Bouchercon 2026: Report by Rebecca Tope

 

I was at this year’s Bouchercon in Calgary (21^st to 25^th October from the start, registering first thing on the Wednesday. We got a free T-shirt, and vouchers for two free books. The Calgary convention centre is state-of-the-art, connected by elevated walkways to many downtown buildings, including hotels, so you never need to go outside. It was a while before I realised how cold it was. There was a substantial snowfall on the last night.  

I attended several panels, all of them of considerable interest. They also generally had good-sized audiences – including the one I was on. There were many highlights, and I was kept very busy listening, talking and taking notes. Topics included the definition and future of the ‘cozy’ genre; the politeness of Canadians; the rigors of the climate in Northern Canada; crime fiction and social conscience; and finally the inclusion of magic and paranormal in the crime fiction genre. This last was poorly-attended, being on the last morning, but completely fascinating. The books of Ruth Setton look well worth reading.

My panel addressed the question of why ‘cozies’ are so perennially popular. We found that the 45-minute format really isn’t long enough for much serious discussion, and many people seemed to feel the same. The book room dealers had none of my Lake District titles, but a few of the Cotswolds ones. There were far fewer UK attenders than at any previous Bouchercons I have been to. This was my ninth.  

Standout moments for me were – firstly, hearing Nancy Coco (from Michigan USA) describe her writing process which was almost exactly like mine. She starts a book not knowing anything about the story, just letting it unfold. Then roughly two-thirds of the way through she goes back and finds the clues she has unconsciously laid down for herself, which point to the villain and the motive. That’s the way I do it, too.

Secondly, enjoying the elusive but definite differences between Canadians and Americans. This was not helped, though, by the absence of  our home towns, or countries, appearing on our lanyards, as is the usual practice. At least half the attenders were from the US, so it was an inevitable game to try and identify which was which. Many Americans were from Montana, Washington State and Minnesota – with accents not too different from that of southern Canadians. Calgary is quite close to the border. It made for fascinating conversations and comparisons.  

I delighted in seeing Abir Mukharjee for the first time, enjoying his humour enormously. Other people I encountered for the first time included Pamela Beason (Canadian), Stephen England (Montana), Charlotte Morganti  and Liz Rachel Walker (both Canadian). I will make a point of finding their books, as they sounded very enticing. On my panel was Roz Nay, originally from England, whose books feature a courtroom clerk. They sounded great.

Photograph far right is Pamela Beason

I was also very happy to listen to Laurie R King and Louise Penny again. They are both huge favourites of mine. There was an interview with
Kathy Reichs, who I had not seen before.
Sara Paretsky had very wise words for us on her panel. 

 I attended the Joffe Books party, which was very lively, and met Susanna Calkins who was really interesting to talk to. She became fascinated with seventeenth-century England while pursuing her doctorate in British history. A former pirate, she once served on the Golden Hinde--a museum replica of Sir Frances Drake's ship--now dry docked in the Thames.

Calgary itself is a big city of 1,500,000 people. The centre boasts a lot of new skyscrapers, a pedestrian street and plenty of places to eat. I went to the Loughreed Museum for a change of scene. It was very well done, and very informative.  

Leaving on the Sunday, my son and I drove west over the breathtakingly glorious Rocky Mountains, adding greatly to a highly enjoyable trip. I am seriously considering showing up in Indianapolis in 2028 and maybe Seattle in 2030.

                                                                   Rebecca Tope

‘A Very Novel Murder’ by Ellie Alexander

Published by Storm Publishing,
17 November 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83700119-7 (PB)

Annie Murray has long wanted to open a Detective Agency, and opening one above her beloved bookstore seems to be the solution. Having studied criminology in college she had intended to pursue a career in that field, with her best friend Scarlet. But that dream ended when Scarlet was murdered right before graduation. Now ten years on, Annie along with Fletcher is going realise her dream. 

The Novel Detective Agency has now been open for three weeks but they have no clients. Until Caroline Miles, a friend now walking out with Hal Christie, the former owner of The Secret Bookshop. Caroline was in her late sixties. Her request for a mystery to be solved concerns Hal Christie, who has long been convinced that he is Agatha Christie’s long-lost son.  He himself had tried years ago but the records remain sealed. She then produces a broach, that she had found in an old box of Hal’s things. Caroline then produces a picture showing Agatha wearing the broach that is clearly the double of the one Caroline is holding. I want to hire you, said Caroline, to prove once and for all that Hal Christie is related to the famous Agatha Christie. 

