LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Oh my gosh, I can hardly wait to tell you about my Lucky Week! On May 1, my short story “With My Eyes” (Suspense Magazine), won the 2018 Derringer Award, given by the Short Mystery Fiction Society, in the “long story” category. A young Seattle banker sees what he wants to see when he falls for a beautiful Greek woman, until an eye-opening trip to Greece. Later that week, I attended the Malice Domestic convention, celebrating the traditional mystery. Continuing the short story fun, “A Death in Yelapa: A Food Lovers’ Village Story,” was published in this year’s Malice anthology, Mystery Most Edible;  all the stories feature food in some way or another, mine as a clue when Erin and Adam discover that snakes and crocodiles are not the only dangers in the forests of Central Mexico. And at the awards dinner, “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine) won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story, in the first of two ties that evening. (A full list of nominees and winners is here.) You can travel back to Montana Territory in 1885 with me and real-life historical figure “Stagecoach Mary” Fields and read the story, free, on my website.

The only way to top all that is with a new book, right? CHAI ANOTHER DAY, the 4th Spice Shop Mystery, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, will be out June 11, in trade paper and e-book. (The audio will appear later this summer.) When Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece overhears an argument in an antique shop, she finds herself drawn into a murder that could implicate an old enemy, or ensnare a new friend. Read an excerpt and reviews, and see where to buy it — all the usual places, on line and in bookstores — on my website.