Bouchercon: “Crime Rave” Picks

On the afternoon of Friday, September 5, 2025, during Bouchercon LVI in New Orleans, Louisiana, a panel discussion was held titled “Crime Rave: Mystery Reviewers Talk About Their Favorite Mysteries.” In advance of said presentation, moderator George Easter dispensed to audience members a flyer listing all the works those critics would be championing. The text of that handout is featured below.

George Easter
Editor of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine (www.deadlypleasures.com)

Recent Favorites:
LEO, Deon Meyer
MIDNIGHT BLACK, Mark Greaney
STILLWATER, Tanya Scott
THE WHITE CROW, Michael Robotham
CLOWN TOWN, Mick Herron

Classic Favorite:
TRUE CRIME, Andrew Klavan

Forgotten Author/Title Favorite:
OUT OF THE BLACKOUT, Robert Barnard

________________________

Larry Gandle
Associate Editor of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

Recent Favorites:
THE DEATH OF US, Abigail Dean
HEARTWOOD, Amity Gage
THE HUMAN SCALE, Lawrence Wright
THE DREAM HOTEL, Laila Lalami
WILD DARK SHORE, Charlotte McConaghy

Classic Favorite:
THE CARTEL, Don Winslow

Little-known Author/Title Favorite:
ROMAN BLOOD, Steven Saylor

________________________

Oline Cogdill
Syndicated Reviewer for South Florida Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness

Recent Favorites:
TOO OLD FOR THIS, Samantha Downing
SAINT OF THE NARROW STREET, William Boyle
LOW APRIL SUN, Constance E. Squires
THE TROUBLE UP NORTH, Travis Mulhauser
EL DORADO DRIVE, Megan Abbott
WE DON’T TALK ABOUT CAROL, Kristen L. Berry (debut)

Classic Favorite:
STREET EIGHT, Douglas Behl Fairbairn (1976)

Little-known Author/Title Favorite:
MR. CLARINET, Nick Stone (2007)

________________________

Meredith Anthony
Author and Reviewer for Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

Recent Favorites:
THE IMPOSSIBLE THING, Belinda Bauer
THE GOOD LIAR, Denise Mina
WE ARE ALL GUILTY HERE, Karin Slaughter
A SONG FOR KATY SHAYNE, Jim Fusilli
BLOOD LIKE MINE, Stuart Neville

Classic Favorite:
A TEST OF WILLS, Charles Todd

Little-known Author/Title Favorite:
THE BAD NEWS BIBLE, Anna Blundy

________________________

J. Kingston Pierce
Webmaster for The Rap Sheet (therapsheet.blogspot.com)

Recent Favorites:
ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, Chris Whitaker
ORDINARY BEAR, C. B. Bernard
CAHOKIA JAZZ, Frances Spufford
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN DRESS, Marian Fredericks
THE ART OF THE LIE, Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Classic Favorite:
THE EIGHTH CIRCLE, Stanley Ellin (1958)

Little-known Author/Title Favorite:
BY GASLIGHT, Steven Price (2016)

Ali Karim, Bouchercon 2025

The Sailcloth Shroud (1972)

Stanley Borack’s original art for The Sailcloth Shroud, by Charles Williams.

Newspaper Notice, “A Thunder of Drums”

This is strange. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) does not credit Kenneth E. Shiflet’s The Valiant Strain as the source material for A Thunder of Drums, the 1961 film starring Richard Boone, George Hamilton, and Luana Patten. It notes only that James Warner Bellah (1899-1976) wrote the script.

However, the clip below, from the April 23, 1958, edition of the Northern Virginia Sun newspaper, makes clear that the movie was based on Shiflet’s novel.

Drum Beat—Berlin (1964)

Drum Beat—Berlin, by Stephen Marlowe (Gold Medal, 1964).
Cover illustration by Stanley Zuckerberg.

Captain Blood Returns (1963)

This is Robert McGinnis’ original cover art for Popular Library’s 1963 paperback edition of Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood Returns.

Captain Blood (1976)

Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini (Bantam, 1976). Front cover and inside cover (“stepback”) art by David Grove.

A McGinnis Match-up

Two different Dell paperback editions from Brett Halliday’s best-selling Michael Shayne private-eye series, both employing the same cover art painted by Robert McGinnis: The Homicidal Virgin (1967) and Marked for Murder (1969).

The Case of the Cautious Coquette (1949)

The Case of the Cautious Coquette, by Erle Stanley Gardner. Published in hardback in 1949 by William Morrow and Company. Cover art by Charles Lofgren.

McGinnis’ Curtains

Below: Revenge, by Jack Ehrlich (Dell, 1958); Kiss and Kill, by Ellery Queen (Dell, 1969), ghostwritten by Charles Runyon. Both covers were painted painted by Robert McGinnis.