Mystery Wednesday

Welcome back to Mystery Wednesday where I run down the best of the best in crime fiction happenings. Let's start out with TV this week, since one of my favorites -- The Americans, returns tonight on Fox (10pm ET, 9pm CT) for it's sixth and final season. 

In the fictional world of Russian sleeper spies, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, two years have passed since season five when Gabriel went home to Russia and daughter Paige started her training to possibly join her parents in their spy exploits. It's still the 1980s, and there's a lot at stake for our fake Americans. Will they stay married? Will they turn against one another and mother Russia? If they do will they leave their son here in the custody of their favorite FBI agent and neighbor, Stan? Or will they go back home and lead a quiet life of trying to find fruit at the grocery store. 

I can't wait to find out. 

Everytime I think of this season, one of my favorite short stories pops into my head, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. That isn't such good news for the Jennings.

Here's the trailer for this season:

If you love thrillers and haven't watched The Americans, it's time to start at season one, episode one and binge your way through until you catch up. And while you're at it you might want to make some Russian cabbage soup. 

Agatha Award Nominees for Short Stories...

After you're done catching up with The Americans, you might want to read through all of the excellent short story nominees for this year's Agatha Award. All of the nominated short stories are free to access at the links below. It's a great bunch of stories and I'm thrilled to see three of our favorite Mystery Playground Drinks with Reads posters nominated -- Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein and Gigi Pandian. 

Best Short Story

"Double Deck the Halls" by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
“Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 Shades of Cabernet (Koehler Books)
“The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)
“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Seat (Down & Out Books)

Need a Great Read...

If you need something a little longer to keep you entertained, my mom has hte book recommendation for you -- AJ Finn's, Woman in the Window. I will admit that I haven't read it yet, but it's in my bag for my next airplane ride when I will have hours of un-interupted reading time. The book is a re-telling of Hitchcock's Rear Window and trust me when I say that my mom is one tough audience. She reads everything, and isn't afraid to critique. If she says you can't put a book down, you can't put it down. And there's already a movie in the works frlomt he director of Darkest Hour, according to the Hollywood Reporter. If you've already read the book, tell us what you thought below. 

That's it for this week. See you next Wednesday,

Deborah Lacy

Mystery Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! It's been a crazy few weeks, but I think I am finally caught up. 

Two of my favorite shows -- Timeless & the Royals have been back on the air for two weeks now, and the mysteries in both shows are getting deeper and deeper. 

On Timeless (a TV show about time travel, and a generations-old conspiracy to control the world), Lucy's mother and the Rittenhouse seem to be changing the future at strategic points, but our heroes Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus can't quite seem to glean why. This week's trip back to the 1950s for NASCAR racing made for a fun and different episode. If you haven't gotten caught up, you might want to set aside some time. Timeless is on NBC.

On The Royals (a TV show about an alternative British royalfamily who doesn't mind committing the odd murder or two while they are sleeping around), Robert is turning out to be more of a villain than Cyrus could even imagine. I love the crazy characters on this show, the fabulous wardrobe and the mixed up plots. It's great fun. 

Moving onto the book world, Kerry Hammond (Mystery Playground's chief reviewer) and I will be at the Malice Domestic fan convention this year, where Kerry will sign her story the Malice 2018 anthology, Murder Most Geographical, at a special party on Friday night. I'll probably keep mentioning that for the next few months. We're excited. 

I'm also looking forward to seeing Ellen Byron, Catriona McPherson, Anne Cleeves, Amanda Flower and Cathy Ace at the conference. The conference runs from April 27-April 29th in Bethesda, MD. Tickets are still available. They have a great guest of honor line up this year:

Hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, tune in here and we'll share photos from all the happenings. 

Mystery Wednesday

Welcome to 2018. Hope you all had a great holiday break. I made a dent in the TBR pile, and watched a few movies on TV. Miss Sloan, one of the movies that I liked best, stars Jessica Chastain as a lobbist who is willing to do almost anything to win. It's not a traditional mystery, but it does have mystery elements. Here's the trailer. 

The world's largest Mystery Convention is in Florida this year September 6-9 (see yesterday's post for a 2018 Mystery Convention Calendar) and registrations are discounted until January 15th. They are also holding a contest - those who register will be entered to win annother registration for a friend. Details are on the Bouchercon Facebook page. 

The close of the year brought one giant bit of sad news when mystery great Sue Grafton passed away on December 28th. She wasn't just a great writer, but also a great mentor, who was kind to aspiring writers and loved her fans. I'm glad to see the decision that they won't let another writer continue on with her series, as throughout her career she was against anyone else finishing her series. As her daughter said "the alphabet now ends in Y." You can read the New York Times obituary here. There were also several heartfelt tributes in the mystery community, such as this one on Mystery Fanfare. Here are some of our favorite Mystery Playground posts about Sue and her books...

