Behold, the 2022 Edgar Award Winners

Well, it’s over: members of the Mystery Writers of America have handed out the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards during a fun, in-person ceremony in New York City. Although I couldn’t attend, I—like so many other crime-fiction fans—watched the whole thing online here. With luck, that video stream will remain available to others.

The full list of prize recipients is below.

Best Novel: Five Decembers, by James
Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)

Also nominated: The Venice Sketchbook, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union); Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); How Lucky, by Will Leitch (Harper); and No One Will Miss Her, by Kat Rosenfield (Morrow)

Best First Novel by an American Author: Deer Season, by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)

Also nominated: Never Saw Me Coming, by Vera Kurian (Park Row); Suburban Dicks, by Fabian Nicieza (Putnam); What Comes After, by JoAnne Tompkins (Riverhead); and The Damage, by Caitlin Wahrer (Viking/Pamela Dorman)

Best Paperback Original:
Bobby March Will Live Forever, by Alan Parks (World Noir)

Also nominated: Kill All Your Darlings, by David Bell (Berkley); The Lighthouse Witches, by C.J. Cooke (Berkley); The Album of Dr. Moreau, by Daryl Gregory (Tor); Starr Sign, by C.S. O’Cinneide (Dundurn Press); and The Shape of Darkness, by Laura Purcell (Penguin)

Best Short Story: “The Road to Hana,” by R.T. Lawton (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], May/June 2021)

Also nominated: “Blindsided,” by Michael Bracken and James A. Hearn (AHMM, September/October 2021); “The Vermeer Conspiracy,” by V.M. Burns (from Midnight Hour, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane); “Lucky Thirteen,” by Tracy Clark (from Midnight Hour); “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2021); and “The Dark Oblivion,” by Cornell Woolrich (EQMM, January/February 2021)

Best Fact Crime: Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green (Celadon)

Also nominated: The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History, by Margalit Fox (Random House); Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away, by Ann Hagedorn (Simon & Schuster); Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice, by Ellen McGarrahan (Random House); The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade, by Benjamin T. Smith (Norton); and When Evil Lived in Laurel: The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer, by Curtis Wilkie (Norton)

Best Critical/Biographical: The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense, by Edward White (Norton)

Also nominated: Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, by Mark Aldridge (Harper360); The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene, by Richard Greene (Norton); Tony Hillerman: A Life, by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma Press); and The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science, by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Best Young Adult:
Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley (Henry Holt)

Also nominated: Ace of Spades, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Feiwel & Friends); When You Look Like Us, by Pamela N. Harris (Quill Tree); The Forest of Stolen Girls, by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends); and The Girls I’ve Been, by Tess Sharpe (Putnam)

Best Juvenile:
Concealed, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic Press)

Also nominated: Cold-Blooded Myrtle, by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers); Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Dead Man in the Garden, by Marthe Jocelyn (Tundra); Kidnap on the California Comet: Adventures on Trains #2, by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman (Feiwel & Friends); and Rescue, by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic Press)

Best Television Episode Teleplay: “Boots on the Ground,” Narcos: Mexico, written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)

Also nominated: “Dog Day Morning,” The Brokenwood Mysteries, written by Tim Balme (Acorn TV); “Episode 1,” The Beast Must Die, written by Gaby Chiappe (AMC+); “The Men Are Wretched Things,” The North Water, written by Andrew Haigh (AMC+); and “Happy Families,” Midsomer Murders, written by Nicholas Hicks-Beach (Acorn TV)

Grand Master: Laurie R. King

Raven Award: Lesa Holstine, librarian, blogger, and book reviewer

Ellery Queen Award: Juliet Grames, associate publisher at Soho Press

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“Analogue,” by Rob Osler (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January/February 2021)

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
Runner, by Tracy Clark (Kensington)

Also nominated: Double Take, by Elizabeth Breck (Crooked Lane); Shadow Hill, by Thomas Kies (Poisoned Pen Press); Sleep Well, My Lady, by Kwei Quartey (Soho Crime); and Family Business, by S.J. Rozan (Pegasus Crime)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet, by Katherine Cowley (Tule Mystery); Ruby Red Herring, by Tracy Gardner (Crooked Lane); The Sign of Death, by Callie Hutton (Crooked Lane); and Chapter and Curse, by Elizabeth Penney (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)

Congratulations to all of this year’s Edgar nominees!

PaperBack: “The Woman on the Roof”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



The Woman on the Roof, by Helen Nielsen (Dell, 1956). Cover illustration by William George.

Choice Amusements

As I’ve mentioned before, I have historically not been a big reader of short stories. But I did find enjoyment in abbreviated works of fiction during my recent convalescence. Enough so, that I subscribed—for the very first time—to the now 80-year-old Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I just received my initial issue (May/June 2022), and in it found EQMM’s announcement of its 2021 Readers Award winners. Those annual prizes are given to works that were published in the magazine over the previous year.

First-place honors, it’s explained, go to Karen Harrington for “Boo Radley College Prep,” “ a crime story about redemption and bias” that appeared in the January/February 2021 edition of EQMM. Below are the remainder of the prize recipients, including several ties.

2. “Demon in the Depths,” by Bill McCormick (September/October)
3. Tie — “Bad Chemistry,” by John Wimer (July/August)
3. Tie — “Black Swallowtail,” by Hollis Seamon (March/April)
4. Tie — “Kiss of Life,” by Doug Allyn (May/June)
4. Tie — “A Season of Night,” by David Dean (May/June)
4. Tie — “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins,” by Dave Zeltserman (July/August)
5. “No Legacy So Rich,” by Anna Scotti (January/February)
6. Tie — “Leap of Faith,” by Marilyn Todd (May/June)
6. Tie — “The Last Man in Lafarge,” by Joseph Walker (July/August)
7. “The Fraud of Dionysus,” by Smita Harish Jain (July/August)
8. “The Lemonade Stand,” by Scott Loring Sanders (January/February)
9. “Curious Incidents,” by Steve Hockensmith (January/February)
10. “The White Star,” by G.M. Malliet (July/August)

Readers Award (aka Readers Choice Award) winner are chosen by the EQMM readership. Previous honorees are listed here.

Cozy, Fun, and Fêted

Although the “live and in-person,” 2022 Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland, continues into this afternoon, it’s already been announced that Ellen Byron’s Cajun Kiss of Death—the seventh of her Cajun Country Mysteries—has won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. This marks the second such accolade for that Los Angeles-area author; her 2018 entry in the same series, Mardi Gras Murder, also scored Best Contemporary Novel honors.

According to the Malice Domestic Web site, the Agathas are intended to “celebrate the Traditional Mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as ‘hard-boiled.’”

Below is the full run of 2022 Agatha recipients.

Best Contemporary Novel:
Cajun Kiss of Death, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane)

Also nominated: Watch Her, by Edwin Hill (Kensington); The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); Her Perfect Life, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge), and Symphony Road, by Gabriel Valjan (Level Best)

Best Historical Novel:
Death at Greenway, by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: Murder at Mallowan Hall, by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington); Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime); The Bombay Prince, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime); and The Devil’s Music, by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose)

Best First Novel:
Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)

Also nominated: The Turncoat’s Widow, by Mally Becker (Kensington); A Dead Man’s Eyes, by Lori Duffy Foster (Level Best); Murder in the Master, by Judy L. Murray (Level Best); and Mango, Mambo, and Murder, by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane)

Best Short Story:
“Bay of Reckoning,” by Shawn Reilly Simmons (from Murder on the Beach; Destination Murders)

Also nominated: “A Family Matter,” by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2021); “A Tale of Two Sisters,” by Barb Goffman (from Murder on the Beach); “Doc’s at Midnight,” by Richie Narvaez (from Midnight Hour, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane); and “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2021)

Best Non-fiction:
How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster)

Also nominated: The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, by Jan Brogan (Bright Leaf Press); Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter, by Chris Chan (Level Best); and The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge, and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England, by Julie Kavanaugh (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Children’s/YA Mystery:
I Play One on TV, by Alan Orloff (Down & Out)

Also nominated: Cold-Blooded Myrtle, by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers); The Forest of Stolen Girls, by June Hur (Fiewel and Friends); Leisha’s Song, by Lynn Slaughter (Fire and Ice); and Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, by Nancy Springer (Wednesday)

On top of all those prizes, Malice Domestic presented two separate Lifetime Achievement Awards, to Ellen Hart and Walter Mosley.

Prepping Another Round of Daggers

As expected today, the British Crime Writers’ Association has announced its (sometimes rather long) longlists of nominees for the 2022 Dagger awards. Winners will be named during a “live gala dinner event” held on Wednesday, June 29, in London.

Gold Dagger:
• Next of Kin, by Kia Abdullah (HQ)
• The Christmas Murder Game, by Alexandra Benedict (Zaffre)
• Rabbit Hole, by Mark Billingham (‎Little, Brown)
• City of Vengeance, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• Before You Knew My Name, by Jacqueline Bublitz (Little, Brown)
• Sunset Swing, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Last Thing to Burn, by Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The House Uptown, by Melissa Ginsburg (Faber
and Faber)
• The Unwilling, by John
Hart (Zaffre)
• A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday)
• Lightseekers, by Femi
Kayode (Raven)
• I Know What I Saw, by Imran Mahmood (Raven)
• The Shadows of Men, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• The Killing Hills, by Chris Offutt (No Exit Press)
• The Stoning, by Peter Papathanasiou (MacLehose Press)
• The Trawlerman, by William Shaw (Riverrun)
• Daughters of Night, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• A Beginner’s Guide to Murder, by Rosalind Stopps (HQ)
• Brazilian Psycho, by Joe Thomas (Arcadia)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• A Man Named Doll, by Jonathan Ames (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Find You First, by Linwood Barclay (HQ)
• Exit, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam Press)
• The Pact, by Sharon Bolton (Orion)
• The Devil’s Advocate, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• Sunset Swing, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Dead Ground, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
• The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Faber and Faber)
• Dream Girl, by Laura Lippman (Faber and Faber)
• Rizzio, by Denise Mina (Polygon)
• The Lonely Ones, by Håkan Nesser (Mantle)

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• Welcome to Cooper, by Tariq Ashkanani (Thomas & Mercer)
• Sixteen Horses, by Greg Buchanan (Mantle)
• Repentance, by Eloísa Díaz (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Hunted, by Antony Dunford (Hobeck)
• The Mash House, by Alan Gillespie (Unbound)
• Raft of Stars, by Andrew J. Graff (HQ)
• The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• Falling, by T.J. Newman (Simon & Schuster)
• Where Ravens Roost, by Karin Nordin (HQ)
• The Stoning, by Peter Papathanasiou (MacLehose Press)
• How to Kidnap the Rich, by Rahul Raina (Little, Brown)
• A Mumbai Murder Mystery, by Meeti Shroff-Shah (Joffe)
• The Source, by Sarah Sultoon (Orenda)
• Waking the Tiger, by Mark Wightman (Hobeck)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• Girls Who Lie, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Orenda)
• Hotel Cartagena, by Simone Buchholz,
translated by Rachel Ward (Orenda)
• Riccardino, by Andrea Camilleri,
translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Mantle)
• Seat 7a, by Sebastian Fitzek,
translated by Steve Anderson (Head of Zeus)
• Bullet Train, by Kōtarō Isaka,
translated by Sam Malissa (Harvill Secker)
• Heatwave, by Victor Jestin,
translated by Sam Taylor (Scribner)
• Oxygen, by Sacha Naspini,
translated by Clarissa Botsford (Europa Editions)
• People Like Them, by Samira Sedira,
translated by Lara Vergnaud (Raven)
• The Rabbit Factor, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda)
• The Scorpion’s Head, by Hilde Vandermeeren,
translated by Laura Watkinson (Pushkin Vertigo)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• The Devil You Know: Stories of Human Cruelty and Compassion, by Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne (Faber and Faber)
• The Seven Ages of Death, by Richard Shepherd (Michael Joseph)
• The Jigsaw Murders, by Jeremy Craddock (History Press)
• The Dublin Railway Murder, by Thomas Morris (Harvill Secker)
• What Lies Buried, by Kerry Daynes (Octopus)
• The Unusual Suspect, by Ben Machell (Canongate)
• The Good Girls, by Sonia Faleiro (Bloomsbury Circus)
• The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A True Story of Sex, Crime and the Meaning of Justice, by Julia Laite (Profile)
• We Are Bellingcat, by Eliot Higgins (Bloomsbury)
• Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador)
• The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Murders That Stunned an Empire, by Julie Kavanagh (Grove Press)

Historical Dagger:
• April in Spain, by John Banville (Faber and Faber)
• City of Vengeance, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• Sunset Swing, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)
• Crow Court, by Andy Charman (Unbound)
• Not One of Us, by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)
• The Drowned City, by K.J. Maitland (Headline)
• Where God Does Not Walk, by Luke McCallin (No Exit Press)
• Edge of the Grave, by Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
• A Corruption of Blood, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
• Blackout, by Simon Scarrow (Headline)
• The Royal Secret, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)
• The Cannonball Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

Short Story Dagger:
• “Blindsided,” by Caroline England (from Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time, edited by Samantha Lee Howe; Telos)
• “The Victim,” by Awais Khan (from Criminal Pursuits)
• “New Tricks,” by Matt Wesolowski (from Afraid of the Shadows, edited by Miranda Jewess; Criminal Minds)
• “London,” by Jo Nesbø (from The Jealousy Man and Other Stories, by Jo Nesbø; Harvill Secker)
• “With the Others,” by T.M. Logan (from Afraid of the Shadows)
• “The Clifton Vampire,” by T.E Kinsey (from Afraid of the Shadows)
• “Flesh of a Fancy Woman,” by Paul Magrs (from Criminal Pursuits)
• “Changeling,” by Bryony Pearce (from Criminal Pursuits)
• “The Way of all Flesh,” by Raven Dane (from Criminal Pursuits)
• “When I Grow Up,” by Robert Scragg (from Afraid of the Shadows)

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
• Faber and Faber
• Harper Fiction
• Mantle
• Michael Joseph
• Point Blank
• Pushkin Vertigo
• Quercus
• Raven
• Thomas & Mercer
• Titan
• Viper

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”):
• Ben Aaronovitch
• Lin Anderson
• Mark Billingham
• Susan Hill
• Edward Marston
• Kate Rhodes
• Cath Staincliffe
• Rebecca Tope
• Sara Sheridan

In addition, the CWA has decided to give British historical crime novelist C.J. Sansom the 2022 Diamond Dagger “for a lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language.”

Contenders for the 2022 Debut Dagger were named earlier this week.

* * *

Also today, the UK-based Margery Allingham Society—“set up to honour and promote the writings of the great Golden Age author whose well-known hero is Albert Campion”—released its dozen finalists in this year’s Margery Allingham Short Story Competition. They are:

• “Black Tie for Murder,” by Craig Bowlsby
• “Secrets in the Family Attic,” by Hannah Brown
• “Wheeling and Dealing,” by Carey Coombs
• “Say Cheese,” by William Crotty
• “Unfound,” by Mary-Jane Harbottle
• “The Exceptional Death of Sir Thaddeus Parker,” by Tom Holroyd
• “Locked In,” by Scott Hunter
• “The Missing Piece,” by Deborah Mantle
• “A Face for Murder,” by Judith O’Reilly
• “Weights and Biases,” by Alexandre Sadeghi
• “Bad Timing,” by Paul Spencer
• “Boxed In,” by Mark Thielman

The winner of this contest will be announced on Friday, May 13, during the 2022 CrimeFest convention in Bristol, England.

Abbott Adds to Her Awards Shelf

New York City author and TV screenwriter Megan Abbott has won the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category for her 2021 novel, The Turnout. That announcement was made last evening to kick off the 27th L.A. Times Festival of Books.

Also in contention for the same honor were The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); The Collective, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow); and Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey).

There were a dozen categories of candidates for this year’s literary awards. A full accounting of recipients can be found here.

Starting Out

Tomorrow should bring us highly publicized announcements, from Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association, of which authors and published books have been longlisted for the 2022 Dagger awards. But the CWA has already released its inventory of 10 nominees in one Dagger category: the 2022 Debut Dagger. That prize is given for the opening of a crime or mystery novel (3,000 words in length, plus a synopsis of the completed work) to an author “who has not yet had a full-length novel traditionally published,” as Wikipedia explains.

Here are the contenders:

• Henry’s Bomb, by Kevin Bartlett
• Lufkin, Texas, by Katherine Futers
• Holloway Candle, by Laura Ashton Hill
• The 10-12, by Anna Maloney
• The Mercy Seat, by Rachel Nixon
• The Two Murders at Manor Park, by Elizabeth Opalka
• Blood Castle, by Shylashri Shankar
• Dead Reckoning, by Jennifer Slee and Jessica Slee
• The Dead of Egypt, by David Smith
• The Dieppe Letters, by Liz Rachel Walker

The names of all Dagger winners are slated to be declared during a “live gala dinner event” in London on Wednesday, June 29.

Congratulations in Canada

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) has announced the finalists for its 2022 Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing (formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards), in 10 categories. Winners are to be announced on Thursday, May 26.

Best Crime Novel:
• Find You First, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)
• Lost Immunity, by Daniel Kalla (Simon & Schuster)
• Under the Outlaw Moon, by Dietrich Kalteis (ECW Press)
• Not a Happy Family, by Shari Lapena (Doubleday Canada)
• The Hunted, by Roz Nay (Simon & Schuster)

Best Crime First Novel:
• The Push, by Ashley Audrain (Viking Canada)
• The Captive, by Fiona King Foster (HarperCollins)
• Windfall, by Byron TD Smith (Shima Kun Press)
• All Is Well, by Katherine Walker (Thistledown Press)
• Seven Down, by David Whitton (Rare Machines)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery:
• What’s the Matter with Mary Jane? by Candas Jane Dorsey (ECW Press)
• Three Dog Knight, by Alice Bienia (Cairn Press)
• Hell’s Half Acre, by Jackie Elliott (Joffe)
• So Many Windings, by Catherine Macdonald (At Bay Press)
• Murder in a Teacup, by Vicki Delany (Kensington)

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:
• Beneath Her Skin, by C.S. Porter (Vagrant Press)
• Corpse with an Iron Will, by Cathy Ace (Four Tails)
• Death on Darby’s Island, by Alice Walsh (Vagrant Press)
• Hell and Gone, by Sam Wiebe (Harbour)
• Three for Trinity, by Kevin Major (Breakwater)

Best Crime Novella:
• Identity Withheld, by Marcelle Dubé (Falcon Ridge)
• Murder in Abstract, by Brenda Gayle (Bowstring)
• Letters from Johnny, by Wayne Ng (Guernica Editions)
• Not So Fast, Dr. Quick, by Elvie Simons (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2021)

Best Crime Short Story:
• “What Can You Do?” by Pam Barnsley (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], November/December 2021)
• “Weed Man,” by Hilary Davidson (EQMM, September/October 2021)
• “Number 10 Marlborough Place,” by Elizabeth Elwood (EQMM, November/December 2021)
• “All My Darlings,” by Charlotte Morganti (from Die Laughing: An Anthology of Humorous Mysteries, edited by Kelly Carter; Independently Published)
• “Dead Man’s Hand, by Melissa Yi (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March/April 2021)

Best French Crime Book (fiction and non-fiction):
• Le murmure des hakapiks, by Roxanne Bouchard (Libre Expression)
• Dis-moi qui doit vivre …, by Marc-André Chabot (Libre Expression)
• Conduite dangereuse, by Guillaume Morrissette (Saint-Jean)
• Flots, by Patrick Senécal (Editions Alire)
• Stigmates, by Richard Ste-Marie (Editions Alire)

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (fiction and non-fiction):
• Blood Donor, by Karen Bass (Orca)
• Alice Fleck’s Recipes for Disaster, by Rachelle Delane (Puffin Canada)
• Hunting By Stars, by Cherie Dimaline (Penguin Teen)
• The Traitor’s Blade, by Kevin Sands (Aladdin)
• Don’t Breathe a Word, by Jordyn Taylor (HarperTeen)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book:
• Don’t Call It a Cult, by Sarah Berman (Viking Canada)
• Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City’s West End, by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Murder on the Inside: The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary, by Catherine Fogarty (Biblioasis)
• The Beatle Bandit, by Nate Hendley (Dundurn Press)
• The Don: The Story of Toronto’s Infamous Jail, by Lorna Poplak (Dundurn Press)

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript:
• The Strength to Rise, by Delee Fromm
• Captives, by Pam Isfeld
• Elmington, by Renee Lehnen
• Ken’s Corner, by Katie Mac
• Part Time Crazy, by Mark Thomas

In addition, the CWC has named Toronto-born author Louise Penny as the recipient of its latest Grand Master Award. “Louise Penny’s debut novel, Still Life, not only won CWC Award for Best First Novel but also the New Blood Dagger, Anthony and Barry awards,” it recalls in a news release. “Since then, Louise Penny has penned over sixteen Inspector Gamache novels, won many more awards, [and] become an international bestseller and Canadian icon. Inspector Gamache is being adapted for television by Left Bank Productions with Alfred Molina playing the beloved detective. Her most recent book, State of Terror, was written with 2016 U.S. Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, a literary coup and another bestseller.”

(Hat tip to Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.)

Returns, Reinventions, and Reprisals

There are just over two weeks to go now, before the May 6 premiere of Bosch: Legacy, the spin-off series from Amazon Prime Video’s long-running police procedural, Bosch. Like its predecessor, this new production will be headlined by Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch, the Los Angeles police detective turned private eye created by author Michael Connelly. The new show will also star Mimi Rogers as defense attorney Honey “Money” Chandler, and Madison Lintz as Bosch’s daughter, Maddie, who is training as a rookie patrol officer.

Crime Fiction Lover offers a useful preview of Bosch: Legacy, Season 1, noting that it “offers mystery, intrigue and action as the trio face off against the Russian mafia, corrupt corporate suits, street-level psychopaths and even the LAPD. This is a multi-layered look at contemporary Los Angeles—and American society—with plenty of talking points and a load of swerving and twisting storylines to enjoy across 10 hour-long episodes.” The site goes on to explain:

The theme of legacy plays throughout but comes through most clearly in the main story, which comes from Michael Connelly’s [2016] Bosch novel The Wrong Side of Goodbye. Harry Bosch [now working as an investigator for Chandler] … is summoned to meet Witney Vance (William Devane), the billionaire owner of an aerospace company who is coming to the end of his life. Vance wants Bosch to find out what happened to the girl he got pregnant when he was in college. One of his dying regrets is not standing up to his father, who forced Vance to end their relationship. More than that—could Vance have a living heir? …

Over to Honey Chandler, powerfully played by Mimi Rogers. She has physically recovered from the gunshot wounds that nearly killed her in Bosch season 7 and now harbours a deep hatred of the man who tried to have her killed—hedge fund finagler Carl Rogers (Michael Rose). When one of the witnesses against Rogers recants his testimony, Rogers walks free which fuels Chandler’s rage. Witness her pumping off rounds at the firing range. Witness her in therapy, swearing her head off and envisaging Rogers’ death. She may be healed in body, but her mind is a different matter entirely.

A new trailer for Bosch: Legacy—which will air on Amazon’s ad-supported streaming service, Freevee (formerly IMDb TV)—is below.

One Month Medical Update

What a glorious day it is to be alive! The sun is out here in Seattle, even if the temperature remains in the low- to mid-50s. This is the first day since my accident in mid-March that I’ve sat down in front of my office computer intending to write anything of substance. I even have a cup of coffee at hand—something I usually love, but that I haven’t drunk since I experienced my concussion.

Let me begin here my thanking all of the Rap Sheet readers who wished me well after my painful mishap. You should know that things have improved greatly over the last month. Following my brief hospitalization and subsequent weeklong semi-hibernation (during which my body demanded quiet only, even though that convinced my wife I wasn’t improving in the least), I finally rediscovered my appetite, then began an almost daily regimen of sitting out on my front porch for hours, listening to one jazz CD after the next; it’s astounding how medicinal the singing of Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, and especially Steve Tyrell can be! While I initially found reading difficult, and couldn’t stare at a computer screen for long, I was able to watch television. The complexities of crime dramas gave me headaches, but my brain had fewer objections to science fiction. This led me to take in the newest season of Star Trek: Discovery, as well as the sophomore season of Patrick Stewart’s Star Trek: Picard, and to re-watch my favorite Chris Pine Star Trek film (Star Trek Beyond) and assorted episodes of the original Star Trek. (If you didn’t already know I am a longtime Trekkie, well, surprise!)

Just a fortnight ago did I resume reading books. Though as a rule I steer clear of short stories (preferring longer, more consuming yarns), my introductory post-concussion pick was Lyndsay Faye’s Observations by Gaslight: Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes (Mysterious Press). Released late last year, it proved to be an ideal selection. Treading closely on the heels of Faye’s The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, her outstanding 2017 collection of Watsonian tales, Observations features half a dozen original adventures starring Arthur Conan Doyle’s consulting detective, but told from viewpoints other than that of Doctor John Watson. The narrators include wily singer and actress Irene Adler, former Baker Street Irregular Henry Wiggins, and sub-librarian A. Davenport Lomax (a minor player from 1924’s “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client”). My favorite among this bunch was “Our Common Correspondent,” in which a peevish Inspector Geoffrey Lestrade helps the private sleuths get to the bottom of a letter-writing scam. Each of these stories does much to expand on the depths of Holmes’ character and foibles. I recommend the book highly to Holmes fans.

So pleased was I to have swiftly polished off Observations by Gaslight, that I then dove hungrily into a couple of first novels released this month, W.H. Flint’s Hot Time and Josh Weiss’ Beat the Devils, both of which I shall endeavor to say more about in the near future.

Tomorrow marks a full month since my head injury. I can’t say I’m fully back to normal yet (I still tire out rather easily), but I feel as if I have already achieved a 90-percent recovery. My inclination is to push myself harder, to prove that I can succeed at more challenging tasks. However, my doctors say I should take it easy, let my body rest and rejuvenate. Fine. I’m just happy to have come this far.

I’ve missed The Rap Sheet.

We’re Poorer Without Their Presence

Mike Ripley’s mid-April “Getting Away with Murder” column for Shots is chockfull of newsy morsels and sharp-witted remarks destined to entertain mystery-fiction fans. Subjects range from the mysterious author “Frank Ross” and Pierre Boulle’s short fiction to forthcoming novels built around fantasy vacations and other releases by the likes of Alan Parks, Christobel Kent, Don Winslow, and Ragnar Jónasson.

Included, too, is a mention of Thalia Proctor’s recent demise.

“Thalia was well-known in the [British] crime-writing community as a knowledgeable and well-read fan, a bookseller and an editor with Little, Brown,” Ripley explains. She had worked previously at London’s Murder One bookshop and at Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court. It was during her years in the later position that I met Thalia at a 2004 book-launch party for Michael Marshall (Smith)’s The Lonely Dead. My wife and I were vacationing in the UK capital, and joined Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim, Shots editor Mike Stotter, and novelist Simon Kernick at a public house in (if memory serves) the city’s theater district, where much praise was heaped upon Marshall and much beer was imbibed by all. After the festivities had run their course, we joined Ali, Mike, and Thalia in a weaving excursion to some Chinese restaurant not far distant and there continued our conversation about crime fiction, while also trying to fill our stomachs with more than just booze. My recollections of Thalia match the description of her that New York Times columnist Sarah Weinman proffers in the most recent edition of her newsletter, The Crime Lady: “Thalia … had the biggest heart, most gorgeous laugh, and a great sense of fun.” I have thought often since about that long-ago drunken evening in London—always with a smile—and regret that I shall never be able to re-create it. Thalia passed away on April 2, at age 51, from “complications relating to breast cancer,” according to Weinman.

* * *

Also notable is the death, on April 9, of thriller writer Jack Higgins. Born Henry Patterson in England in 1929, the teacher turned writer—best known for his 1975 novel, The Eagle Has Landed—was 92 years old when he expired on Jersey, in the Channel Islands.

Less than a week later, Neil Nyren, Patterson’s former editor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons (and now editor-at-large for CrimeReads) contributed a touching remembrance of the author to Publishers Weekly. You really should read it in its entirety, but here’s Nyren’s conclusion:

[Patterson] loved what he did, and he was proud to be a member of the thriller community.

In 2009, I was in London to help him celebrate his 80th birthday. A roomful of his friends, family, and colleagues were there, and I’ll share what I told them then: Some people are good writers, I said, and some writers are good people. But when you have both in the same person, that’s a treasure you hold onto.

Harry Patterson was a treasure. I will always hold onto him.

Click here to learn more.

READ MORE: “A Little About Jack Higgins: A Life in Writing,” by Ben Boulden (Dark City Underground).

Revue of Reviewers: 4-13-22

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

New Episodes of “Endeavour” Due Soon

Mystery Fanfare blogger Janet Rudolph brings the welcome news that Endeavour, the British TV drama inspired by Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels, will return to America’s PBS Masterpiece series with three new 90-minute episodes, beginning on Sunday, June 19.

The show stars Shaun Evans as the young Endeavour Morse, with Roger Allam portraying his mentor and superior, Detective Chief Inspector Fred Thursday. The Masterpiece Web site provides this synopsis of the season (which was already broadcast last fall in the UK):

New year (it’s 1971), new cases, and new struggles lay ahead for Morse, Thursday, and their team. While still reeling from the events of the past year, they’re summoned to investigate cases involving IRA relations, and a string of murders that may end up threatening not just the public, but the detectives themselves.

