Who Bagged the Inaugural Criders?

Back in December 2018, Bouchercon organizers announced that a new award would debut during their 2019 convention ... which was held late last week in Dallas, Texas. Called the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction—taking its name from the popular late author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mysteries—it offered a first-place reward of $1,000 (plus prizes for second- and third-place winners) to stories “relating to Texas ... with an element of mystery or crime.”

Unfortunately, word of the winners has been quite slow in spreading. But here are their names at last, thanks to Erin Mitchell.

First Place: Joseph S. Walker, “The Last Man in Lafarge”
Second Place: Jaap Boekestein, “Long Overdue”
Third Place: Douglas Dorow, “Trust Me”
Fourth Place: Dixon Hill, “Mi Corazón, Sin Cartero, Sin Timbre de la Puerta” (“My Heart, Sans Postman, Sans Doorbell”)

I’m confident Crider, a fan and writer of short stories himself, would be happy to see his memory celebrated in this fashion.

ADDENDUM: It should be noted that I have reached out to Crider contest coordinator Paula Benson, asking her to confirm these award details. However, I have so far received no response.)

Yes, Still More Awards News

You will doubtless recall that questions lingered after last Friday evening’s presentation, in Dallas, Texas, of the 2019 Shamus Awards. While three of the four winners were broadcast widely—including here—the recipient of this year’s Shamus for Best First Private Eye Novel was frustratingly difficult to identify. However, The Gumshoe Site’s Jiro Kimura this morning cleared up that mystery, as follows.

Best First Private Eye Novel: WINNER — The Best Bad Things, by Katrina Carrasco (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Also nominated: Broken Places, by Tracy Clark (Kensington); Last Looks, by Howard Michael Gould (Dutton); What Doesn’t Kill You, by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink); and Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth)

The annual Shamus Awards are sponsored by the Private Eye Writers of America, and are usually distributed during Bouchercon.

* * *

Meanwhile, voting has begun in the competition for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards. You have until Wednesday, November 13, to register your choices. There are 16 different categories of contenders, with those shortlisted for Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year honors listed below:

— Rewind, by Catherine Ryan Howard
— Cruel Acts, by Jane Casey
— The Chain, by Adrian McKinty
— Twisted, by Steve Cavanagh
— The Wych Elm, by Tana French
— The Hiding Game, by Louise Phillips

Your votes can be registered here. Winners will be announced at a “gala ceremony” in Dublin on Wednesday, November 30.

(Hat tip to Crime Fiction Ireland.)

Berney Performs a Hat Trick

By this point, educator-author Lou Berney must be overjoyed that he sprang for the cost of his travel to Dallas, Texas. Over the course of this year’s Bouchercon, taking place in that city, his 2018 novel November Road won not only the Macavity Award for Best Novel and the Barry Award for Best Novel, but has now also captured the Anthony Award for Best Novel. Well worth the journey!

Last evening’s convention festivities also delivered a quartet of other Anthonys into the hands of deserving wordsmiths. Here are all of the 2019 Anthony Award recipients.

Best Novel: November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)

Also nominated: Give Me Your Hand. by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown); Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur); Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow); and Blackout, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel:
My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)

Also nominated: Broken Places, by Tracy Clark (Kensington);
Dodging and Burning, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus); What Doesn’t Kill You, by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink); and Bearskin, by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

Best Paperback Original Novel:
Under a Dark Sky, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Also nominated: Hollywood Ending, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink); If I Die Tonight, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow); Hiroshima Boy, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park); and A Stone’s Throw, by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street)

Best Short Story:
“The Grass Beneath My Feet,” by S.A. Cosby (Tough, August 20, 2018)

Also nominated: “Bug Appétit,” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], November/December 2018); “Cold Beer No Flies,” by Greg Herren (from Florida Happens: Tales of Mystery, Mayhem, and Suspense from the Sunshine State, edited by Greg Herren; Three Rooms Press); “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” by Art Taylor (EQMM, July/August 2018); and “The Best Laid Plans,” by Holly West (from Florida Happens)

Best Critical or Non-fiction Work: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession, by Alice Bolin (Morrow); Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers, by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest); Pulp According to David Goodis, by Jay A. Gertzman (Down & Out); Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus); and The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Peter Lovesey

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Private Eyes on Public Display

On Friday night in Dallas—where this year’s Bouchercon is currently taking place—the Private Eye Writers of America organization hosted a banquet in the city’s Bishop Arts District during which the 2019 Shamus Awards were handed out. There were four prizes up for grabs, but so far I’ve only been able to suss out three of the winners. Even PWA founder and current executive director Robert J. Randisi, communicating from a hotel computer station, wasn’t able to supply me with the recipient of this year’s prize for Best First Private Eye Novel when I contacted him via e-mail yesterday; I’ll just have to add that information to this post later.

For now, here are the other three victors.

Best Private Eye Novel:
What You Want to See, by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Wrong Light, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime); Baby’s First Felony, by John Straley (Soho Crime); and Cut You Down, by Sam Wiebe (Quercus)

Best Original Private Eye Paperback: The Questionable Behavior of Dahlia Moss, by Max Wirestone (Redhook)

Also nominated: She Talks to Angels, by James D.F. Hannah (Independently published); No Quarter, by John Jantunen (ECW Press); Shark Bait, by Paul Kemprecos (Independently published); and Second Story Man, by Charles Salzberg (Down & Out)

Best Private Eye Short Story:
“Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool,” by S.J. Rozan (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September-October 2018)

Also nominated: “Fear of the Secular,” by Mitch Alderman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November-December 2018); “Three-Star Sushi,” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol. 1, Issue 3); “The Big Creep,” by Elizabeth McKenzie (from Santa Cruz Noir, edited by Susie Bright; Akashic); and “Game,” by Twist Phelan (EQMM, September-October 2018)

Congratulations to all of the contenders!

UPDATE: Katrina Carrasco’s The Best Bad Things (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) apparently won the 2019 Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel. Learn more by clicking here.

Barry Best of the Bunch

This has been a big week for Oklahoma City author Lou Berney. His fourth book, November Road, not only won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best Novel, but has now also picked up the Barry Award for Best Novel. The full set of this year’s Barry recipients—announced on Thursday night at Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas—is below.

Best Novel: November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)

Also nominated: Dark Sacred Night, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); The Shadows We Hide, by Allen Eskens (Mulholland); Depth of Winter, by Craig Johnson (Viking); Leave No Trace, by Mindy Mejia (Atria); and A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus)

Best First Novel: The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor (Crown)

Also nominated: My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday); Need to Know, by Karen Cleveland (Ballantine); Dodging and Burning, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus); Sweet Little Lies, by Caz Frear (Harper); and Bearskin, by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

Best Paperback Original: The Ruin, by Dervla McTiernan (Penguin)

Also nominated: A Sharp Solitude, by Christine Carbo (Atria);
Dead Pretty, by David Mark (Blue Rider Press); The Hollow of Fear, by Sherry Thomas (Berkley); and Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Pushkin Vertigo)

Best Thriller: Safe Houses, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)

Also nominated: The Terminal List, by Jack Carr (Atria); London Rules, by Mick Herron (Soho); Forever and a Day, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper); Light It Up, by Nick Petrie (Putnam); and The King Tides, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Dan Sandstrom Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery
Fandom: Jeff Popple

The Barry Awards have been sponsored, since 1997, by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. Previous winners can be found here.

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

(Hat tips to Mystery Fanfare and The Gumshoe Site.)

Macavitys Honor Excellence

This is what happens when I don’t attend Bouchercon. Last night—Halloween night—during the convention’s opening ceremonies in Dallas, Texas, three different categories of prizes were to be presented: the Barry Awards, the Macavity Awards, and the David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award. I already knew that Ontario bookstore owners Jenn and Don Longmuir were slated to receive the David Thompson. However, I still haven’t found the list of Barry winners anywhere online. If anyone reading this article can please tell me who collected those prizes, I’d be grateful, and will post the news later.

Meanwhile, here are the books and authors that captured the 2019 Macavity Awards, sponsored by Mystery Readers International.

Best Novel: November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)

Also nominated: If I Die Tonight, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow); The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Flatiron); Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur); Hiroshima Boy, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park); and Under My Skin, by Lisa Unger (Park Row)

Best First Novel: Dodging and Burning, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus)

Also nominated: My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday); Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (Putnam); Something in the Water, by Catherine Steadman (Ballantine); and The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Non-fiction: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction, by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland); Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox (Random House); Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus); I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins); and Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life, by Laura Thompson (Pegasus)

Best Short Story: “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2018)

Also nominated: “Race to Judgment,” by Craig Faustus Buck (EQMM, November/December 2018); “All God’s Sparrows,” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May/June 2018); “Bug Appétit,” by Barb Goffman (EQMM, November/December 2018); “Three-Star Sushi,” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3); and “The Cambodian Curse,” by Gigi Pandian (from The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories, by Gigi Pandian; Henery Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery: The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); City of Ink, by Elsa Hart (Minotaur); Island of the Mad, by Laurie R. King (Bantam); A Dying Note, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press); and A Forgotten Place, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

The Macavitys take their name from the “mystery cat” in T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Members of Mystery Readers International and its periodical, Mystery Readers Journal, were eligible to vote in this competition.

UPDATE: The Barry Award winners can now be found here.

Just Trying to Keep Up

• Variety brings word that “PBS Masterpiece has boarded the remake of classic European detective series Van der Valk and will co-produce and air the show in the U.S. Masterpiece’s Rebecca Eaton will exec produce the project. It is the latest in a healthy line of U.K.-originated drama that Masterpiece has boarded since becoming the U.S. home for British-made hits such as Downton Abbey.” Production of this new Amsterdam-set series is said to be underway, with no firm release date as yet. The original Van der Valk, starring Barry Foster and based on a succession of novels by Nicholas Freeling, was broadcast (on and off) between 1972 and 1992. (Hat tip to Lee Goldberg.)

• Meanwhile, Mystery Fanfare reports that Lara Prescott’s debut novel, The Secrets We Kept, along with Adrian McKinty’s acclaimed The Chain are slated for Hollywood film adaptation.

• And Mystery Tribune says Swedish writer Camilla Läckberg (The Girl in the Woods) “has turned her attention into creating a new TV series titled Hammarvik, which can be characterized as a Nordic version of Desperate Housewives with a serial killer on the loose.”

• Not long after the posting of my latest CrimeReads piece, “Detecting During Disasters”—about mystery and detective novels set amid real-life catastrophes, including San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake and city-destroying fire—I received a note from Randal S. Brandt, a librarian with the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. He told me of an article he’d written for a 2006 edition of the Bancroft’s newsletter, about novels featuring that trembler—everything from Sara Dean’s Travers: A Story of the San Francisco Earthquake (1908) and Shaken Down (1925), by Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry, to Mignon G. Eberhart’s Casa Madrone (1980) and Dianne Day’s Fire and Fog (1996). Titled “The Big Shake,” Brandt’s feature is accessible in this PDF; simply scroll down to page 10.

• I’d never heard mystery-maker Ngaio Marsh speak—until now.

• Houston-born novelist Attica Locke has won the 2019 Texas Writer Award. Sponsored by the Texas Book Festival, this prize is given out annually to authors who have “significantly contributed to the state’s literary landscape.” Locke is, of course, known for penning such books as Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) and its new sequel, Heaven, My Home. She will be presented with her award during an October 26 ceremony in Texas’ state capitol in Austin. (Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)

• I’ll be sorry to miss this presentation. “If you’re going to Bouchercon [in Dallas, October 31-November 3],” writes B.V. Lawson in In Reference to Murder, “you won’t want to miss The Ghost Town Mortuary, a radio play by Anthony Boucher, performed by members of Mystery Writers of America NorCal, Friday, November 1, 11 a.m., at the Landmark Ballroom in the Hyatt Regency. Authors scheduled to participate include Laurie R. King, David Corbett, Kelli Stanley, Reece Hirsch, Randal S. Brandt, Dale Berry, Gigi Pandian, James L’Etoile, and Terry Shames.”

