Still More About Awards

During my time away at Bouchercon 2010 in San Francisco, the shortlist of nominees for this year’s Ellis Peters Historical Award arrived in my e-mail ... but I wasn’t here to receive it. So excuse this late announcement.

The nominees are:

• Revenger, by Rory Clements (John Murray)

• Washington Shadow, by Aly Monroe (John Murray)

• Heresy, by S.J. Parris (HarperCollins)

• Heartstone, by C.J. Sansom (Mantle)

• The Anatomy of Ghosts, by (Michael Joseph/Penguin)

• To Kill a Tsar, by Andrew Williams (John Murray)

A winner will be named on November 4.

The Ellis Peters Historical Award is given out annually by the British Crime Writers’ Association. Sponsors are the Estate of Ellis Peters, Headline Book Publishing Company, and Little, Brown Book Group.

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And because I wasn’t able to attend the Bouchercon session during which the winners of the 2010 Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Awards were declared, this word of the results comes late. I hope it is nonetheless valuable. Herewith the fortunate victors:

Best Flash Story (Up to 1,000 Words): “And Here’s to You, Mrs. Edwardson,” by Hamilton Waymire (from Big Pulp, November 23, 2009)

Also nominated: “Awake,” by David Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July 2009); “Gutterball,” by Stephen D. Rogers (Woman’s World Magazine, September 7, 2009); “The Right Track,” by R.T. Lawton (Woman’s World Magazine, October 26, 2009); and “Unplanned,” by Libby Cudmore (Thrillers, Killers ’n’ Chillers, August 2009)

Best Short Story (1,001 - 4,000 Words): “’Twas the Night,” by Anita Page (from The Gift of Murder, edited by John M. Floyd; Wolfmont Press)

Also nominated: “Identity Theft,” by Robert Weibezahl (Beat to a Pulp, March 2009); “The Biography of Stoop the Thief,” by Steven Torres (from Uncage Me! edited by Jen Jordan; Bleak House Books); “The Hard Sell,” by Jay Stringer (Beat to a Pulp, May 2009; and “The Right to Remain Silent,” by Debbi Mack (The Back Alley, August 2009)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 Words): “Famous Last Words,” by Doug Allyn (EQMM, November 2009)

Also nominated: “A Stab in the Heart,” by Twist Phelan (EQMM, February 2009); “Regarding Certain Occurrences in a Cottage at the Garden of Allah,” by Robert S. Levinson (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM] November 2009); “Snow on Bloedkoppie,” by Berhard Jaumann (translated from the German by Mary Tannert; EQMM, August 2009); “The Shipbreaker,” by Mike Wiecek (EQMM, March/April 2009)

Best Novelette (8,001-17,500 Words): “Julius Katz,” by Dave Zeltserman (EQMM, September/October 2009)

Also nominated: “Adjuncts Anonymous,” by B.K. Stevens (AHMM, June 2009); “The Last Drop,” by R.W. Kerrigan (EQMM, February 2009); “The Pirate’s Debt,” by Toni L.P. Kelner (EQMM, August 2009); and “Uncle Brick and Jimmy Kills,” by Allan Leverone (Mysterical-E, Summer 2009)

The Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer For Lifetime Achievement: Lawrence Block

Congratulations to all of the winners and other nominees.