Thrill Chasers

Via Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare blog comes news that the International Thriller Writers organization has named the finalists for its 2012 Thriller Awards in four categories.

Best Hardcover Novel:
• Buried Secrets, by Joseph Finder (St. Martin’s Press)
• A Hard Death, by Jonathan Hayes (Harper)
• 11/22/63, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• The Ridge, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes, by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original:
• The Last Minute, by Jeff Abbott (Sphere/Little, Brown UK)
• Threat Warning, by John Gilstrap (Pinnacle)
• The Glass Demon, by Helen Grant (Delacorte Press)
• The Queen, by Steven James (Revell)
• Already Gone, by John Rector (Thomas & Mercer)

Best First Novel:
• The Genesis Key, by James Barney (Harper)
• She Can Run, by Melinda Leigh (Montlake Romance)
• Spiral, by Paul McEuen (The Dial Press)
• The Fund, by H.T. Narea (Forge)
• Midnight Caller, by Leslie Tentler (Mira)

Best Short Story:
• “One More Lie,” by James Scott Bell (Compendium Press)
• “Anything to Win,” by Michael Z. Lewin (The Strand Magazine, June-September 2011)
• “Happine$$,” by Twist Phelan (from Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead, edited by Nelson DeMille;
Grand Central)
• “Half-Lives,” by Tim L. Williams (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March-April 2011)
• “A Hostage Situation,” by Dave Zeltserman (EQMM,
September-October 2011)

The winners will be announced, and awards handed out, during ThrillerFest VII, to be held in New York City from July 11 to 14. If you would like to register for that conference, click here.