Eyes Front and Center

Last night, during a banquet ceremony held in Long Beach, California, Max Allan Collins and Barbara Collins played masters of ceremonies for the presentation of this year’s Shamus Awards, given out by the Private Eye Writers of America. The winners were:

Best Hardcover P.I. Novel:
The Good Cop, by Brad Parks (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Little Elvises, by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Crime); The Mojito Coast, by Richard Helms (Five Star); W Is for Wasted, by Sue Grafton (Marian Wood/Putnam); and Nemesis, by Bill Pronzini (Forge)

Best First P.I. Novel:
Bear Is Broken, by Lachlan Smith
(Mysterious Press)

Also nominated: A Good Death, by Christopher R. Cox (Minotaur); Montana, by Gwen Florio (Permanent Press); Blood Orange, by Karen Keskinen (Minotaur); and Loyalty, by Ingrid Thoft (Putnam)

Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel:
Heart of Ice, by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)

Also nominated: Seduction of the Innocent, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); Into the Dark, by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins); Purgatory Key, by Darrell James (Midnight Ink); and The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie, by Robert J. Randisi (Perfect Crime)

Best P.I. Short Story:
“So Long, Chief,” by Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane (The Strand Magazine, February-May 2013)

Also nominated: “The Ace I,” by Jack Fredrickson (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], June 2013); “What We Do,” by Mick Herron (EQMM, September-October 2013); “Extra Fries,” by Michael Z. Lewin (EQMM, May 2013): and “The Lethal Leeteg,” by Hayford Peirce (EQMM, August 2013)

Best Indie P.I. Novel:
Don’t Dare a Dame, by M. Ruth Myers (Tuesday House)

Also nominated: Murder Take Three, by April Kelly and Marsha Lyons (Flight Risk); A Small Sacrifice, by Dana King (Amazon Digital); No Pat Hands, by J.J. Lamb (Two Black Sheep); and State vs. Lassiter, by Paul Levine (CreateSpace)

In addition, fictional private eye Kinsey Millhone (the star of Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries) was given the Hammer Award, and Grant Bywater won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press First Novel Award for The Red Storm.