In Reference to Murder

Scotland's Finest

The winners were revealed for the 2023 McIlvanney Prize and The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. Prior to last night's awards dinner announcement, the finalists for both prizes led the iconic torchlit procession from Stirling Castle through the historic old town this evening accompanied by the pipes and drums of the Stirling and District Schools Pipe Band. The McIlvanney Prize is awarded to the best Scottish Crime book of the year (renamed in 2016 in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the "Godfather of Tartan Noir"); and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize is awarded to the best first-time crime novelist - although this year, the McIlvanney winner was also a debut novelist. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

McIlvanney Prize:  Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin)

Also nominated:

• Ritual of Fire, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• The Things We Do to Our Friends, by Heather Darwent (Penguin)
• The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
• Penitent, by Mark Leggatt (Fledgling Press)
• The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. Maclean (Quercus)
• 989, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
• The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Vintage)
• Cast a Cold Eye, by Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
• A Heart Full of Headstones, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• The Devil’s Playground, by Craig Russell (Little, Brown)
• An Honourable Thief, by Douglas Skelton (Canelo)

Debut Prize:  The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)

Also nominated:

• Unsolved, by Heather Critchlow (Canelo)
• The Things We Do to Our Friends, by Heather Darwent (Penguin)
• Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin)
• The Unforgiven Dead, by Fulton Ross (Inkshares)

The Barry Best

The editor of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, George Easter, announced the winners of the organization's annual Barry Awards (named in honor of reviewer Barry Gardner) for best works being published in the field of crime fiction each year, during Opening Ceremonies at Bouchercon in San Diego. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

Best Mystery or Crime Novel: Desert Star, Michael Connelly (Little,Brown)

Also nominated:

• The Accomplice, Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• The Dark Flood, Deon Meyer (Atlantic Monthly)
• Shifty’s Boys, Chris Offutt (Grove Press)
• Secret Identity, Alex Segura (Flatiron Books)
• City On Fire, Don Winslow (William Morrow)

Best Debut Mystery or Crime Novel: The Maid, Nita Prose (Ballantine)

Also nominated:

• Before You Knew My Name, Jacqueline Bublitz (Atria/Emilybestler)
• Don’t Know Tough, Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Shutter, Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
• Blood Sugar, Sascha Rothchild (Putnam)
• Dirt Creek, Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron)

Best Thriller: Killers Of A Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Also nominated:

• In The Blood, Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester)
• Winter Work, Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• Sierra Six, Mark Greaney (Berkley)
• Bad Actors, Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
• Goering’s Gold, Richard O’rawe (Melville House)

Don Sandstrom Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery Fandom: "Mystery" Mike Bursaw

Anthony Accolades

The winners of the 2023 Anthony Awards were handed out last night at the annual Bouchercon conference, this year held in San Diego, California. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

Best Hardcover: Like a Sister, by Kellye Garrett (Mulholland)

Also nominated:

• The Devil Takes You Home, by Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland)
• The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Maid, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
• Secret Identity, by Alex Segura (Flatiron)

Best Paperback/E-book/Audiobook: The Quarry Girls, by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer)

Also nominated:

• Real Bad Things, by Kelly J. Ford (Thomas & Mercer)
• Dead Drop, by James L’Etoile (Level Best)
• Hush Hush, by Gabriel Valjan (Historia)
• In the Dark We Forget, by Sandra S.G. Wong (HarperCollins)

Best First Novel: The Maid, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)

Also nominated:

• Don’t Know Tough, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Shutter, by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
• The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra (Pegasus)
• Devil’s Chew Toy, by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane)

Best Historical: Anywhere You Run, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)

Also nominated:

• The Lindbergh Nanny, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• In Place of Fear, by Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
• Danger on the Atlantic, by Erica Ruth Neubauer (Kensington)
• Under a Veiled Moon, by Karen Odden (Crooked Lane)
• Lavender House, by Lev A.C. Rosen (Forge)

Best Humorous: Scot in a Trap, by Catriona McPherson (Severn House)

Also nominated:

• Bayou Book Thief, by Ellen Byron (Berkley)
• Death by Bubble Tea, by Jennifer J. Chow (Berkley)
• A Streetcar Named Murder, by T.G. Herren (Crooked Lane)
• Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking, by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane)

Best Short Story: “Beauty and the Beyotch,” by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, February 2022)

Also nominated:

• “Still Crazy After All These Years,” by E.A Aymar (from Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon, edited by Josh Pachter; Down & Out)
• “The Impediment,” by Bruce Robert Coffin (from Deadly Nightshade: Best New England Crime Stories 2022, edited by Christine Bagley, Susan Oleksiw, and Leslie Wheeler; Crime Spell)
• “The Estate Sale,” by Curtis Ippolito (Vautrin Magazine, Summer 2022)
• “C.O.D.,” by Gabriel Valjan (from Low Down Dirty Vote, Volume 3: The Color of My Vote, edited by Mysti Berry; Berry Contest)

Best Critical/Non-fiction: The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators, by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)

Also nominated:

• The Alaska Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story That Shocked America, by James T. Bartlett (Terrirory)
• American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper, by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur)
• Promophobia: Taking the Mystery Out of Promoting Crime Fiction, edited by Diane Vallere (Sisters in Crime)
• Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)
• Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman, by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)

Best Children’s/Young Adult: Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade, by Nancy Springer (Wednesday)

Also nominated:

• In Myrtle Peril, by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
• Daybreak on Raven Island, by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young Readers)
• #Shedeservedit, by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Press)
• The New Girl, by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Sourcebooks Fire)
• Vanish Me, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf)

Best Anthology: Crime Hits Home: A Collection of Short Stories from Crime Fiction’s Top Authors, edited by S.J. Rozan (Hanover Square Press)

Also nominated:

• Low Down Dirty Vote, Volume 3: The Color of My Vote, edited by Mysti Berry (Berry Contest)
• Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon, edited by Libby Cudmore and Art Taylor (Down & Out)
• Land of 1,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022, edited by Greg Herren (Down & Out)
• Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon, edited by Josh Pachter (Down & Out)

Ngaio Marsh Awards 2023 Shortlists Announced

Craig Sisterson, founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards for New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller writing, announced the 2023 finalists, which celebrate "outstanding Kiwi storytellers whose tales, fictional and factual, explore the investigation of crime or the impact or effects of crime on people and society." The winners will be revealed during the Christchurch WORD writers festival, which runs from 23–27 August. Best wishes to all!

 

Best Nonfiction

• The Devil You Know: Encounters in forensic psychiatry (Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne, S&S)
• The Fix: The story of one of New Zealand’s biggest swindles (Scott Bainbridge, David Bateman)
• Missing Persons (Steve Braunias, HarperCollins)
• Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay (Paul Diamond, Massey University)
• A New Dawn (Emeli Sione, Mila’s Books)

Best Debut Novel

• Paper Cage (Tom Baragwanath, Text)
• Better the Blood (Michael Bennett, S&S)
• Surveillance (Riley Chance, CP Books)
• The Slow Roll (Simon Lendrum, Upstart)
• One Heart One Spade (Alistair Luke, self-published)
• Too Far From Antibes (Bede Scott, PRH SEA)

Best Crime Novel

• Better the Blood (Michael Bennett, S&S)
• The Slow Roll (Simon Lendrum, Upstart)
• Remember Me (Charity Norman, A&U)
• Blood Matters (Renée, The Cuba Press)
• Exit .45 (Ben Sanders, A&U)
• The Doctor’s Wife (Fiona Sussman, Bateman)
• Blue Hotel (Chad Taylor, Brio).

 

Ned Kelly Award Shortlists

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honoring published crime fiction and true crime writing in the categories of Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to 1 March each year. Best of luck to all the 2023 finalists!

 

Best Crime Fiction

 

Soulmate by Sally Hepworth 

When The Carnival is Over by Greg Woodland 

Exiles by Jane Harper 

When We Fall by Aoife Clifford 

The Tilt by Chris Hammer 

Those Who Perish Emma Viskic 

Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

 

Best International Crime Fiction

 

The Lemon Man by Keith Bruton 

Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath 

The Favour by Nicci French 

The Hitchhiker by Gerwin van der Werf 

 

Best Debut Crime Fiction

 

Wake by Shelley Burr 

No Country for Girls by Emma Styles 

Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor 

Black River by Matthew Spencer 

How to Kill a Client by Joanna Jenkins 

The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon 

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne 

Denizen by James McKenzie Watson&nbsp

 

Best True Crime

 

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! by Officer A

A Death Row at Truro by Geoff Plunkett 

Rattled by Ellis Gunn 

Betrayed by Sandi Logan 

Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris 

 

Davitt Delights Downunder

Sisters in Crime has announced its shortlist for its 23^rd Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books – eight adult novels, four YA adults, three children’s novels, three non-fiction books, and six debut novels (most of which are nominated in other categories). The winners will be revealed at a gala dinner on Saturday 2 September by award-winning journalist, true-crime author, and television producer, Debi Marshall. Congrats to the shortlisted titles!

