Note from St. Louis

With Bouchercon 2011 in full swing in St. Louis, Missouri, you can expect to hear even more than usual from the world of mystery.

Among all the meet-and-greets, panel discussions, and general fun and learning, one of the highlights of the conference are the multiple sets of awards given out during this four-day event. Last night our man on the spot, J. Kingston Pierce, was on hand to take notes and applaud while some of the writers we’ve been enjoying over the past year went home with some pretty great hardware.

Crimespree Awards

Best First Novel
The Damage Done, by Hilary Davidson (Forge)

Favorite Book of the Year
Expiration Date, by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur)

Barry Awards

Best Novel: The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Nowhere to Run, by C. J. Box (Putnam); Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin (Morrow); Moonlight Mile, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow); Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); and Savages, by Don Winslow (Simon & Schuster)

Best First Novel: The Poacher’s Son, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Gutshot Straight, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva (Forge); The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore (Twelve); The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Minotaur); and Once a Spy, by Keith Thomson (Doubleday)

Best British Novel: The Woodcutter, by Reginald Hill (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday); Blood Harvest, by S. J. Bolton (Bantam Press); The Whisperers, by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton); Three Seconds, by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström (Quercus); and Fourth Day, by Zöe Sharp (Allison & Busby)

Best Paperback Original: Fever at the Bone, by Val McDermid (Harper)

Also nominated: The Hanging Tree, by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone); The Dead Lie Down, by Sophie Hannah (Penguin); Eggsecutive Orders, by Julie Hyzy (Berkley); The Rhetoric of Death, by Judith Rock (Berkley); and A Small Death in the Great Glen, by A.D. Scott (Atria)

Best Thriller: Thirteen Hours, by Deon Meyer (Grove Atlantic)

Also nominated: American Assassin, by Vince Flynn (Atria); The Bricklayer, by Noah Boyd (Morrow); Bolt Action, by Charles Charters (Hodder UK); On Target, by Mark Greaney (Jove); and The Rembrandt Affair, by Daniel Silva (Putnam)

Best Short Story: “The List,” by Loren D. Estleman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May 2010)

Also nominated: Mitch Alderman, “Requiem for Antlers” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM] January/February 2010); Robert Barnard, “Family Values” (EQMM February 2010); Caroline Benton, “The Body in the Dunes” (EQMM, January 2010); Terence Faherty, “The Seven Sorrows” (EQMM, March/April 2010); and Ellen Larson, “When the Apricots Bloom” (AHMM, July/August 2010)

The Macavity Awards

Best Mystery Novel: Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Glass Rainbow, by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster); Faithful Place, by Tana French (Viking); The Queen of Patpong, by Timothy Hallinan (Morrow); Thirteen Hours, by Deon Meyer (Grove Atlantic); and The Scent of Rain and Lightning, by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)

Best First Mystery Novel: Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva (Forge)

Also nominated: The Damage Done, by Hilary Davidson (Forge); The Poacher’s Son, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur); Full Mortality, by Sasscer Hill (Wildside); and A Thousand Cuts, by Simon Lelic (Viking)

Best Mystery-related Non-fiction: Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, by John Curran (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, by Deborah Blum (Penguin); Following the Detectives: Real Locations in Crime Fiction, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (New Holland); Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, by Yunte Huang (Norton); and Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank W. Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)

Best Mystery Short Story: “Swing Shift,” by Dana Cameron (from Crimes by Moonlight, edited by Charlaine Harris; Berkley)

Also nominated: “The Scent of Lilacs,” by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September/October 2010); “Devil’s Pocket,” by Keith Gilman (from Philadelphia Noir, edited by Carlin Romano; Akashic); “The Gods for Vengeance Cry,” by Richard Helms (EQMM, November 2010); “Bookworm,” by G.M. Malliet (from Chesapeake Crimes: They Had It Comin’, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery: City of Dragons, by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)

Also nominated: A Marked Man, by Barbara Hamilton (Berkley); The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell (Random House); The Red Door, by Charles Todd (Morrow); and The Fifth Servant, by Kenneth Wishnia (HarperCollins)