Grafton, L.A. Times Awards Due Soon

The Mystery Writers of America organization has announced that it will present the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award on April 25, during this year’s Edgar Awards festivities in New York City. That new commendation is, of course, named in honor of Grafton, the creator of fictional private investigator Kinsey Millhone, who died in December 2017 at age 77, following a battle with cancer. According to a news release, the Sue Grafton Memorial Award will celebrate “the Best Novel in a Series featuring a female protagonist in a series.” The five nominees have reportedly been “chosen by the 2019 Best Novel and Best Paperback Original Edgar Award judges from the books submitted to them throughout the year.” They are:

• Perish, by Lisa Black (Kensington)
• Shell Game, by Sara Paretsky (Morrow)
• City of Secrets, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)
• A Forgotten Place, by Charles Todd (Morrow)
• To Die But Once, by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

By the way, the awarding date—April 25—is one day after what would have been Southern California author Grafton’s 79th birthday.

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Meanwhile, finalists for the 2019 Los Angeles Times Book Awards have been announced in 10 categories. Here are the novels contending in the Mystery/Thriller section:

• Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• Green Sun, by Kent Anderson (Mulholland)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleda)
• The Perfect Nanny, by Leila Slimani (Penguin)

Winners will be declared on April 12, the evening before the opening of this year’s L.A. Times Festival of Books, which is to held on the University of Southern California campus (April 13-14).

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)