The following morning an elderly lady called June Munrow telephones saying she has a matter that she would like them to help her with. She is convinced that young girl Kelly Taylor’s recent drowning wasn't the tragic accident everyone believes it to be. June wants them to prove there’s more to the story and hires the Novel Detectives to uncover the truth. 

Annie agrees to take the case and delves into Kelly’s life, which she discovers is a tangled web of secrets. Kelly’s has complicated relationships, a peculiar landlord, and a mysterious roommate. It seems that anyone connected with Kelly seems to be hiding something, and the more Annie investigates, the more confusing the case becomes. 

Will Fletcher and Annie manage to solve the two cases?
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett 

Ellie Alexander is the bestselling author of more than forty cozy mystery novels. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese, reaching readers worldwide. She is the founder of the annual Ashland Mystery Festival and a frequent guest at library programs and author events throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond, including the popular Northwest Authors series and independent bookshops across the region. A proud Pacific Northwest native, Alexander now lives in Sunnyvale, California.

‘No Place Left’ by Sean Watkin

Published by Canelo Crime,
17 September 2026.
ISBN: 978-1 835981-34-4 (PB)

A dead, new-born baby is discovered on Southport Pier. The baby’s teenage mother, Beatrice Tredwell, who had escaped from a secure mental health facility three weeks previously, is found alive on the beach. Sadly, Beatrice dies in hospital, but not before the Merseyside detectives DCI Winifred de Silva and DS Ben Barclay learn that she had been horrifically abused. As they start to investigate, it transpires that the deaths of Beatrice and her baby could well be a continuation of previous crimes related to abuse at a boy’s school and the sinister Woulds app – its contents were never explained. These earlier crimes had been associated with two rogue police colleagues, O’Brien and Crosby, both of whom are now in prison.  De Silva visits them.  Neither offers any useful information, though both succeed in arousing De Silva’s worries about her dead father’s knowledge of the earlier abuses. 

Investigations continue until the unthinkable happens. DS Barclay’s young daughter, Sarah, is abducted from an enclosed play zone that Barclay, his husband Nick, and one of Nick’s friends had taken her to and were supposedly keeping a watchful eye on her.  Sarah was not the first young girl to go missing, but she seems to have been one of the first that anybody really cared about. A huge hunt begins for Sarah and her abductors. Ben and Nick were nearly driven out of their minds with worry, particularly after the searches revealed an app redolent of the earlier Woulds app, on Sarah’s tablet. To make matters worse, it emerges that, neither historically nor in the present, children weren’t the only ones who had suffered in this abuse saga. Adults connected with missing children had been viciously murdered. 

No place left is a well written book – possible too well written. So well does it convey the anguish, mostly mental, but also physical, that besets the characters who have to deal with the abhorrent features of child sex abuse, that it would take a hard-hearted person not to become affected by the detectives’ problems, both professional and personal. De Silva seems to be still burdened with PTSD following the suicide of her husband, whilst Ben Barclay is depressed and is struggling with the failure of his marriage that had floundered even before his beloved daughter was abducted.  This is the third, and very dark, book of a trilogy. I haven’t read the first two, but I suspect that they, too, would be full of the anguish and distress so tellingly expressed in No Place Left.  If you can cope with the subject matter and the suffering of the dedicated professionals as they struggling to uncover and punish the unspeakable horrors committed by individuals and gangs who abuse young children that is so brilliantly portrayed by Sean Watkin, then No Place Left will be an excellent read for you.
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Reviewer Angela Crowther 

Sean Watkin was born and raised in Liverpool and studied a BA and MA in Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University. He has been shortlisted for Fresher Writing Award, Book a Break Prize and Bristol Short Story Prize. His writing has been featured in The Gay UK magazine, and The Content Wolf e-zine, as well as other LGBT+ publications. Sean lives in Liverpool with his partner. His debt novel Black Water Rising was published in April 2025.

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

 

50,000 books for people on probation mark 20 years of Quick Reads

 Penguin Random House funds a special print run of ten titles from its Quick Reads back catalogue, supporting The Reading Agency’s ambition to gift one million books.

The Reading Agency is marking the 20th anniversary of Quick Reads with a gift of 50,000 books, funded by Penguin Random House, for people supported by probation services across England and Wales. The special print run supports the charity’s ambition to gift one million Quick Reads for the programme’s anniversary and forms part of its National Year of Reading activity.

The books will reach people serving sentences in the community and those rebuilding their lives after prison. Some will become part of shared reading collections, while others will be gifted directly to individuals, helping more adults find reading that suits their interests and needs.

Karen Napier, CEO of The Reading Agency said: “Twenty years after Quick Reads began, its purpose remains as vital as ever: to make the transformative benefits of reading accessible to everyone, including people who may not otherwise see reading as something for them.

“We are enormously grateful to Penguin Random House for funding the reprinting and distribution of these 50,000 books. This generous support will help us reach people in probation and community settings across England and Wales, bringing us closer to our ambition of gifting one million Quick Reads during the National Year of Reading. A single accessible and engaging book can help someone begin—or rediscover—a reading journey. It can offer enjoyment, build confidence and create new possibilities at an important point in their life.”

Meredith Adams, Director of Social Impact, Penguin Random House said: “We’re incredibly proud to continue supporting Quick Reads through this special National Year of Reading gift of 50,000 books. Reading can open new worlds, provide comfort and build confidence, but we know that not everyone has equal opportunities to discover a love of reading. What makes Quick Reads so powerful is the combination of brilliant storytelling from some of the nation’s best-loved authors with accessible formats that help break down barriers to reading. This programme builds on our long-standing commitment to improve access to reading within the prison system and we hope will help more people discover, or rediscover, the joy of reading and the possibilities it can bring.”

The ten books included in the distribution are:

Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson

Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab

Bloody Valentine by James Patterson

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Blind Spot by Paula Hawkins

Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle

Paris for One by Jojo Moyes

Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman

Hello Mum by Bernardine Evaristo

The Jealousy Man by Jo Nesbø

Written by bestselling authors, Quick Reads use clear, straightforward language while retaining the compelling characters, ideas and storytelling of longer works. The short books offer an accessible route into reading for adults who find it difficult, have lost the reading habit or face barriers to accessing books.

Since its launch in 2006, Quick Reads has helped millions of people experience the benefits of reading.

‘A Body at Boot Camp’ by Ellie Alexander

Published by Storm Publishing,
25 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83700158-8 (PB)

Book four in the Meg Reed series finds our intrepid magazine reporter in Fort Vancouver’s Historic Old Army Barracks. The place is very creepy, and Meg is certain that it is haunted. She is currently limping through damp grass with blisters on her heels and wishing she was somewhere else. Why, oh! why did she sign up for a brutal fitness boot camp. Eventually, she reached the barracks, with only one thing on her mind, a hot shower. At that moment, someone barrelled through the door and knocked her off her feet, although he raced away, she was pretty sure that it was Tim Baxter, she recognised his bulk and black, hooded sweatshirt but what was he doing in the locker room? Eventually she found the cedar steam room door, which was wide open, and she sank onto a warm bench. Just what she needed. Then she realised that Billy was there. If she could just get her contact lenses cleared, she might be able to see him and apologise for cutting out early. She raised her foot to show him her injury. But Billy didn’t reply so, she walked over to find why he wasn’t responding. There was a bandana knotted around his neck. Someone had strangled him, Billy was dead!   

Meg worked for Northwest Extreme. Her boss Greg encouraged his staff to head outside for a lunchtime run on the waterfront path or mountain bike in Forest Park. Meg had had, quite a crush on Greg when she first worked there, but her friend Matt said he didn’t trust him, so, if Matt had reservations about Greg, she felt they were probably well-founded.   

The news that a Japanese company were interested in buying out the magazine was huge shock to the staff. Greg continues that nothing has yet been decided. And asks for ideas for the next issue. The room was silent, the staff most likely digesting the news that they may be taken over and out of a job. Meg felt bad for him and suggested that she sign up with ‘Mind Over Mudder’. Greg was delighted.  And what does Meg do, Find a dead body. 

Meg sets out to investigate and discovers that the gruelling workouts and scaling ten-foot walls maybe not be the main danger, but the people running bedside her maybe!  

A good mystery with many twists and turns, that will keep you turning the pages.  Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Ellie Alexander is the bestselling author of more than forty cozy mystery novels. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese, reaching readers worldwide. She is the founder of the annual Ashland Mystery Festival and a frequent guest at library programs and author events throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond, including the popular Northwest Authors series and independent bookshops across the region. A proud Pacific Northwest native, Alexander now lives in Sunnyvale, California.

‘A Thousand Silent Cries’ by Karen Millie-James

Published by Vinci Books,
22 October 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03673338-4

Ten years ago, Flis Carrington’s four-year-old daughter died.  She was, and still is, devastated.  Flis finds some solace in her work as a clinical psychologist, but over the years she has lost touch with many friends and her relationship with husband James seems fractured beyond repair.  James is a ferociously ambitious barrister, and Fliss is respected as an expert witness within the legal profession.  They seem to be the perfect high-flying couple.  Sadly, whilst they are still living together, they lead increasingly separate lives, and the façade is about to crumble. 

As the book opens Flis is preparing food for a small dinner party that James has arranged hoping to forge links with an influential high court judge Anthony Beaumont.  The discord between husband and wife begins when James gets home to be told that Flis has extended the invitation to include her old friend Cydney Granger.  Anthony and his wife Dora, also a high court judge, arrive just before Cydney and her partner; both women pick up on the tension between their hosts and empathise with Flis’s still raw feelings of loss.  Dora is the first to reach out to the grieving mother, then Cydney arrives and senses that something even more troubling and profound is unsettling the Carringtons’ world.  Thus begins a tragic, complex and absorbing story.

 

Cydney is a renowned corporate forensic investigator, and it is she who drives the narrative.  Her day job involves exposing, analysing and providing evidence to employers who suspect misconduct from criminals working either within or from outside their organisations.  Such detective skills, of course, also equip her to discover other illicit activities and an instinctive ability to know when someone or something is disturbed.  But that’s not all, she also has a paranormal spirit guide.  These mystical abilities set Cydney apart from other characters in the narrative, whilst never distancing her from the reader – quite a feat.

 

As chilling events from the past reach unexpectedly into the present, carefully curated back stories are exposed and several of the characters find themselves confronted by memories and villains they thought were long gone.  Cydney is determined to help Flis and expose the lies that threaten to cause emotional, psychological and physical harm to good people.  It is a dangerous pursuit.  Her spirit guide is just that, a guide; his input tantalizes without telling all, and as his observations tease Cydney, an ever-increasing sense of tension and jeopardy develops.  

 

A Thousand Silent Cries is the third novel to feature Cydney Granger; it works perfectly well as a stand-alone.  Karen Millie-James writes beautifully as she weaves together detective fiction, romance and paranormal fantasy to create a thrilling read.  

 

A gripping novel of intrigue, violence, love and highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Karen Millie-James was born in North London to a father who had escaped Germany with the kindertransport in 1939 and a mother who was a talented window dresser and designer in London's West End. Inspired to do well, Karen studied business and languages at the University of Westminster which led to her joining the legal department of Levi Strauss, quickly being promoted to European Group Company Secretary where she remained until the company closed down its UK headquarters. Karen never intended to write a book but what started as a hobby in her spare time away from the office, working in the evenings until late into the night and at weekends, has now become a new and exciting part of her life. Karen now lives in the Buckinghamshire countryside with her husband. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘The Body at the Windmill’ by Kate Hardy

Published by Storm Publishing,
7 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83700274-0 (PB)

When Georgina’s cleaner Jodie receives a call from her son Harry’s school, saying that he is unwell, Georgina offers to drive her to Great Wenborough Windmill to collect Harry who was on a school trip doing Victorian studies. In this instance how grain used to be milled in the old days and turned into flour. 

When they arrive at the five-storey windmill, it is not just Harry who is ill but most of the class and teachers. They assume it is nasty bug, but it is eventually traced to chicken sausage rolls provided to the children. Suspicion eventually falls on the mill owner Louise Wilkins, who had spent a year restoring it. Then Georgie’s Springer spaniel Bert also goes down with poisoning after eating a sausage roll.

The added news from Jodie the following morning that the teacher Miss Hurst had died last night prompts Georgie to get to the bottom of these poisonings. 

