ANNOUNCING!

The Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem’s new anthology, The Power of 13, celebrating our 13th anniversary, will be available for pre-order in September. Stand by for the exact date and links.

 The Power of 13 contains 20+ tales and a play-let of mayhem, mischief and murder. Most are light-hearted and some a little darker: we are crime writers after all.

Thirteen can be sinister or magical. It can mean good luck or disaster. Is fear of 13 mere superstition or is it truly ill fate? Our tales go back in time, peep into the future or venture into the supernatural and realms of fantasy to seek the answer. Whether it’s a missing lottery ticket, a misplaced body, a sought-after Sherlockian tale, a plague of rodents or the secret floor of an office building… You will discover The Power of 13!

Mark your calendars: our Real-World launch takes place at our favourite bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street, Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. Refreshments will be served! Our virtual launch is scheduled for mid-November. Full details in the Mesdames October newsletter.

CONGRATULATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

Mme Lisa De Nikolits’ launch of her new thriller, That Time I Killed You, takes place on September 2, 2026, 6:30 p.m. at Book Bar, 600 Markham Street, Mirvish Village, Toronto. Now available on Amazon:  That Time I Killed You eBook: de Nikolits, Lisa: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

A crime once thought safely contained begins to resurface, exposing the fragile architecture of a life built on silence. What follows is a slow, tightening unraveling—of memory, of relationships, and of the stories people tell themselves in order to survive.

Mme Hope Thompson had a book signing for her new book, Dark Thoughts and Other Stories, on Saturday, August 29th at Glad Day Lit, 32 Lisgar Street, Toronto. Dark Thoughts & Other Stories: Thompson, Hope: 9781998441372: Books – Amazon.ca

Set on city streets from the 1930s and 50s to the present day and beyond, these stories bristle with the grit of noir. While some are lighter, and others darker, all are about people forced by circumstance to escape their situation—or die trying.

Mme Hope Thompson was also Mme Melodie Campbell’s guest on Sleuthsayers exploring The Human Condition. Here’s the link to her great blog: SleuthSayers: The Human Condition

On September 8th, Canadian Chronicles, an anthology of 17 Canadian crime stories by 17 Canadian authors published by Crimeucopia, will be released by British publisher Murderous Ink Press, and will feature Mme Rosemary McCracken’s story, “The Millenium Project”! https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0HBC6CYXT

EVENTS

Readers Take Cornwall

Mme Melissa Yi will be back at the Eastern Ontario authors festival, Readers Take Cornwall, on Sunday, September 27th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Best Western Parkway Inn and Conference Centre, 1818 Vincent Massey Drive, Cornwall. Readers Take Cornwall | Bookish Event

Brews and Clues

Friend of the Mesdames, Des O’Ryan, will be back in September with Brews and Clues, held at Stout Irish Pub, 221 Carlton St., Toronto, the second Thursday of every month. First event on Thursday, September 10th at 6:30 pm. And some exciting news: the Mesdames and Messieurs will be Des’s guests on December 10th, featuring The Power of 13 in time for Christmas!

Word on the Street

Word on the Street takes place Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th at David Pecaut Square, 215 King Street West, Toronto, between Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, Location WB5. Several of the Mesdames will be at the table co-hosted by Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime Toronto:  Mmes M. H. Callway, Rosemary McCracken (Saturday 12 -2 p.m. and Sunday 11:30 am -1:30 pm), Lynne Murphy (Saturday 2-4 p.m.), Sylvia Maultash Warsh and Lorna Poplak. In addition, Lorna will be on the Neighbourhood Stage between 10:30 and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday with fellow nonfiction author Barbara Dickson and moderator Adam Bunch to uncover the compelling stories, complex characters, and overlooked histories that reveal another side of the places we know.

LOOKING AHEAD

Bouchercon 2026 Calgary

This year’s Bouchercon takes place in Calgary, Alberta from October 21st to 25th. Several Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem are attending. To date, this includes M. H. Callway, Lisa De Nikolits, Therese Greenwood, Rosemary McCracken, Ed Piwowarczyk, Sylvia Warsh, Hope Thompson and Melissa Yi. Look for details on panels in our October Mesdames on the Move.

Bony Blithe 2027

After six years of being asleep in the closet, the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award “for books that make us smile” is back, thanks to our wonderful sponsors: the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and author Jan Field. The award is the jolly plaque (shown above) plus $1000. The 2027 award will be presented once again next year at the 2027 Bony Blithe Mini-con on Friday, May 14 (mark your calendars).

The award is for books that are fun to read. No angst, no gravitas, no brutality or horribleness. It’s for traditional mysteries, cozies, capers, satires, heists, humorous books (from gentle humour to laugh-out-loud fun), books that don’t hammer us with A Message. In other words, books that entertain us, that make us feel good, that make us smile.

NOTE: We will start calling for submissions around the end of September and throughout October and November. Keep checking the Bony Blithe website www.bonyblithe.ca for instructions, starting after September 15.

We are accepting entries in e-book format only. You can find the full rules posted on the Bony Blithe website www.bonyblithe.ca and elsewhere, but in a nutshell, you are eligible to submit to the award if:

• Your book was published for the first time between January 1 and December 31, 2026. The book can be published in any format: print, e-book, or audiobook.
• Your book is in English.
• Your book is a minimum of 60,000 words.
• You are a Canadian citizen (you don’t have to be living in Canada) or a permanent resident of Canada. Your publisher does not have to be Canadian.
• NOTE: We will start calling for submissions around the end of September and throughout October and November. Keep checking the Bony Blithe website

Either you or your publisher can submit your book. Right now, we are rebuilding our sadly out-of-date list of publishers we can contact to submit books to the award. If you are published by a publisher who submits books to award contests, please send the name of the publisher plus contact info for whoever is responsible for submitting books to us at award@bonyblithe.ca.

For more info, write to us at info@bonyblithe.ca.