Shamus Festivities Nixed

One of my favorite events taking place during each year’s Bouchercon is the Shamus Awards Banquet. Organized by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), which created the Shamus in 1982, this generally unpretentious affair takes place away from the convention hotel, draws a star-studded mix of writers with a taste for fiction featuring private investigators (or gumshoe-like protagonists), and always offers considerable camaraderie and humor.

Unfortunately, no such banquet will take place in association with Bouchercon 2017, which is to be held in Toronto, Ontario, from October 12 through 15. I was first alerted to this development by The Gumshoe Site. Yesterday it updated an item about the latest Shamus Awards nominees with a sentence saying that winners would be “announced in September,” but that the dinner had been called off. I subsequently e-mailed PWA co-founder Robert J. Randisi, who usually serves as the master of ceremonies at these events, to ask what had gone wrong. He wrote back that “The banquet has been cancelled due to unforeseen difficulties in setting it up in Canada.”

So when, then, might 2017 Shamus Award nominees learn whether they’ve won or not? Randisi says “an exact date” for that announcement “has not yet been decided on. We’ll keep you informed.” I shall let Rap Sheet readers know when I hear more.