The winners have been announced for this year's German Mystery Prize. In the German language category, Die Experten by Merle Kröger took top honors. This is the second such nod for Kröger, who previously won in 2013, and he was also runner-up in 2016. In the International category, Tokyo Redux, the final volume in David Peace's trilogy, took the top prize. (HT to The Literary Saloon.)

The recent Hugo Awards for science Fiction and fantasy were dominated once again by women, with Martha Wells taking the best novel prize for Network Effect. That work is the latest in her "Murderbot Diaries" series, which also won the Hugo for Best Series this year. The Murderbot Diaries follow "Murderbot," the self-chosen name of a particular SecUnit, an intelligent partly-organic robot rented out by the company that owns it for security purposes. Murderbot has secretly hacked its governor module, but none of the members of the planetary survey team it’s working for have any idea.

Award-winning novelist Walter Mosley has been named the recipient of the 2022 Sankofa Freedom Award, presented by Tulsa City-County Library’s African-American Resource Center and the Tulsa Library Trust. Mosley has published more than 60 works of fiction and non-fiction and is best known among the Crime Fiction community for his Easy Rawlins mysteries, the Fearless Jones mysteries, the Leonid McGill mysteries, and the Socrates Fortlow novels. Along the way, he's also tried "to help readers understand and appreciate Black life in America, particularly segregated inner-city experiences." The Sankofa Freedom Award is handed out biennially in February during Black History Month to a nationally acclaimed individual who has dedicated his or her life to educating and improving the greater African-American community.

On January 21, 2022, the exhibition "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects" opens at New York's Grolier Club. It features items from the collection of Cathy and Glen Miranker, including artwork, books, correspondence, and manuscripts about the iconic literary detective. The items include letters and an "idea book" from Arthur Conan Doyle; a handwritten speech with Conan Doyle's explanation for killing off Holmes; original artwork of Holmes by British and US illustrators; and a pirated edition of The Sign of the Four. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at The Bunburyist blog)

Janet Rudolph has an updated list via her Mystery Fanfare blog of mysteries, crime fiction, thrillers, and movies that take place at the New Year.

And you can enjoy reading those titles with help from the libation recipes via the authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen including an Eggnog Kahlúa Cocktail, courtesy of Cleo Coyle, and Rosemary Metal Press Gin Fizz by Mia P. Manansala.

A new detective culture periodical has launched in Turkey. 221B Crime Culture Magazine will cover the fields of detective literature, TV series, cinema, academic research, and comics every two months in both print and digital. The first issue can be downloaded from e-magazine platforms such as Mazgter, Amazon, Zinio, PressReader.

Suspense Magazine is out with its Best of 2021 issue, which is apparently going to be its last magazine edition. The editors announced they will no longer be producing a digital magazine, instead using the website to post all reviews, interviews, stories and much more. "Everything you see in the magazine will now be online, with the website being updated once a week."

CrimeFest is offering a bursary (scholarship) for a writer of color to attend the festival in May 2022 and appear on a panel. The deadline to apply for the bursary is January 30, 2022. To be eligible, authors must have had at least one English language book in traditional print published by a British commercial publisher. The winning entry will be chosen in collaboration with CrimeFest organizers and judges Vaseem Khan and critic Ayo Onatade. Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, with around 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days. (HT to Shots Magazine)

It's common for horror, science fiction, and romance writers to make the novella the bulk of their output, but crime fiction authors are far more hesitant to embrace the form. Mystery and Suspense hosted a panel discussion about the crime fiction novella where six experts—Michael Bracken, Martin Edwards, Christina Hoag, Linda Landrigan, Steve Liskow, and Christoffer Peterson—discussed the form's creativity, craft, and market with moderator, William Burton McCormick.

Writing for Aeon, Vera Tobin, an associate professor of cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, discussed the art of the plot twist. Tobin is also the author of Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Case Closed" by Tony Dawson.