For Shamus, for Shamus

First, we had the Barry and Macavity award winners, announced at Bouchercon. Now come the coveted Shamus Awards, given out during a dinner ceremony last evening in Baltimore. The winners were ...

Best Novel: Soul Patch, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)

Also nominated: Head Games, by Thomas Cavanagh (St. Martin’s Minotaur); The Color of Blood, by Declan Hughes (Morrow); A Welcome Grave, by Michael Koryta (Thomas Dunne/SMP); and A Killer’s Kiss, by William Lashner (Morrow)

Best First Novel: Big City, Bad Blood, by Sean Chercover (Morrow)

Also nominated: The Cleaner, by Brett Battles (Delacorte); Keep It Real, by Bill Bryan, (Bleak House Books); When One Man Dies, by Dave White (Three Rivers Press); The Last Striptease, by Michael Wiley (Thomas Dunne Books/SMP)

Best Paperback Original: Songs of Innocence, by Richard Aleas (Hard Case Crime)

Also nominated: Exit Strategy, Kelley Armstrong (Bantam); Stone Rain, by Linwood Barclay (Bantam); Deadly Beloved, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); and Blood of Paradise, by David Corbett (Mortalis)

Best Short Story: “Hungry Enough,” by Cornelia Read (from A Hell of A Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir, edited by Megan Abbott; Busted Flush)

Also nominated: “Kill the Cat,” by Loren D. Estleman (from Detroit Noir, edited by E. J. Olsen and John C. Hocking; Akashic Books); “Trust Me,” by Loren D. Estleman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2007); “Open Mike,” by James Nolan (from New Orleans Noir, edited by Julie Smith; Akashic); and “Room for Improvement,” by Marilyn Todd (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, December 2007)

In addition, the Hammer Award, which honors a character, rather than an author, went to Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective. And The Eye (Lifetime Achievement) Award was given to San Francisco novelist Joe Gores (whose Maltese Falcon prequel is due out in April).

The most enjoyable thing was attending author Lee Child’s party last evening, at a restaurant/bar not far from the convention hotel, and seeing Reed Farrel Coleman come in after the Shamus ceremony with his wife and his shiny new award in his arms. I don’t think his smile could have grown any larger.