Thanks to Sarah Weinman for letting me know that the contenders had been identified. I shall reserve my own comments until after you’ve had a chance to glance through the full list of contestants.Best Novel:
• All Mortal Flesh, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• The Dead Hour, by Denise Mina (Little, Brown)
• Kidnapped, by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)
• No Good Deeds, by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins)
• The Virgin of Small Plains, by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)
Best First Novel:
• A Field of Darkness, by Cornelia Read (Mysterious Press)
• The Harrowing, by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Holmes on the Range, by Steve Hockensmith (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• The King of Lies, by John Hart (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Still Life, by Louise Penny (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Best Paperback Original:
• Ashes and Bones, by Dana Cameron (Avon)
• Baby Shark, by Robert Fate (Capital Crime Press)
• The Cleanup, by Sean Doolittle (Dell)
• A Dangerous Man, by Charlie Huston (Ballantine)
• 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers, by Troy Cook (Capital Crime Press)
• Shotgun Opera, by Victor Gischler (Dell)
• Snakeskin Shamisen, by Naomi Hirahara (Delta)
Best Short Story:
• “After the Fall,” by Elaine Viets (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine [AHMM], January/February 2006)
• “Cranked,” by Bill Crider (from Damn Near Dead, edited by Duane Swierczynski; Busted Flush Press)
• “The Lords of Misrule,” by Dana Cameron (from Sugarplums and Scandal; Avon)
• “My Father’s Secret,” by Simon Wood (Crimespree Magazine, Bouchercon Special Issue)
• “Policy,” by Megan Abbott (from Damn Near Dead)
• “Sleeping with the Plush,” by Toni L.P. Kelner (AHMM, May 2006)
Best Critical Non-fiction:
• The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe and the Invention of Murder,
by Daniel Stashower (Dutton)• Don’t Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques to Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A., by Chris Roerden (Bella Rosa Books)
• Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today’s Mystery Writers, edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar (Crum Creek Press)
• Read ’Em Their Writes: A Handbook for Mystery and Crime Fiction Book Discussions, by Gary Warren Niebuhr (Libraries Unlimited)
• The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective’s Greatest Cases, by E.J. Wagoner (John Wiley & Sons)
Special Services Award:
• Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime
• George Easter, Deadly Pleasures
• Barbara Franchi and Sharon Wheeler, Reviewing the Evidence
• Jim Huang, Crum Creek Press and The Mystery Company
• Jon and Ruth Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
• Ali Karim, Shots
• Lynn Kaczmarek and Chris Aldrich, Mystery News
• Maddy Van Hertbruggen, 4 Mystery Addicts
Like Weinman, I’m surprised to find that all five of the Best Novel selections were written by women. Last year, only two of the five finalists for that prize were by women, and the Anthony went to a man (William Kent Krueger for Mercy Falls). The very same odds prevailed in 2005, with the commendation again going to a male writer (Krueger once more, though that time for Blood Hollow). However, in 2004, only one out of five finalists was written by a woman ... and she won (Laura Lippman for Every Secret Thing). The picks this year may simply reflect the facts that (1) more and more books in this genre are being written by women, and (2) women now tend to dominate crime-fiction conventions, such as Bouchercon. While many other awards are judged by equal numbers of men and women, Anthony nominees and winners are selected by the breadth of Bouchercon attendees. Ergo, the odds of a distaff dominance here are increased.
I’ll resist the urge to identify those books I think are most deserving of Anthony wins (though I did very much enjoy Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range and Stashower’s Beautiful Cigar Girl). But, while everybody in the Special Services category deserves to be thanked for their efforts, I do have a favorite in that race, and it’s Ali Karim. I might be biased because Karim is a contributor not only to the British e-zine Shots, but to The Rap Sheet and January Magazine as well. More important, though, he also harbors a rare enthusiasm for crime and mystery fiction, coupled with an extraordinary knowledge of the genre and a palpable interest in spreading word of its wonders to the widest possible audience of readers. The energy he devotes to reviewing books, interviewing authors, and keeping apprised of developments in this genre could keep the lights bright in a small country. And he isn’t making a blessed dime off most of his contributions to this field. Karim does it because he loves crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. It seems his contributions should be better recognized, and an Anthony win would be a good step in that direction. Just a thought ...
In any case, winners of this year’s Anthony Awards (named for Anthony Boucher, a founder of the Mystery Writers of America) will be announced during Bouchercon 38, to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, in late September.
5 comments:
Of course I have to back Jeff and recommend Ali for the Special Services Award. I, too, appreciate his in depth knowledge and enthusiasm for the genre. He's also a good friend. And to be honest, without his help on Shots it would be the ezine that it is. So those of you on the committee - Vote Karim.
Congratulations to all the nominees. What an impressive collection of talent and spirit.
Anthony
What an incredible list of nominees! And Ali!! I loved the 'energy to light a small country'. That says it all about Ali. And then some.
What a terrific not-so-short-list for PBO! Having read pretty much all of them, the electorate will have its work cut out. May I simply say that two, BABY SHARK and 47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS, are published by small, independent presses. IMHO, these books decidedly belong with the rest, and I do hope that those going North to Alaska will
make an effort to read them together with those worthy nominees more readily available from the larger houses. Now, on you huskies!
Ross from Maine
I'd say give it to Stotter instead, but I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to understand his acceptance speech.
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