Sunday, October 17, 2010

Last but Not Least, the Anthony Awards

Fresh from Bouchercon 2010 in San Francisco, here are the results of this year’s Anthony Awards:

Best Novel: The Brutal Telling, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Last Child, by John Hart (Minotaur); The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books); The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland (Quercus/Knopf); The Shanghai Moon, by S.J. Rozan (Minotaur)

Best First Novel: A Bad Day for Sorry, by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley (Delacorte); Starvation Lake, by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone); The Ghosts of Belfast (aka The Twelve), by Stuart Neville (Soho Press/Harvill Secker); In the Shadow of Gotham, by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original: Starvation Lake, by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)

Also nominated: Bury Me Deep, by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster); Tower, by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman (Busted Flush Press); Quarry in the Middle, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); Death and the Lit Chick, by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink); Air Time, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Mira)

Best Short Story: “On the House,” by Hank Phillippi Ryan (from Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers, edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw; Level Best Books)

Also nominated: “Last Fair Deal Gone Down,” by Ace Atkins (from Crossroad Blues; Busted Flush Press); “Femme Sole,” by Dana Cameron (from Boston Noir, edited by Dennis Lehane; Akashic Books); “Animal Rescue,” by Dennis Lehane (Boston Noir); “Amapola,” by Luis Alberto Urrea (from Phoenix Noir, edited by Patrick Millikin; Akashic Books)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work: Talking About Detective Fiction, by P.D. James (Bodleian Library/Knopf)

Also nominated: The Line Up: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler (Little, Brown); Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King, by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books); Dame Agatha’s Shorts: An Agatha Christie Short Story Companion, by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books); The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)

Acting editor’s note: Though all the winners and nominees deserve congratulations (these fields all seemed very tight to me) I wanted to give a shout out to best short story winning author Hank Phillipi Ryan, who takes the win home on her birthday. So, congratulations to everyone ... plus Happy birthday, Hank!

2 comments:

Kiwicraig said...

Certainly interesting results - especially in the Best Novel and Best First Novel categories, and it just goes to show the preferences of the Bouchercon attendees as opposed to the way other awards are decided (judging panels etc). This must be one of the only major Best First Novel awards not won by Bradley for SWEETNESS... and Neville has also been widely acclaimed for GHOSTS OF BELFAST. I would have thought it was a head-to-head between them.

Penny is certainly a fan fave, so I suppose that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, though my eyebrows did raise when I saw that THE BRUTAL TELLING beat out THE LAST CHILD (which had already accomplished the rare feat of winning both a Dagger and the Edgar award, along with the Barry).

Looks like a good time was had by all, and good to see the awards were shared around a bit. Pleased to see PD James's excellent non-fiction work being recognised too.

Anonymous said...

I just finished Ghosts of Belfast. It was wonderful. Now that I am seeing it on all these best nominations I can't beleive it didn't win.