• Looking for a Christmas present for yours truly? This set of 20 Rockford Files trading cards would be a fun choice.

• England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper carries a story—reproduced by Chris Sullivan in his blog—about how actor Laurence Fox, late of Inspector Lewis and currently appearing in Victoria, has found solace in his music, after a divorce and the death of his best friend.

• Comfort TV blogger David Hofstede continues his series of posts about two-part television episodes—good and definitely not so good—with write-ups that mention several crime dramas, such as The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Fugitive, and Charlie’s Angels.

• It’s always good to be reminded of ABC-TV’s classic gumshoe series, Peter Gunn, and its “jazz chanteuse,” played by Lola Albright.

• Finally, if you could use some financial assistance to attend next year’s Left Coast Crime convention in San Diego, California (March 12-15), you may be in luck. The LCC National Committee has drummed up funds for five scholarships to the event, plus expense money. More information and application procedures are available here.

Checking for Macavitys

Mystery Readers International today announced its nominees for the 2019 Macavity Awards. The winners are to be declared on October 31 during the opening ceremonies of Bouchercon 2019 in Dallas, Texas.

Best Novel:
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• If I Die Tonight, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)
• The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
• Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• Hiroshima Boy, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park)
• Under My Skin, by Lisa Unger (Park Row)

Best First Novel:
• My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
• Dodging and Burning, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus)
• Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (Putnam)
• Something in the Water, by Catherine Steadman (Ballantine)
• The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Non-fiction:
• The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction, by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland)
• Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox
(Random House)
• Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Leslie S.
Klinger (Pegasus)
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins)
• Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life, by Laura Thompson (Pegasus)
• The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (HarperCollins)

Best Short Story:
• “Race to Judgment,” by Craig Faustus Buck (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], November/December 2018)
• “All God’s Sparrows,” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May/June 2018)
• “Bug Appétit,” by Barb Goffman (EQMM, November/December 2018)
• “Three-Star Sushi,” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out:
The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3)
• “The Cambodian Curse,” by Gigi Pandian (from The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories, by Gigi Pandian; Henery Press)
• “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” by Art Taylor (EQMM,
July/August 2018)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
• A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• City of Ink, by Elsa Hart (Minotaur)
• Island of the Mad, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• A Dying Note, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A Forgotten Place, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

The Macavitys take their name from the “mystery cat” in T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Members of Mystery Readers International and its periodical, Mystery Readers Journal, are eligible to vote in this competition; they should receive their ballots by August 15.

A Midweek Mixed Bag

• Sad news from The New York Times: “Andrea Camilleri, who took a late-career stab at writing a mystery novel and came up with the Inspector [Salvo] Montalbano detective series, which became wildly successful in Italy and was the basis for a popular television series, died on Wednesday morning in a hospital in Rome. He was 93.” (This comes a month after the author experienced cardiac arrest.) The International Crime Fiction Research Group calls Camilleri “one of the most influential authors of crime fiction in Europe. With his novels widely translated and adapted across the continent, he has come to represent the quintessential European Author.” Mark Lawson, in The Guardian, recalls that Camilleri “considered it his duty to speak out against the dark politics by which his country was often seduced, regularly appearing as a pundit on Italian TV shows where he was torrentially opinionated, intelligent and witty. Camilleri became so recognisable that, unusually for a novelist, he was impersonated by satirists and comedians.” Lawson adds: “There will be at least one more novel. In our [2012] interview, he told me that—as Agatha Christie did with Hercule Poirot in Curtain—he had deposited with his publisher Riccardino, a final novel in which Montalbano is ‘finished off’ that was to only be published posthumously.”

• Our condolences go out, too, to the family of Seattle resident and writer Andi Schecter, who passed away earlier this week at age 66 as a result of glioblastoma. Editor-blogger Janet Rudolph observes: “Andi was a powerful force in both the mystery and science fiction communities,” who had chaired both a Bouchercon convention (in Seattle in 1994) and two different Left Coast Crime gatherings (in 1997 and 2007). January Magazine editor Linda L. Richards, for whom she wrote several book reviews over the years, offers this remembrance. (Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)

• Florida journalist Craig Pittman has an excellent new piece in CrimeReads, which looks back at the 1984-1990 NBC-TV series Miami Vice and how changed the future of the city in which it was shot.

• Late fall, I mentioned here that screenwriter Todd Alcott had assembled a gallery of “digital mash-ups” combining vintage paperback covers with classic songs by David Bowie, Elvis Costello, and others. What I failed to notice was that the Web site on which those covers appeared, Open Culture, later posted a second set of reimagined covers, based on Bob Dylan songs such as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Check those out here.

• In May, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine contributor Kevin Mims examined author Herman Wouk’s contributions to the legal-thriller genre. Now, Mims has posted a remembrance of Arkansas author Douglas C. Jones and how he created the “alternate history trial novel.” To learn more about Jones’ career, see this entry I wrote about him for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

• Bouchercon 2019 is still more than three months away (October 31-November 3, in Dallas, Texas), but word is already out that Jenn and Don Longmuir will receive the 2019 David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award during that convention. “The Longmuirs have been fixtures in the crime fiction community for more than a quarter-century,” reads a news release carried by Mystery Fanfare. “The couple owns and runs Scene of the Crime Books in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and they have been book room organizers, book sellers and attendees at mystery conventions across North America. Don also served on the Bouchercon Board for five years.” The David Thompson Award, named in honor of a Texas bookstore owner and crime-fiction publisher who died in 2010, will be presented to the Longmuirs during Bouchercon 2019’s opening ceremonies, on Thursday, October 31.

• This comes from In Reference to Murder:

There’s a call for papers for “The Absurdity of Racism: an International Chester Himes Conference” to be held June 4-5, 2020, at the American University of Paris. As the organizers note, “always controversial, combative and daring, Himes carved a niche for himself in the worlds of crime fiction and protest literature while negotiating the ‘quality of hurt’ of his black American and European expatriate worlds.”

Abstracts of 250 words, accompanied by a very brief bio, should be sent by October 15.

• You knew something like this was inevitable, right? “In a competitive situation,” reports Deadline, “Amazon has landed the rights to develop a script-to-series drama based on the Jack Reacher character from Lee Child’s bestselling book series, from Scorpion creator Nick Santora. The project will be a co-production of Amazon Studios, Skydance Television and Paramount Television.”

• The Killing Times says Luther creator “Neil Cross, has had a new drama commissioned by ITV. Because the Night is described as a ‘chilling and suspenseful four-part story of murder—and perhaps ghosts—which exposes the quiet terror of a man trying to escape his past.’ The series is inspired by the novel Burial, also written by Cross.”

• And Episode 2 of Paperback Warrior’s new podcast recalls “the origins of the paperback book in 1939. Our feature is the widely successful publisher Fawcett Gold Medal, a cornerstone of crime-noir in the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s. We also look at Black Wings Has My Angel, by Lewis Elliott Chaze, and the debut ‘MacMorgan’ novel by Randy Wayne White.” Listen here.

Keeping an Eye on P.I.s

Finally today comes the register of nominees for the 2019 Shamus Awards, to be presented by the Private Eye Writers of America organization. The winners of these accolades will be announced at a banquet held during this fall’s Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas.

Best Original Private Eye Paperback:
• She Talks to Angels, by James D.F. Hannah (Independently published)
• No Quarter, by John Jantunen (ECW Press)
• Shark Bait, by Paul Kemprecos (Independently published)
• Second Story Man, by Charles Salzberg (Down & Out)
• The Questionable Behavior of Dahlia Moss, by
Max Wirestone (Redhook)

Best First Private Eye Novel:
• The Best Bad Things, by Katrina Carrasco (MCD/Farrar,
Straus and Giroux)
• Broken Places, by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
• Last Looks, by Howard Michael Gould (Dutton)
• What Doesn’t Kill You, by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink)
• Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth)

Best Private Eye Short Story:
• “Fear of the Secular,” by Mitch Alderman (Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery Magazine, November-December 2018)
• “Three-Star Sushi,” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out: The
Magazine, Vol. 1, Issue 3)
• “The Big Creep,” by Elizabeth McKenzie (from Santa Cruz Noir, edited by Susie Bright; Akashic)
• “Game,” by Twist Phelan (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
[EQMM], September-October 2018)
• “Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool,” by S.J. Rozan (EQMM,
September-October 2018)

Best Private Eye Novel:
• Wrong Light, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
• What You Want to See, by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur)
• The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• Baby’s First Felony, by John Straley (Soho Crime)
• Cut You Down, by Sam Wiebe (Quercus)

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Grappling for Garlands in D-Town

This is certainly shaping up as crime-fiction awards season. Nominations for the 2019 Dagger Awards and the 2019 Strand Critics Awards were announced within the last week, and now comes the catalogue of contenders for this year’s Anthony Awards. The winners of those last commendations will be named during an event at Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas (October 31-November 3).

Best Novel:
• Give Me Your Hand. by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Blackout, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel:
• My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
• Broken Places, by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
• Dodging and Burning, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus)
• What Doesn’t Kill You, by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink)
• Bearskin, by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

Best Paperback Original Novel:
• Hollywood Ending, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)
• If I Die Tonight, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)
• Hiroshima Boy, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park)
• Under a Dark Sky, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)
• A Stone’s Throw, by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street)

Best Short Story:
• “The Grass Beneath My Feet,” by S.A. Cosby
(Tough, August 20, 2018)
• “Bug Appétit,” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], November/December 2018)
• “Cold Beer No Flies,” by Greg Herren (from Florida Happens:
Tales of Mystery, Mayhem, and Suspense from the Sunshine State, edited by Greg Herren; Three Rooms Press)
• “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” by Art Taylor (EQMM,
July/August 2018)
• “The Best Laid Plans,” by Holly West (from Florida Happens)

Best Critical or Non-fiction Work:
• Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession,
by Alice Bolin (Morrow)
• Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers,
by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest)
• Pulp According to David Goodis, by Jay A. Gertzman (Down & Out)
• Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus)
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins)
• The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)

As is traditional, the winners of this year’s Anthony Awards will be chosen by Bouchercon attendees.

Want to Be in the Bouchercon Anthology?

We still have seven months to go before Bouchercon 2019 opens its doors in Dallas, Texas. However, writers interested in seeing their work published in this year’s convention anthology should be aware right now of several refinements to the submissions process.

As previously reported on this page, Rick Ollerman, the editor of Down & Out: The Magazine, will serve as editor of the coming collection, with the finished product to be published by Down & Out Books. But Paula Gail Benson, who serves as contest coordinator for the inaugural Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, today sent me a “call for submissions” notice with the following information, which I have bullet-pointed for easier reference:

• All proceeds from the anthology’s sales will benefit LIFT, Literary Instruction For Texas, which works to enhance and strengthen communities by teaching adults to read.

• Stories must be original works (no reprints) of fewer than
5,000 words. The theme is the conference slogan: “Denim, Diamonds, and Death!”

• The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2019.

• Please send submissions to rick@downandoutmagazine.com. For additional information about the anthology, please contact rick@downandoutmagazine.com.

• The anthology will be published for distribution and signings at Bouchercon in Dallas.

• A story entered in the Bill Crider Contest may be submitted to the Bouchercon anthology; however, if the story is selected and the author agrees to publication in the anthology, the story must be withdrawn from the Crider Contest because the contest rules require that submitted stories not be published before the end of Bouchercon 2019. For additional information about Crider Contest entries, please contact subs.deepintheheart@gmail.com or Paula Gail Benson at pgbenson_4@msn.com.

Everyone hoping to see his or her work included in this anthology’s contents should probably get started soon on their writing.

Confusion Over the Bill Crider Prize

Earlier this week, I received—as did other crime-fiction bloggers—an e-mail note explaining that the deadline for submissions to Bouchercon’s inaugural Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction had been extended. The cut-off date would no longer be today, March 1, we were told … though no new date was yet available. We were asked to let our readers know of this change. Because the person behind this message is usually so trustworthy, there seemed no need to question its contents. And so I did not.

However, several bloggers have said over the last couple of hours that the reported deadline alteration was incorrect. I just fired off a message to the official e-mail address listed on Bouchercon 2019’s Bill Crider Prize page (subs.deepintheheart@gmail.com), requesting that this issue be cleared up, and received the following reply:

March 1 was and is the deadline. Since it is a worldwide contest, March 1 ends at the point when the last place turns into March 2.

I’m not sure how this confusion arose (I suspect the affair is more complicated than we yet comprehend), but it seems that the information regarding a deadline delay was erroneous. Fortunately, word of the change came late in the game; anybody who was going to submit a story to this contest probably had his or her materials ready by the original deadline. Nonetheless, I am sorry for any uncertainty The Rap Sheet caused by spreading this “news.”

Pay Attention, Short-Story Authors!

My e-mail has brought two bits of information, from Down & Out: The Magazine editor Rick Ollerman, that should be of interest to authors.

First off, he passes along word that the deadline for entries to this year’s inaugural Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction has been extended. According to this page on the Bouchercon 2019 Web site, the time limit was supposed to have ended this coming Friday, March 1. Ollerman says he’s been told by Bouchercon organizers that the cut-off for submissions will now be later than that, “but they did not give me the date. They may not actually have a hard date.” It’s possible that the folks responsible for this prize are simply hoping to receive additional entries, and will leave the deadline loose for now—but that’s only conjecture. I’ll let you know if I hear more.

Secondly, it seems Ollerman will be editing this year’s Bouchercon anthology, and he’s still looking for short stories to include in its pages. Submissions can be made only by registered conference attendees. Ollerman provides these further details:

• One of Bouchercon 50’s goals is to make the largest charitable contribution in the history of the conference. All proceeds from the sale of the books will go toward that effort! LIFT, Literary Instruction For Texas, works to enhance and strengthen communities by teaching adults to read. And Bouchercon gets to help in that mission this year!

• For a theme, think no further than the conference slogan: “Denim, Diamonds, and Death!”

• Original stories are vastly preferred. Absolutely no
reprints, please.

• Stories should be less than five thousand words. Approximately. Sort of. But you know writers.

• The book itself will once again be published by the fine folks at Down & Out Books.

• The deadline for all stories will be June 1st.

If you think you’ve got the story for the anthology, not just a story, please send it to rick@downandoutmagazine.com. We’ll have the book for sale in the book room with some signings and hopefully we’ll be able to make a meaningful contribution to LIFT as well as showcase some of the amazing talent in the Bouchercon writing community.

Competing for the Crider

I have not decided yet whether to take part in the 2019 Bouchercon (“Denim, Diamonds, and Death”), to be held in Dallas, Texas, from October 31 to November 3. On the one hand, this will be the 50th convention of its kind, and I’d very much like to meet a couple of the guests of honor: Peter Lovesey and Anthony Horowitz. On the other hand, I would be missing out on Halloween at my house, which is always a fun affair, as I try every year to outdo my previous record for the number of trick-or-treat visitors. (The key, I have decided, is to build up a reputation for giving out handfuls of candy.)

As I said, I haven’t made up my mind yet. But another draw is the scheduled debut at this Bouchercon of the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction. Honoring the late Alvin, Texas, author of That Old Scoundrel Death and many previous installments in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series, this new award competition invites writers to submit stories of 3,500 to 5,000 words in length, all “relating to Texas, whether locale, characters, history, etc.” and having “an element of mystery or crime.” The deadline for entering is March 1, so if you hope to participate, there’s not much time left to get everything in order. Complete guidelines for taking part in the contest are here.

Crider to Be Honored in Dallas

Bouchercon 2019—the 50th convention of its kind, to be held next October 31-November 3 in Dallas, Texas—will debut a new commendation named in honor of the late author Bill Crider. Called the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, it will offer a first-place award of $1,000 (plus prizes for second and third place) to what judges determine are the best original stories—3,500 to 5,000 words in length, and submitted anonymously—“relating to Texas ... with an element of mystery or crime.” The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2019. You will find more details here.