Marcia Muller, Sue and Jan Burke held a wonderful panel at Left Coast Crime in 2014 where they gave real answers to hard questions. Here's our recap of that panel. 

Kerry Hammond loves Sue Grafton's books so much that she wrote a tribute in 2013 in S is for Sue Grafton. 

We will miss you, Sue. Thank you for giving us Kinsey. 


One of our new year's resoultions is to get the Mystery Playground Book Club going. Our first book pick is Death Comes to Pemberly by PD James. My mom and I have both finished the book already and it's great fun. You can join the Mystery Playground closed Facebook group for discussion here. We'll be disscussing it mid-month so there's still plenty of time to read it if you haven't already. 

- Deborah Lacy

Mystery Wednesday - Christmas Edition

For those who want help finding a book for a giftie or for yourself, Penguin has created a book recommendation "hotline" of sorts - it's really a form. You tell them what books. movies, etc. your present recipient likes and Penguin will respond back with recommendations. I filled out the form for my mom (shhhh). I'll let you know what they come back with and how long it took. Mom is a hard reader to buy for because she reads so fast, it's gotta be current and awesome. 

If you're looking for Christmas themed mysteries, Janet Rudolph has you covered over on Mystery Fanfare. Each year she adds to her list of ever growing holiday themed titles. 

If you want to make a Christmas tree out of books, check our Amanda Flower's instruction video.


If you're looking to get your holiday on by watching mystery and crime themed holiday episodes of old TV shows, we've got you covered. 

JAG "All Ye Faithful" 

This episode of JAG from season 8 has so many Christmas season references you'll need a scorecard to find them all, or you can just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. 

In case you're looking, here are all the references to Christmas stories that we found:

- Gift of the Magi
- Santa
- Birth of Jesus
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

If you catch any others, let us know. 

Check here for more holiday/mystery themed episodes and leave us your favorite (especially if we missed it) in the comments below. 

In addition to all of this Christmas mirth, this week we have one exciting bit of news - big congratulations to Mystery Playground contributor, Cari Dubiel, for winning the prestigious 2017 Hugh Holton Award from Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter for her novel in progress, How to Remember. Cari is funding the book through InkShares and you can read all about it here. 

Here's her description of the book:

2017: A woman tries to find out what happened to her during the year she lost her memory. 2016: A man tries to find out who killed his mother. They fell in love once, but she doesn’t remember it.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Seasons Readings to you and all of yours...

- Deborah Lacy

Mystery Wednesday

This week on Mystery Wednesday we're focusing on prepping for the upcoming holidays. 

The New York Times published a graphic this week to help you select a book to give your loved one this holiday season. It doesn't really cover mysteries, and it's not super creative, but it might be helpful for others on your gift list. If that doesn't help, you can also check out their 10 best books of 2017. Again, not a treasure trove of mystery. 

But BookBub has picked up where the NYT left off coming up with a list of the best new mysteries written in the Agatha Christie style for 2017. It's a great list. 

If you're looking for really decadent holiday treats to make for the holidays, you have to check out Patty Tierney's Twix Truffle Brownies over on Olla Podrida.Total yum. 

The Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Podcast, features a little Santa Murder Mystery this week in an audio version of "A Letter to Santa” by Ragnar Jónasson.

And if you'd rather read your short story, you can pick up this issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine and read my story, A Christmas Miracle. It's best to read it with this excellent Pop Rock Hot Cocoa. 

You can make it in a Santa Mug, or this excellent library card mug from Etsy vendor, JoyfulMoose.

Until next week...


Deborah Lacy

Mystery Wednesday

Did you see last night's wedding on Major Crimes between Captain Sharon Raydor and Lt. Andy Flynn? Shippers have been waiting for this one for several seasons. I won't spoil the episode for you with details, but it's worth going to the TNT website and watching the ep if you missed it. This is the final season and I will miss the show once it's off the air. 

Katherine Hall Page's excellent novel, The Body in the Casket, comes out next week (on December 5th.) Both Kerry and I were treated to early copies. Kerry's review will appear soon, but you may want to pre-order. This one is fun. Here's the description:

The inimitable Faith Fairchild returns in a chilling New England whodunit, inspired by the best Agatha Christie mysteries and with hints of the timeless board game Clue.For most of her adult life, resourceful caterer Faith Fairchild has called the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford home. While the native New Yorker has come to know the region well, she isn’t familiar with Havencrest, a privileged enclave, until the owner of Rowan House, a secluded sprawling Arts and Crafts mansion, calls her about catering a weekend house party. 

