Making Off with the Silver

This year’s Killer Nashville conference concludes today in the Tennessee capital. But last night brought announcements of which writers and books had won the 2015 Silver Falchion Readers Choice Awards. There doesn’t yet appear to be a complete or official rundown of recipients available on the Web, but Janet Rudolph of Mystery Fanfare has posted “a partial list gleaned from Facebook and Twitter,” and promises to add the remaining winners “when I find them.” Because there were 22 award categories, many of which had nothing to do with crime and mystery fiction, I’m not going to list every one here. Instead, you will find below the same eight categories I focused on when I reported on the Silver Fanchion finalists a month ago.

Best Novel: Romantic Suspense:
Truth Be Told, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Also nominated: Judgment, by Carey Baldwin (Witness Impulse); The Lost Key, by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison (Putnam); Top Secret Twenty-One, by Janet Evanovich (Bantam); and Sweet Damage, by Rebecca James (Bantam)

Best Novel: Cozy/Traditional:
Hunting Shadows, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

Also nominated: Angelica’s Smile, by Andrea Camilleri (Penguin); The Question of the Missing Head, by E.J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen (Midnight Ink); The Alpine Yeoman, by Mary Daheim (Ballantine); and Designated Daughters, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central)

Best Novel: Historical:
Death on Blackheath, by Anne Perry (Ballantine)

Also nominated: The Reckoning, by Rennie Airth (Viking); An Air of Treason, by P.F. Chisolm (Poisoned Pen Press); The Johnstown Girls, by Kathleen George (University of Pittsburgh Press); and The Devil’s Workshop, by Alex Grecian (Putnam)

Best Novel: Private Detective/Police Procedural:
Field of Prey, by John Sandford (Putnam)

Also nominated: The Forsaken, by Ace Atkins (Putnam); The Hollow Girl, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Tyrus); Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart, by Christopher Fowler (Bantam); and Sorrow Bound, by David Mark (Blue Rider Press)

Best Novel: Speculative: Fear City, by F. Paul Wilson (Tor)

Also nominated: The String Diaries, by Stephen Lloyd Jones (Mulholland); Coldbrook, by Tim Lebbon (Titan); Lock In, by John Scalzi (Tor); and Yesterday’s Hero, by Jonathan Wood (Titan)

Best Novel: Literary Suspense: The Day She Died, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)

Also nominated: The Dead Will Tell, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur); Red 1-2-3, by John Katzenbach (Mysterious Press); Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King (Scribner); and The Farm, by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central)

Best Novel: Political Thriller/Adventure: I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes (Atria/Emily Bestler)

Also nominated: Night Heron, by Adam Brookes (Redhook); Dark Spies, by Matthew Dunn (Morrow); The Hilltop, by Assaf Gavron (Scribner); End Game, by John Gilstrap (Pinnacle); and Assassin’s Game, by Ward Larsen (Forge)

Best Novel: Crime Thriller: In the Blood, by Lisa Unger (Touchstone)

Also nominated: The Bone Orchard, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur); Dakota, by Gwen Florio (Permanent Press); Gangsterland, by Tod Goldberg (Counterpoint); and The Keeper, by John Lescroart (Atria)

Congratulations to all of this year’s contenders!