Adult novels

• Lucy Christopher, Release (Text Publishing)
• Aoife Clifford, When We Fall (Ultimo Press)
• Margaret Hickey, Stone Town (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Tracey Lien, All That’s Left Unsaid (HQ Fiction) Debut
• Dinuka McKenzie, The Torrent (HarperCollins Publishing Australia) Debut
• Vikki Petraitis, The Unbelieved (Allen & Unwin) Debut
• Hayley Scrivenor, Dirt Town (Pan Macmillan Australia) Debut
• Emma Styles, No Country for Girls (Sphere, an imprint of Hachette Australia) Debut

Young Adult novels

• Louise Bassett, The Hidden Girl (Walker Books) Debut
• Sarah Epstein, Night Lights (Fourteen Press)
• Fleur Ferris, Seven Days (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Ellie Marney, The Killing Code (Allen & Unwin)

Children’s novels

• Deborah Abela, The Book of Wondrous Possibilities (Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia)
• Charlie Archbold, The Sugarcane Kids and the Red-bottomed Boat (Text Publishing)
• Lian Tanner, Rita’s Revenge (Allen & Unwin)

Non-fiction books

• Wendy Davis, Don’t Make a Fuss: It’s only the Claremont Serial Killer (Fremantle Press) Debut
• Katrina Marson, Legitimate Sexpectations: The power of sex-ed (Scribe Publications)
• Megan Norris, Out of the Ashes (Big Sky Publishing)

Debut books

• Maryrose Cuskelly, The Cane (Allen & Unwin)
• Tracey Lien, All That’s Left Unsaid (HQ Fiction)
• Dinuka McKenzie, The Torrent (HarperCollins Publishing Australia)
• Vikki Petraitis, The Unbelieved (Allen & Unwin)
• Hayley Scrivenor, Dirt Town (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Emma Styles, No Country for Girls (Sphere, an imprint of Hachette Australia)

Macavity Magic

The finalists for the 2023 Macavity Awards were announced this morning by Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph. The honorees are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Winners will be announced at opening ceremonies at the San Diego Bouchercon conference in late August. Congratulations to all!

 

 

Best Mystery Novel
 
Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone (MCD)
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown)
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)
Secret Identity by Alex Segura (Flatiron Books)
 

Best First Mystery

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz (Atria/EmilyBestler) 
Five Moves of Doom by A.J. Devlin (NeWest Press)
Shutter by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Verifiers by Jane Pek (Vintage Books)
The Maid by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
 
 
Best Mystery Short Story
 
“The Landscaper’s Wife” by Brendan DuBois (Mystery Tribune, Aug/Sep 2022)
“Beauty and the Beyotch” by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Jan 2022)
“First You Dream, Then You Die” by Donna Moore (Black is the Night, Titan Books)
“Schrödinger, Cat” by Anna Scotti (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Mar/Apr 2022) 
“Stockholm” by Catherine Steadman (Amazon Original Stories)
“The Angel of Rome” by Jess Walter (The Angel of Rome and Other Stories, Harper)
“My Two-Legs” by Melissa Yi (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Sep/Oct 2022)
 
 
Best Mystery Critical/Biographical
 
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie edited by Mary Anna Evans & J.C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury Academic)
The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations by David Geherin (McFarland)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)
 
 
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery
 
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson (Hodder & Stoughton)
Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris (William Morrow)
The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
One-Shot Harry by Gary Phillips (Soho Crime)
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen (Forge)

Capital Crime's Fingerprint Awards

The shortlist for the second Fingerprint Awards, the international book awards held as part of the Capital Crime festival, was revealed yesterday. Readers can vote on their favorites via the form on this link, with winners to be announced at the festival on Thursday, August 31st.

