Sunshine Noir, the CWA Dagger awards, and me

I feel a kinship with the shortlists (one word in British usage) for the Crime Writers Association Dagger awards, announced last week. Two of the six finalists for best short story — "The Assassination," by Leye Adenle; and "Snakeskin," by Ovidia Yu   — appeared in Sunshine Noir, a collection of short stories set in hot places. Here's what I wrote about Adenle's story in my introduction to the volume (I gave the introduction the title "Clime Fiction," and the indulgent editors, Annamaria Alfieri and Stan Trollip, in his role as part of the writing team of Michael Stanley, were kind enough to let it stand):

"Leye Adenle’s `The Assassination' is a taut tale of death and political corruption that harks back to honorable precedents in crime and espionage writing but is redolent of its setting, which I take to be the author’s country, Nigeria."

Here's what I wrote about Yu's:

"If you want gothic-tinged domestic mystery, you’ll find it in Sunshine Noir. (Family secrets flourish in steamy air. Try Ovidia Yu's `Snake Skin.')"

Three of the remaining shortlisted stories are from Motives for Murder, edited by Martin Edwards, including one by Edwards himself. I have no connection with Motives for Murder, but I will join Edwards on a panel at Bouchercon 2017 in Toronto. So when it comes to Daggers, I know almost everybody's shorts.

(Read about the nominees in all categories on the CWA website: https://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers/)

© Peter Rozovsky 2017

Detectives Beyond Borders writes intro to hot new crime book!!!

Does Nordic crime leave you cold? Do you like your beach reading sandy rather than Scandi? The sun better than lots of guys named -sson? 

Maybe you prefer your protagonists heat-baked and lethargic rather than shivering and morose? Or perhaps you want your crime fiction to do more than rip away the gleaming facade of the welfare state to reveal the hypocrisy that lies beneath. If so, boy, do have the crime fiction collection for you.

Sunshine Noir hits e-readers near you next week and bookstores in mid-September. If you're going to Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans, you just might find some copies there.

Annamaria Alfieri and Michael Stanley put the volume together, and the book includes stories by Robert Wilson, Jason Goodwin, Colin Cotterill, Paul Hardisty, Nick Sweet, Leye Adenle, Susan Froetschel, Greg Herren, Barbara Nadel, Richie Narvaez, Tamar Myers, Kwei Quartey, Ovidia Yu, Timothy Williams, and Jeffrey Siger, plus a word from Tim Hallinan and, in the British edition, from Peter James.

I'm in there, too; I wrote the book's introduction, a little thing I called "Clime Fiction." I quite like it, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too, along with some pretty good stories.

© Peter Rozovsky 2016