91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — Every year, the jewel in Booklist Mystery Month’s crown is the Mystery Showcase issue—an annual highlight for Booklist readers since 1997. But there is now an additional array of related content accessible in a variety of formats to sign up and look out for.

The month launches early with the “” webinar on April 24, when representatives from Felony & Mayhem, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Random House and Severn House will share the best titles for libraries from their forthcoming lists.

These five publishers will also offer one of their just-off-the-press books featured in the webinar to fans who solve a series of Mini-Mysteries beginning May 1. The blog will have daily posts that focus on mystery-themed publications, authors and read-alike lists. A mystery-themed issue of the free e-newsletter mails on May 3, offering all mystery and no filler, and, just a week later, dozens of free mystery reviews will debut in . (to be sure you don’t miss any Mystery Month content.) Special online-exclusive content includes a multi-part survey, “Trends in Crime Fiction Series,” by Booklist Online Editor Keir Graff, as well as his interview with Ariel S. Winter, author of the remarkable debut novel "The Twenty-Year Death." Too much to keep straight? Follow @91´«Ã½_Booklist on Twitter or keep tabs on the #mysterymonth hashtag for continuous Mystery Month coverage. To find further information and Booklist blogs, visit .

The Mystery Showcase issue itself is packed with more than 100 new mystery reviews and best-of lists, as well as an array of features, including: “The Year’s Best Crime Novels,” with the top 10 crime novels of the year, plus a selection of other “bests,” including the top five first novels of the year; “Hard-Boiled Gazetteer to Country Noir,” a long-running series in which this year, Booklist editor and publisher Bill Ott surveys crime in the country, from Daniel Woodrell’s hardscrabble Ozarks to Willy Vlautin’s New West; “The Written Word” in which celebrated author Sara Paretsky reflects on the value of writing in our lives and in our culture on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her V. I. Warshawski mystery series; “One Foot in the Gutter: Literary Stars Turn to Crime,” by Keir Graff, who examines the work of several literary fiction authors who have taken to walking the mean streets of the crime novel; “Mystery Writers Stalk the Children’s Room” by Booklist senior editor Ian Chipman asks if big-name crime authors make the jump from writing for adults to writing for young people; “Read-alikes: Young Sherlockians,” in which Booklist associate editor Ann Kelly connects her review of Leah Scheier’s "Secret Letters" (Hyperion) to other mysteries for youth that play on the Holmes stories; “He Reads. . . She Reads,” the popular point-counterpoint column in which David Wright and Kaite Mediatore Stover get a laugh out of murder and mayhem.

is the book review magazine of the 91´«Ã½, considered an essential collection development and reader’s-advisory tool by thousands of librarians for more than 100 years. includes an archive of more than 135,000 reviews available to subscribers as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media.