Here are the finalists:

The Crime Book of the Year:

• The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
• Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
• The Botanist by M W Craven
• The It Girl by Ruth Ware
• The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz

Thriller of the Year:

• A Good Day to Die by Amen Alonge
• Truly Darkly Deeply by Victoria Selman
• Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett
• Do No Harm by Jack Jordan
• Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Historical Crime Novel of the Year:

• The Lost Man of Bombay by Vaseem Khan
• The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
• Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
• Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
• A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle

Debut Crime Novel of the Year:

• Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
• A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle
• Wahala by Nikki May
• That Green-Eyed Girl by Julie Owen-Moylan
• The Maid by Nita Prose

Genre-Busting Novel of the Year:

• Suicide Thursday by Will Carver
• The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly
• Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
• The Houses of Ashes by Stuart Neville
• The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Dazzling Daggers

 

 

The Crime Writers Association (CWA) announced the Dagger Awards Winners last night. The prestigious CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

 

Diamond Dagger (previously announced):  Walter Mosley

Gold Dagger: The Kingdoms of Savannah, by George Dawes Green (Headline)

Other finalists:

The Lost Man of Bombay, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
A Killing in November, by Simon Mason (Riverrun)
The Clockwork Girl, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)
The Winter Guest, by W.C. Ryan (Zaffre)
The Silent Brother, by Simon Van der Velde (Northodox Press)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger: Seventeen, by John Brownlow (Hodder & Stoughton)

Other finalists:

Take Your Breath Away, by Linwood Barclay (HQ)
The Botanist, by M. W. Craven
The Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith
Alias Emma, by Ava Glass (Century)
May God Forgive, by Alan Parks (Canongate)

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:  Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor

Other finalists:

Breaking by Amanda Cassidy 
The Local, by Joey Hartstone (Pushkin Vertigo)
London in Black, by Jack Lutz (Pushkin Vertigo)
No Country for Girls, by Emma Styles (Sphere)
Outback, by Patricia Wolf (Embla)

Historical Dagger:  The Darkest Sin, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)

The Clockwork Girl, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)
The Homes, by J.B. Mylet (Viper)
The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Blue Water, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
Hear No Evil, by Sarah Smith (Two Roads)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction: Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey, by Wendy Joseph (Doubleday)

Other finalists:

The Poisonous Solicitor: The True Story of a 1920s Murder Mystery, by Stephen Bates (Icon)
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators, by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)
Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector, by Amit Katwala (Mudlark)
To Hunt a Killer: How I Brought Melanie Road’s Murderer to Justice, by Julie Mackay and Robert Murphy (Harper Element)
About A Son: A Murder and A Father’s Search for Truth, by David Whitehouse (Phoenix)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger: Even the Darkest Night, by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean (MacLehose Press)

Other finalists:

Good Reasons to Die, by Morgan Audic, translated by Sam Taylor (Mountain Leopard Press)
The Red Notebook, by Michel Bussi, translated by Vineet Lal (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Bad Kids, by Zijin Chen, translated by Michelle Deeter (Pushkin Vertigo)
The Bleeding, by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner (Orenda)
The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier, translated by Adriana Hunter (Michael Joseph)

Short Story Dagger: “Cast a Long Shadow,” by Hazell Ward (from Cast a Long Shadow, edited by Katherine Stansfield and Caroline; Honno Welsh Women’s Press)

Other finalists:

“The Disappearance,” by Leigh Bardugo (from Marple; HarperCollins)
“The Tears of Venus,” by Victoria Dowd and Delilah Dowd (from Unlocked; The D20 Authors)
“The Beautiful Game,” by Sanjida Kay (from The Perfect Crime)
“Paradise Lost,” by Abir Mukherjee (from The Perfect Crime)
“Runaway Blues,” by C.J. Tudor (from A Sliver of Darkness, by C.J. Tudor; Michael Joseph)

Best Crime & Mystery Publisher Dagger: Viper (Profile Books)

Other finalists:

 

Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)
Mantle (PanMacmillan)
Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)
Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin Press)
Quercus (Hachette)

 

Debut Dagger:  Sideways, by Jeff Marsick

 

Other finalists:

 

Bulldog Murphy, by Chris Corbett

Male, Unknown, by Chris Griffiths

Heist, by James Pierson

The Line of Least Resistance, by Jeff Richards

Cradle of Storms, by Margaret Winslow

Dagger in the Library for Body of Work:  Sophie Hannah

Other finalists:

 

Ben Aaronovitch
Mick Herron

Theakston Shortlist

A shortlist has been released for this year's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, which "celebrates crime fiction at its very best" by U.K. and Irish authors. The prize is run by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston. The public can now vote on the books via this link. The winner, to be named July 21 on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, will receive £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer cask provided by T&R Theakston.

Here are this year's shortlisted titles: