Sleuth Standouts

The Private Eye Writers of America organization has announced its nominees for the 2020 Shamus Awards, in three categories.

Best Original Private Eye Paperback:
• The Skin Game, by J.D. Allen (Midnight Ink)
• Behind the Wall of Sleep, by James D.F. Hannah (Self-published)
• Paid in Spades, by Richard Helms (Clay Stafford)
• Ration of Lies, by M. Ruth Myers (Self-published)
• The Bird Boys, by Lisa Sandlin (Cinco Puntos Press)

Best Private Eye Short Story:
• “The Smoking Bandit of Lakeside Terrace,” by Chad Baker
(Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May/June 2019)
• “Sac-A-Lait Man” by O’Neil De Noux (EQMM, September/
October 2019)
• “The Dunes of Saulkrasti,” by William Burton McCormick
(EQMM, September/October 2019)
• “The Fourteenth Floor,” by Adam Meyer (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press)
• “Weathering the Storm” by Michael Pool (from The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out)

Best Private Eye Novel:
• The Tower of Songs, by Casey Barrett (Kensington)
• Lost Tomorrows, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
• The Shallows, by Matt Goldman (Forge)
• Below the Line, by Michael Gould (Dutton)
• The Cold Way Home, by Julia Keller (Minotaur)

(There will not be a prize given this time around for Best First Private Eye Novel. The PWA Web site explains that it “is currently on hiatus while we search for a new sponsor.”)

During any normal year, the Shamuses would be presented during an off-site banquet held in association with Bouchercon. However, this is not a normal year: Bouchercon 2020 has been cancelled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. PWA executive director Robert J. Randisi says, “This year we’ll be announcing the winners before the end of June, as soon as they appear in our newsletter. The plaques will then be mailed to the winners. And we’ll see everyone next year [at Bouchercon] in New Orleans.”

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)