Island Treasures

Following the news earlier this week about nominees for the 2009 Dilys Award, a commendation that will be presented during this year’s Left Coast Crime gathering, organizers have now announced the contenders for the convention’s three principal awards:

Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery Award
• Nox Dormienda: A Long Night for Sleeping, by Kelli Stanley (Five Star)
• Touchstone, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• Tell Me Pretty Maiden, by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s Press)
• A Royal Pain, by Rhys Bowen (Berkeley Prime Crime)
• A Fatal Waltz, by Tasha Alexander (HarperCollins)

Hawaii Five-O Award (for law-enforcement/police procedurals)
• Angel Falls, by Baron Birtcher (Iota)
• Fractured, by Karin Slaughter (Delacorte Press)
• The Black Path, by Åsa Larsson (Delta)
• The Angel of Knowlton Park, by Kate Flora (Five Star)
• Mahu Fire, by Neil S. Plakcy (Alyson Books)
• Death of a Cozy Writer, by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)

Lefty Award (for humorous mysteries)
• Thugs and Kisses, by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Midnight Ink)
• Six Geese A-Slaying, by Donna Andrews (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Murder at the Bad Girl’s Bar and Grill, by N.M. Kelby (Shaye Areheart Books/Random House)
• Greasing the Piñata, by Tim Maleeny (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Getting Old Is to Die For, by Rita Lakin (Dell)
• It Happened One Knife, by Jeffrey Cohen (Berkeley Prime Crime)

Left Coast Crime will be held this year on Hawaii’s Big Island from March 7 to 12. Awards are to be given out during a Brunch Banquet Ceremony on the 11th at the Marriott Waikoloa Hotel.