Chasing Silver in Nashville

With just over a month still to go before the opening of this year’s Killer Nashville conference (August 22-25), organizers today released their registers of finalists for the 2019 Silver Falchion Awards. There are 10 categories of contenders, including the following two.

Mystery:
• Unholy Secrets, by Delphine Boswell (CreateSpace)
• The Burial Place, by Larry Enmon (Crooked Lane)
• The Shadows We Hide, by Allan Eskens (Mulholland)
• Star Struck, by Mike Faricy (Credit River e-book)
• Killing in C Sharp, by Alexia Gordon (Henery Press)
• A Knife in the Fog, by Bradley Harper (Seventh Street)
• River of Secrets, by Roger Johns (Minotaur)
• A Dying Note, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Deadly Solution, by Keenan Powell (Level Best)
• Dying for a Deal, by Cindy Sample (CreateSpace)

Thriller:
• Yesterday’s News, by R.G. Belsky (Oceanview)
• The War Beneath, by Timothy S. Johnston (ChiZine)
• Fractured, by Thomas Kelso (Jolly Robin Press)
• Illegal Holdings, by Michael Niemann (Coffeetown Press)
• The Consultant, by Tj O’Connor (Oceanview)
• City of Grudges, by Rick Outzen (SelectBooks)
• A Knife’s Edge, by Eliot Parker (Headline)
• Scourge, by Charley Pearson (Ingram Spark)
• Naked Truth, by Rick Pullen (Koehler)
• The Dark and the Dead, by Dana J. Summers (CreateSpace)

You can find the full list of Silver Falchion nominees here.

According to press materials, “Since 2008, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards have recognized the best stories from the previous year told through various media utilizing the elements of mystery, thriller, and/or suspense. Judges are professional writers, book reviewers, librarians, academics, and—in specialized cases—specific industry peers. Focus is on quality, not popularity.”

Today’s news about the Silver Falchion nominees comes six weeks after Killer Nashville announced its nominees for the annual Claymore Award, given to the authors of “unpublished English-language manuscripts containing elements of thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense …”