Spills and Thrills

It seems I’m the last one to post this news, but it couldn’t be helped. I’ve been laid up since yesterday, when my wife and I visited the Ballard Seafood Fest in Seattle’s historically most Scandinavian neighborhood, and I promptly fractured my left ankle by tripping in a pothole. The damn thing quickly swelled to the dimensions of an orange, and cancelled just about everything else I had planned, including blogging here.

So it’s only now that I am catching up to word of the winners in this year’s Thriller Awards competition, organized by the International Thriller Writers (ITW). Recipients were named last evening during a ceremony at ThrillerFest in New York City.

Best Hardcover Novel: The Neighbor, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam)

Also nominated: Vanished, by Joseph Finder (St. Martin’s Press); Long Lost, by Harlan Coben (Dutton); Fear the Worst, by Linwood Barclay (Bantam); and The Renegades, by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original: The Coldest Mile, by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)

Also nominated: Shadow Season, by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam); Urge to Kill, by John Lutz (Pinnacle); Vengeance Road, by Rick Mofina (Mira); and No Mercy, by John Gilstrap (Pinnacle)

Best First Novel: Running from the Devil, by Jamie Freveletti (Morrow)

Also nominated: Fragment, by Warren Fahy (Delacorte Press); Dead Men’s Dust, by Matt Hilton (Morrow); Collision of Evil, by John J. Le Beau (Oceanview Publishing); and Dracula: The Un-Dead, by Dacre Stoker (Dutton)

Best Short Story: “A Stab in the Heart,” by Twist Phelan

Also nominated: “The Desert Here and Desert Far Away,” by Marcus Sakey; “Back Up,” by Rick Mofina; “Iced,” by Harry Hunsicker; and “Boldt’s Broken Angel,” by Ridley Pearson

In addition, British author Ken Follett was celebrated as this year’s ThrillerMaster (“in recognition of his legendary career and outstanding contributions to the thriller genre”), Mark Bowden was given the True Thriller Award, Linda Fairstein received the Silver Bullet Award, and US Airways was given the Silver Bullet Award (Corporate).

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

READ MORE: “ThrillerFest and Other Peals from the Big Apple,” by Keith Raffel (Dot Dead Diary).