After Violetta [Talenti]’s tragic death at the end of Season 7, Endeavour has spiraled deeper and deeper, struggling with the loss, guilt, and love weighing heavy on his heart and mind. But crime doesn’t stop for heartache, and the trouble in Oxford is bigger than ever.

As tensions rise outside and inside the team, Endeavour and Thursday find themselves continually at odds. The question is, will their relationship withstand the strain?

“[Series Writer] Russell Lewis has really done a great job with the scripts,” Evans said about the new season, especially with Endeavour’s mental health struggles. “Human beings are so complex. People want to label things and explain them away. But you can’t. One of the beauties of being able to do something long form like this where we return to it again year on year is that hopefully you have the opportunity to show that in a way that’s a little more subtle. That has always been the intention from us all.”

Wikipedia provides brief write-ups about each of the three forthcoming episodes: “In ‘Striker’ Morse solves a case of a Northern Irish footballer being threatened by paramilitaries; in ‘Scherzo’ the murder of a cab driver near a naturist resort while dealing with the consequences of a murder spree at a hotel eight years previous. Meanwhile, in ‘Terminus’ Sam Thursday goes AWOL in Northern Ireland, causing conflict in the Thursday family, and Morse remains stranded at an abandoned hotel during a snowstorm.”

So, less than three months remain before Endeavour, Season 8, debuts here in the States. To stay entertained in the interim, my wife and I have been watching—and greatly enjoying—Murder in Provence, a three-episode BritBox series based on M.L. Longworth’s Verlaque and Bonnet detective novels, set in Aix-en-Provence, France. The show again features Roger Allam, this time playing Investigating Judge Antoine Verlaque, with Nancy Carroll (Father Brown, The Crown) in the role of his romantic partner, law professor Marine Bonnet. The mysteries and suspects are well crafted, and the connection between Verlaque and Bonnett is both fully credible and engaging. There’s no word yet on whether Murder in Provence will be given a second season, but I certainly hope it will.

Seeking the Hammett Stamp of Approval

This week brings word, from the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers, of which books and authors have been shortlisted for its 2021 Hammett Prize. That annual commendation is given to a book, originally published in the English language in the United States or Canada, “that best represents the conception of literary excellence in crime writing.”

The latest nominees are:

• Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Stung, by William Deverell (ECW Press)
• Five Decembers, by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)
• Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
• The Sacrifice of Lester Yates, by Robin Yocum (Arcade Crime Wave)

A winner is expected to be declared this coming summer.

Previous winners of the Hammett Prize include Stephen Mack Jones (August Snow), Lou Berney (November Road), Jane Stanton Hitchcock (Bluff), and David Joy (When These Mountains Burn).

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)

PaperBack: “End of a J.D."

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



End of a J.D., by “John Gonzales,” aka Robert Terrall (Gold Medal, 1960). This is the first of three entertaining novels starring New York City reporter Harry Horne. The subsequent works are Someone’s Sleeping in My Bed (1963) and Follow That Hearse! (1963). Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

Letting Loose the Leftys

Last evening, during a banquet held at this year’s Left Coast Crime convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the 2022 Lefty Awards were presented. The four categories of winners are listed below.

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel:
Mango, Mambo, and Murder, by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane)

Also nominated: Cajun Kiss of Death, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane); Mimi Lee Cracks the Code, by Jennifer Chow (Berkley Prime Crime); Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur); How to Book a Murder, by Cynthia Kuhn (Crooked Lane); and Fogged Off, by Wendall Thomas (Beyond the Page)

Bill Gottfried Memorial Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel (books set before 1970):
Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: The Cry of the Hangman, by Susanna Calkins (Severn House); The Savage Kind, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime); The Bombay Prince, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime); The Mirror Dance, by Catriona McPherson (Hodder & Stoughton); and Death at Greenway, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel:
All Her Little Secrets, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)

Also nominated: Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown); Blackout, by Marco Carocari (Level Best); The Other Black Girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Atria); and Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley Prime Crime)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories):
Lightning Strike, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)

Also nominated: Runner, by Tracy Clark (Kensington); Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); Last Redemption, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); and Bath Haus, by P.J. Vernon (Doubleday)

Congratulations to all of this year’s contenders!

READ MORE: “Left Coast Crime Convention Report,” by George Easter (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine).