Lee Child returns to Crime Fiction Academy tonight to talk with CFA Director Jonathan Santlofer about the craft of suspense writing. The event starts at 7 p.m. at The Center for Fiction in New York City.

Writing for The Independent, Barry Forshaw looks at "Crime fiction: Persuasive humanity in society's darkest corners," ranging from Philip Kerr's The Other Side of Silence to Not so Thin Ice by Quentin Bates.

Poland is set to be the market focus for London Book Fair in 2017. Grzegorz Gauden, director of The Polish Book Institute, said that the country had something to boast about, with “many interesting authors in Polish contemporary literature and several literary genres, such as reportage and crime fiction, which are considered around the world as Poland’s specialty.”

Some small and independent publishers are struggling, but many are actually flourishing in the new publishing financial climate. Publishers Weekly compiled a list of the seven fastest-growing independent publishers for 2016, a mix of veterans and newcomers.

Some interesting ebook publication news this week: Barnes and Noble's Nook is pulling out of the UK and transferring its UK customers to Sainsbury's; and Google has patented two new types of e-books that involve digital media interacting with actual physical books.

Looking for a great new crime fiction read? Check out the latest array of reviews from The Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and The New York Times. Plus, Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet has compiled a huge listing of crime fiction titles being published this spring to add to your "to be read" pile.

UHArts and the University of Hertfordshire in the UK are presenting A Study in Sherlock, a season of films and presentations throughout March 2016. (Hat tip to Ayo Onatade via Shots Magazine.)

Whether you're a thriller author or just someone who thinks James Bond's Q is the best thing about the franchise, you might enjoy this list of the "Top 20 Spy Gadgets from the Cold War."

Speaking of James Bond, Angie Barry compiled her choices of "The 12 Best James Bond Films: A Feminist’s Take on the World’s Favorite Spy."

Mike Ripley is out with the latest edition of his “Getting Away with Murder” column for Shots Magazine. This month, he chats about the official reopening of London’s “refurbished Sherlock Holmes public house,” a British Library seminar on author Eric Ambler, and new novel releases from Robert Ryan (The Sign of Fear), Philip Kerr (The Other Side of Silence), Elizabeth Wilson (She Died Young), Ken Bruen and Jason Starr (Pimp), and others. (HT to the Rap Sheet.)

There's no way you can't love this irresistible story: a pair of siblings, age 7 and 10, have started their own private detective agency, taking on neighborhood mysteries.

The new issue of Mysterical-e contains eight new short crime stories, as well as Gerald So's regular column on TV and Film, Christine Verstraete's reviews, and author interviews with Nancy Cole Silverman and Cheryl Hollon.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Insider" by Angel Zapata, and the brand new story at Beat to a Pulp is "The Nature of the Beast" by Paul D. Marks.

In the Q&A roundup, William Shaw stopped by Crime Watch to take the "9mm Interview Challenge" and chat about his 'Breen and Tozer' trilogy set in late 1960s London and his new standalone, The Birdwatcher, which involves a Police Sergeant who is himself a murderer investigating a murder on the Kent coast; Quentin Bates, author of an acclaimed Icelandic crime series, talked about his lead character, translating, and plans for this year’s Iceland Noir festival, on the Euro But Not Trash blog; Kennedy Quinn joined Omnimystery News for a discussion of her new first in series mystery The Last, Best Lie; and Jeffery Deaver stopped by the Crime Fiction Lover blog to chat about his latest novel, The Steel Kiss, the 12 installment of his series featuring quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme.