HAPPY NEW YEAR, DEAR READERS!

The Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem had a fabulous year in 2021 in print and cyberspace.

We accomplished so much the past year that once again our annual review is in two parts. Part One tells you about the recognitions we received and lists our book and story publications. Part Two outlines our appearances in cyberspace plus our new social media ventures.

Hope the joke 2020, 2020-WON and 2020-TOO stays a joke! And that we’ll be seeing you in the Real World soon in the New Year.

We’re delighted to confirm that the Mesdames of Mayhem’s fifth anthology, The Spirit of 13, will be published in 2022 by Carrick Publishing, Donna Carrick is our editor.

Melodie Campbell signed a contract with Cormorant Books for her new mystery series, The Merry Widow Murders, set in the 1920s.

She’s also a regularly featured author on leading crime fiction blog, Sleuthsayers. And she wrote the foreword to Crime Wave!

Lisa De Nikolits‘s dystopian thriller, The Rage Room, was a finalist for the 2021 International Book Awards for Science Fiction.

Rage Room has received terrific reviews on Good Reads and the Miramichi Reader among many other review sites.

Cat Mills was a finalist for Best International Director at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival – for the wonderful documentary she made about us, The Mesdames of Mayhem!

And yes, that’s Melbourne, Australia!

Madona Skaff’s thriller, Death by Association, the second book in the Naya series, was listed as one of the Best Books of 2020 by Jamieson Wolf.

Caro Soles‘ historical novel, Dancing with the Chairs in the Music House (Inanna Publications) won the Bronze Medal in the IPPY Awards, Canada East Best Regional Fiction.

Congratulations are due to Kevin Thornton for his NINE short story acceptances in 2021. That’s more than 70,000 words, the length of a novel!

Sylvia Warsh‘s story, “Days Without Name”, was a finalist for the CWC 2021 Awards of Excellence for Best Short Story. “Days Without Name” was published in the anthology, A Grave Diagnosis, Donna Carrick, editor (Carrick Publishing)

Melissa Yi’s gripping thriller, Scorpion Scheme, was a finalist for Best Thriller at the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion 2021 Awards and listed as one of the Best Books of 2020 by Jamieson Wolf.

The Grand Art of Murder is Cathy Astolfo’s latest thriller (Moe Publications).

Cathy also re-released her Emily Taylor mystery, The Bridgeman plus two of her hilarious Chittendom stories, Twice the Chit.

Rosemary Aubert‘s new novel is September, the love story of an older couple (Westwood Books Publishing). The beautiful cover is a painting by her husband, artist Douglas Purdon.

Jayne Barnard re-released three books in her critically acclaimed YA steampunk series, the Maddie Hatter Adventures, Deadly Diamond, Gilded Gauge and Timely Taffeta (Clockworks and Crime Media).

M. H. Callway‘s short story, “The Moon God of Broadmoor”
appeared in the well-received anthology, Moonlight and Misadventure, editor Judy Penz Sheluk, (Superior Shores Press).

Her story, “Incompetence Kills”, first published in EFD 1: Starship Goodwords (Carrick Publishing), was reprinted in the 2021 BOULD anthology.

Melodie Campbell released the first two books in her historical fantasy Rowena series on Audible: Rowena Through the Wall and Rowena and the Dark Lord.

Lisa De Nikolits‘s critically acclaimed, The Rage Room, is now available on Audible.

Blair Keetch‘s story, “Killings 4 Sale”, is part of the black humor anthology, Asinine Assassins (Smart Rhino Publishing). And his story, “200 Miles to Murder” was published by Dark and Stormy Book Club.

Rosemary McCracken‘s suspense story, “The Passenger”, was published in Mystery Weekly Magazine, one of North America’s leading zines for short crime fiction.

Madona Skaff’s speculative fiction crossover mystery, Shifting Trust, was published by Renaissance Press. The striking cover was designed by her daughter.

Caro Soles’s latest speculative fiction crossover mystery, The Colony Dancers, was published by Mystique Press. It is the fifth book in the Merculian Mystery Series featuring Inspector Marlo.

Kevin Thornton’s story, “One Good Thing”, is one of the hilarious tales in the anthology, Asinine Assassins. And he sold eight Sherlock Holmes stories. Six were published in 2021 (MX Publishing), two are scheduled for 2022. For a full listing of Kevin’s Sherlock Holmes stories, please see our Year End Book Review.

Sylvia Warsh sold her suspense story, “The Natural Order of Things” to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine for publication in 2022.

Her essay, “Recreating the Past” appeared in the Mystery Readers International Journal.

Melissa Yi had an incredible year. Her ninth Hope Sze mystery, White Lightning, was published in December (Windtree Press) and she still found time to publish five short stories

Here’s the list: “Dead Man’s Hand” in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; “Flamingo Flamenco” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine; “The Three Little Prigs” in Burly Tales; “The Bao Queen” in Food of My People; and “Catgirl, Heart and Skin” in Artificial Divide. Her story, “Humans ‘n’ Hot Dogs” was reprinted in both Amazing Stories and Speculative North magazines.

A huge thank you and big hugs to Marilyn Kay and Roz Place for their hard work updating the world about the Mesdames and Messieurs throughout the year!