Finally, the Anthony Awards

With the assistance of author and toastmaster S.J. Rozan (pictured below), who turned out to be far funnier than most people had expected, the 2009 Anthony Awards presentation got underway this afternoon at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana.

So without further ado, the
winners are ...

Best Novel: The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

Also nominated: Trigger City, by Sean Chercover (Morrow); Red Knife, by William Kent Krueger (Atria); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf); and The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best First Novel: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by
Stieg Larsson (Knopf)

Also nominated: Pushing Up Daisies, by Rosemary Harris (Minotaur); Stalking Susan, by Julie Kramer (Doubleday); Death of a Cozy Writer, by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink); and Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central)

Best Paperback Original: State of the Onion, by Julie Hyzy (Berkley)

Also nominated: The First Quarry, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); Money Shot, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime); In a Dark Season, by Vicki Lane (Dell); and South of Hell, by P.J. Parrish (Pocket Star)

Best Short Story: “A Sleep Not Unlike Death,” by Sean Chercover (from Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson;
Kensington Publishing)

Also nominated: “The Night Things Changed,” by Dana Cameron (from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner; Ace); “Killing Time,” by Jane K. Cleland (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2008); “Skull and Cross Examination,” by Toni L.P. Kelner (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], February 2008); “Scratch a Woman,” by Laura Lippman (from Hardly Knew Her; Morrow); and “The Secret Lives of Cats,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (EQMM, July 2008)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work: Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography, by Jeffrey Marks (McFarland & Company)

Also nominated: African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study, by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Company); How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press); and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, by Kate Summerscale (Walker)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel: The Crossroads, by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)

Also nominated: Paper Towns, by John Green (Dutton Juvenile); Kiss Me, Kill Me, by Lauren Henderson (Delacorte); The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown); and Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash, by Wendelin Van Draanen (Knopf)

Best Cover Art: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, designed by Peter Mendelsund and written by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)

Also nominated: Death Was the Other Woman, designed by David Rotstein and written by Linda L. Richards (Minotaur); Death Will Get You Sober, designed by David Rotstein and written by Elizabeth Zelvin (Minotaur); The Fault Tree, designed by David Rotstein and written by Louise Ure (Minotaur); and Money Shot, designed by Steve Cooley and written by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)

Special Service Award: Jon and Ruth Jordan

Also nominated: Ali Karim, David Montgomery, Gary Warren
Niebuhr, and Sarah Weinman

In addition, editor, critic, and bibliographer Allen J. Hubin received the 2009 Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award.

Since it’s Bouchercon attendees who pick the Anthony winners each year, these awards can often hold surprises. Yet a few victors were predictable--Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for Best First Novel, as an example, and the energetic Jon and Ruth Jordan for Special Service. On the other hand, I was amazed but pleased to hear that Jeffrey Marks’ Anthony Boucher biography won in the Best Critical Non-fiction category.

Congratulations to the victors and vanquished alike.

(S.J. Rozan photo by Mark Coggins)