The mystery writing world was struck a terrible blow when one of its greatest authors died August 3. John Gardner, who wrote more James Bond novels (14) than Ian Fleming (12), had a heart attack while shopping in his village, Basingstoke, England and took his last breath while being rushed to a hospital.

While he may be remembered mostly for the Bond books, Gardner achieved his pinnacle with the series of espionage novels that he wrote about Herbie Kruger. “The Garden of Weapons,” the middle volume of a trilogy that also included “The Nostradamus Traitor” and “The Quiet Dogs” (which he liked to call “Hush Puppies”), remains, in my opinion, one of the three greatest novels of international intrigue.

He began his writing career with a series of hilarious spoofs of the spy genre, with his Boysie Oakes character serving as an antidote to the snobby sophistication of James Bond. Oakes, a government-hired hit man, is stupid, lecherous, cowardly, and becomes so nauseated at the thought of killing someone that he hires someone else to do the dirty work. The first book in the series, “The Liquidator,” was filmed in 1965 with Rod Taylor as the bumbling anti-hero.

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While I’m on the necrology beat, I should mention the passing at age 89 of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish motion picture director who was lavishly lauded by critics for such work as “Wild Strawberries” and “Scenes from a Marriage.” Of his 54 films, it has been widely reported that only four people managed to remain awake until the very end, and the two people who laughed during that picture were escorted from the theater and subsequently institutionalized.

Bergman was the father-in-law of the outstanding Swedish crime writer, Henning Mankell.

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A couple of outstanding books won Great Britain’s most prestigious mystery prizes when the Crime Writers’ Association handed out awards a few weeks ago.

The Duncan Lawrie Dagger (formerly the Gold Dagger, before it got a sponsor and came with a check for a couple thousand quid) went to Peter Temple’s “The Broken Shore” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 352 pages, $25). Mr. Temple is the most popular mystery writer in Australia, winning five Ned Kelly Awards, the continent’s top crime writing honor. This beautifully written book features his series hero, Joe Cashin, a homicide cop who has often been compared with Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, a tough, cynical detective who nonetheless opens his heart to the powerless.

Gillian Flynn had a gaudy debut, winning the New Blood Dagger (for first novel), the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (for best thriller) and was even one of the five nominees for best novel with “Sharp Objects” (Three Rivers, 272 pages, $14). This psychological thriller is the story of two girls, ages 9 and 10, brutally murdered in a small Missouri town, and the eerie events that follow. The author is the chief TV critic for Entertainment Weekly, scoring praise from Stephen King and Harlan Coben for her often unbearably terrifying tale.

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Hard Case Crime, a paperback publishing house, continues to produce handsome, well-made books for one of the most interesting lists in publishing. It has targeted a readership that prefers hard-boiled mysteries and has been publishing some of the great names from the past, as well as original novels by today’s practitioners of that stylized but rewarding genre.

It has just released “Fright” (254 pages, $6.99) by Cornell Woolrich, the author of more consistently outstanding works of suspense fiction than any writer who ever lived. Originally published under the byline George Hopley, “Fright” is one of his least-known books, unavailable for a half-century. Set in 1915 New York, it begins as a story of blackmail before its inevitable downward slide into terror. It may not be quite as good as “Phantom Lady” or “The Bride Wore Black,” but it’s still a humdinger.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.