Producer/director of a string of hit musicals, Max Dane—a Broadway legend—is throwing a lavish party to celebrate his seventieth birthday. At the house as they discuss the event, Faith’s client makes a startling confession. "I didn’t hire you for your cooking skills, fine as they may be, but for your sleuthing ability. You see, one of the guests wants to kill me." 

Faith’s only clue is an ominous birthday gift the man received the week before—an empty casket sent anonymously containing a twenty-year-old Playbill from Max’s last, and only failed, production—Heaven or Hell. Consequently, Max has drawn his guest list for the party from the cast and crew. As the guests begin to arrive one by one, and an ice storm brews overhead, Faith must keep one eye on the menu and the other on her host to prevent his birthday bash from becoming his final curtain call.Full of delectable recipes, brooding atmosphere, and Faith’s signature biting wit, The Body in the Casketis a delightful thriller that echoes the beloved mysteries of Agatha Christie and classic films such as Murder by Death and Deathtrap.

Short Fiction a-Twitter

If you're on Twitter and love short stories, you might like to know that both Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine have joined Twitter. You can find Alfred Hitchcock @ahitchcockmm and Ellery Queen at @eqmm. Other short story Twitter IDs you might also want to follow include the Short Mystery Fiction Society @SMFSocy,  @JoyceCarolOates, @MysteryWeekly and of course, @MysteryPlaygrnd, @deblacy and @kerryhammond88.

That's it for this weeks, Mystery Wednesday. Hope it gets you over hump day. It seems like weeks after holidays are always a little more jam packed with work.

- Deborah Lacy

Mystery Wednesday

Big congratulations to Mystery Playground's own, Kerry Hammond, for having a story accepted for the 2018 Malice Domestic anthology. She's in great company. Here's the full list of titles and authors in the book, "Murder Most Geographical, edited by Nancy Pickard:

"The Jamaican Ice Mystery" by John Betancourt

"Arroyo" by Michael Bracken

"The End of the World" by Susan Breen

"We Shall Fight Them" by Carla Coupe

"Murder on the Northern Lights Express" by Susan Daly

"The Belle Hope" by Peter DiChellis

"Summer Job" by Judith Green

"To Protect the Guilty" by Kerry Hammond

"Ridgeline" by Peter Hayes

"What Goes Around" by Kathryn Johnson

"Keep Calm and Love Moai" by Eleanor Cawood Jones

"Czech Mate" by Kristin Kisska

"Mad About You" by G M Malliet

"Payback with Interest" by Cheryl Marceau

"A Divination of Death" by Edith Maxwell

"The House in Glamaig's Shadow" by William Burton McCormick

"Island Time" by Laura Oles

"Dying in Dokesville" by Alan Orloff

"If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Murder" by Josh Pachter

"Isaac's Daughters" by Anita Page

"Muskeg Man" by Keenan Powell

"The Barrister's Clerk" by Michael Robertson

"Death at the Congressional Cemetery" by Verena Rose

"The Breaker Boy" by Harriette Sackler

"Death on the Beach" by Shawn Reilly Simmons

"Summer Smugglers" by Triss Stein

"Ho'oponopono" by Robin Templeton

"Marigold in the Lake" by Susan Thibadeau

"The Cabin in the Woods" by Sylvia Maultash Warsh

"Death in a Strange and Beautiful Place" by Leslie Wheeler

Also excited to see friends of Mystery Playground, Edith Maxwell, Shawn Reilly Simmons and Anita Page, among the authors here. We'll have more about this anthology when it gets released in May. Kerry is already trying to figure out what drink she should match with her story. 


Speaking of short stories, who knew that Tom Hanks wrote short fiction? Well here's his YouTube video promoting his book full of them. Some of the reviews haven't been kind. 

And since we're on the subject of short stories, you should know that the November issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine is out, featuring a story from friend of Mystery Playground, Debra H. Goldstein, who also had a recent story in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. After you check out this issue, check out Mystery Weekly's Sherlock Holmes inspired issue and drink. 

Next, having nothing to do with short stories and everything to do with chocolate, Mystery Playground librarian, Pat Hernas, and our head photographer and recipe consultant, Janet Kuchler, and I headed out to Concord, CA to the Rachel Dunn chocolate factory for a candy making class and chocolate tasting this past Saturday. There has never been a better smelling factory, my friends. We had a great time - there was candy making and dipping, a little dancing and much tasting. A big thanks to Michael Dunn for showing us around the factory after class. If you have never tried one of their giant caramel & chocolate covered apples, you may want to check it out for the holidays. 

You cut it up with a sharp knife and it feeds twelve. Great idea for a holiday party. Way more creative than cake. 

Last, don't miss Linda Fairstein's excellent op ed in the Washington Post on why Nancy Drew is an excellent role model for today's girls (and boys). A big thank you to Art Taylor for pointing that one out. 

Hope you all have a great week. 
- Deborah Lacy