When later talking to her friend Sybbie she learns that a dead rat was found in the grain.  Is someone trying to frame Louise and cause difficulties for her new business?  Doing some research, Georgina discovered that in the early 1800’s there were more than 400 windmills across the country, most of them demolished or derelict. Further information from Cesca, Sybbie’s daughter is that Louise has been experiencing problems over the last few months when people have been spreading rumours. Silly stuff, about odd happenings and an old story about a mad miller who murdered someone years ago. 

While no nonsense DI Colin Bradshaw, Georgina other half follows up on the poisonings. Georgina decides to contact her friend, Doris, the ghost of an eighteen-year-old girl who had died after a fall down the stairs at Rockery Farm more than half a century ago and is now Georgina’s home, and who might have some insight into the matter. Delving into the mill’s dark history she uncovers a chilling parallel.  Over a century earlier, the miller’s daughter Margaret Chorley was accused of poisoning a local family with arsenic-laced flour and was hanged in 1845. Could someone for reasons unknown be following the Victorian case as a blueprint for a modern-day murder?  Or has someone got it in for Louise Wilkins? 

As the poisoning continues, can Georgina solve the mystery of the current day poisoner? 

A tantalising mystery and intriguing mystery. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Kate Hardy has written for as long as she can remember; it started with stories about ponies and dogs, moved into ghosts and history, and then into local history and romance. She's won three Romantic Novelists' Association awards for her romantic fiction - and is thoroughly enjoying her new life of crime! She lives in Norwich with her husband, two grown-up children, two spaniels and too many books to count. When she's not writing or researching, she'll be out at a gig or the theatre, at ballet class, doing cross-stitch, taking photographs of the sunrise while persuading the spaniels to stay still for one second, fossicking around on a beach or in archives, or exploring ancient buildings. She loves learning new things, which is why you'll always discover something different in a Kate Hardy book. Oh - and, like her heroine Georgina Drake, Kate's deaf but doesn't let it hold her back in any way. 

The Macavity Awards 2026

 (for works published in 2025)

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Congratulations to all.

 Want to be a member/subscriber, go here. 
Mystery Readers Journal themes for 2026: Fairs, Fetes, and Festivals; Mysteries set in France; Cross-Genre Mysteries; and Mysteries set in India. 

Macavity Winners 2026
(for works published in 2025)

 Best Mystery Novel

*Crooks by Lou Berney
(William Morrow)

 Also nominated:

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Clown Town by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

River of Lies by James L'Etoile (Oceanview Publishing)

The White Crow by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur Books)

 
Best First Mystery 

*History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook
(Soho Press)

Also nominated:

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
(Minotaur Books)

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
(Bantam Books)

Voices of the Elysian Fields by Michael Rigg
(Level Best Books)

Stillwater by Tanya Scott
(Grove Atlantic)

Best Mystery Nonfiction

*Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England by Dawn M. Barclay
 (Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation by Michael Cannell
(Minotaur Books)

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)

V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup
 (Bloomsbury Sigma)

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley
(University of Virginia Press)

Cooler than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins
 (Mariner Books)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Six-Armed Robbery” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (in Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, and Michael Bracken, Wildside Press)

Also Nominated

“Hollywood Prometheus” by Christa Faust (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West, Bywater Books)

“Finding Jimmy Baldwin” by Cheryl Head (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West, Bywater Books)

“The Devil Himself” by Vaseem Khan (in Double Crossing Van Dine, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor, Crippen & Landru Publishers)

“The Skies Are Red” by Richie Narvaez (in On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito, Rock and a Hard Place Press)

“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2025)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery

*Bye Bye Blackbird by Elizabeth Crowens
(Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

A Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder by Dianne Freeman
(Kensington Books)

City Lights by Claire M. Johnson
(Level Best Books)

The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver
(Boldwood Books)

The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
(Kensington Books)

No. 10 Doyers Street by Radha Vatsal
 (Level Best Books)

 Many back issues of Mystery Readers Journal
are available as single copies in hardcopy or PDF.
 

Murder Takes a Holiday: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Historical Mysteries I: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Private Eyes I & Private Eyes II : Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

 Environmental Mysteries: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Irish Mysteries: Available as PDF and Hardcopy.

 Senior Sleuths: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Legal Mysteries: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

 Mysteries set in France: Available as PDF

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