross literally stumbles into the grisly wreckage of a long-lost airplane crash. She unwittingly becomes privy to a dangerous secret that a sinister dark web outfit known as the Greenwich Global Group will do anything to prevent from ever seeing the light of day. Meanwhile, in the plains of the Tanzanian Serengeti, the retired assassin who crashed the plane and killed all those on board learns of the discovery of the wreckage. Long thought dead, Rōnin Phythian possesses a unique and mystical skillset that for years made him the most lethal man alive, and his reawakening conscience (also long thought to be dead) convinces him that he alone has put Monica Cross in danger—and is the only force that can save her.

[Note: Cover image is subject to change]