Nashville’s Second Round Selections

Organizers of the 2024 Killer Nashville conference have announced their line-ups of finalists for this year’s Silver Falchion Awards, in 17 categories—not all of them crime-fiction related.

Here are the nominees for Best Mystery:

• Mouse in the Box, by Lewis Allan (Stretched Studio)
• Indigo Road, by Reed Bunzel (Coffeetown Press)
• Beautiful Death, by John Deal (Dark Lake Press)
• Secrets Don’t Sink, by K.B. Jackson (Level Best)
• BeatNikki’s Café, by Renee James (Amble Press)
• The Empty Kayak, by Jodé Millman (Level Best)

And below are the candidates for Best Investigator honors:

• When Things Fall Apart, by Alan Brenham (Independently published)
• Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye, by Bradley Harper and Lydia Galehouse (Papillon du Père)
• Vessels of Wrath, by Thomas Holland (Independently published)
• These Still Black Waters, by Christina McDonald (Thomas & Mercer)
• Standing Dead, by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane)
• Splintered Loyalty, by Mark Troy (Down & Out)

The winner in each division and three overall winners will be declared during the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner to be held in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday, August 23.

From that same celebration will come word of which books have won the 2024 Claymore Awards, given for the “best first 50 pages of an unpublished manuscript, play, or screenplay.” There are again 17 groups of picks. These are the nominees for Best Mystery:

• Killer Eyes, by Denis Berkfeldt
• Death of a Glades Man, by Jane Bock
• Dare to Live, by Paul Guyot
• The Healer's Curse, by John Madinger
• What They Buried, by P.J. McAvoy
• Fishing for Murder, by Mark Zeid

Congratulations to all of this year’s finalists!

The earlier longlists of 2024 Silver Falchion selectees can be found on this page. To see the Claymore Award longlists, click here.