Twice the Honors in the Twin Cities

This week’s Bouchercon convention, being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has already brought the announcement of two different sets of crime-fiction awards, with more prizes to come.

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First up are the Barry Awards, presented annually by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, and named in honor of Barry W. Gardner, a longtime crime-fiction fan and book reviewer, who passed away in 1996.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel:
Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Also nominated: The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); Last Redemption, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime); Billy Summers, by Stephen King (Scribner); and We Begin at the End, by Chris Whitaker (Henry Holt)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel:
Sleeping Bear, by Connor Sullivan (Emily Bestler/Atria)

Also nominated: Who Is Maude Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown); Girl A, by Abigail Dean (Viking); Down Range, by Taylor Moore (Morrow); Falling, by T.J. Newman (Simon & Schuster); and Steel Fear, by Brandon Webb and John David Mann (Bantam)

Best Paperback Original:
The Good Turn, by Dervla McTiernan (Blackstone)

Also nominated: The Hunted, by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins); Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley); Black Coral, by Andrew Mayne (Thomas & Mercer); Search for Her, by Rick Mofina (Mira); and Bound, by Vanda Symon (Orenda)

Best Thriller:
Five Decembers, by James Kestrel (HardCase Crime)

Also nominated: The Devil’s Hand, by Jack Carr (Emily Bestler/Atria); The Nameless Ones, by John Connolly (Emily Bestler/Atria); Dead by Dawn, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur); Relentless, by Mark Greaney (Berkley); and Slough House, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

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Next come the Macavity Awards, named for T.S. Eliot’s “mystery cat” (in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats), with winners selected by members of Mystery Readers International.

Best Mystery Novel:
Razorblade Tears, by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Also nominated: The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); 1979, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press); Bobby March Will Live Forever, by Alan Parks (World Noir); We Begin at the End, by Chris Whitaker (Henry Holt); and Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

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

Also nominated: Who is Maude Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown); Girl A, by Abigail Dean (Viking); Deer Season, by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press); and All Her Little Secrets, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)

Best Mystery Short Story:
“Sweeps Week,” by Richard Helms (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2021)

Also nominated: “Lucky Thirteen,” by Tracy Clark (from Midnight Hour, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane); “Curious Incidents,” by Steve Hockensmith (EQMM, January/February 2021); “The Road to Hana,” by R.T. Lawton (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2021); “The White Star,” by G.M. Malliet (EQMM, July/August 2021); “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (EQMM, July/August 2021); and “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins,” by Dave Zeltserman (EQMM, July/August 2021)

Best Non-fiction/Critical:
How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King (Scribner)

Also nominated: Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, by Mark Aldridge (HarperCollins); The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History, by Margalit Fox (Random House); The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene, by Richard Greene (Norton); Tony Hillerman: A Life, by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma); The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science, by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); and The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense, by Edward White (Norton)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: The Venice Sketchbook, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union); The Hollywood Spy, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam); The Bombay Prince, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime); Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey); and Death at Greenway, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

A hearty congratulations to double prize recipient S.A. Cosby and all the rest of this year’s Barry and Macavity nominees!