Chicago Hopefuls

This was the weekend of the annual Love Is Murder Mystery Conference, being held in Rosemont, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. And last night brought news from that event of which books and authors won the 2014 Lovey Awards.

Best First Novel:
One Man’s Castle, by J. Michael Major (Five Star)

Also nominated: Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold, by Tim Chapman (Allium Press); The Butterfly Sister, by Amy Gail Hansen (Morrow); Bad Policy, by James M. Jackson (Barking Rain Press); Buried Truth, by Gunter Kaesdorf (Cambridge); Rim to Rim: Death in the Grand Canyon, by Jeanne Meeks (CreateSpace); and Deception, by Sue Myers (CreateSpace)

Best Traditional/Amateur Sleuth:
Peak Season for Murder, by Gail Lukasik (Five Star)

Also nominated: Death of a Garden Hoe, by Gale Borger (Echelon Press); Dangerous Threads, by Dave Ciambrone (L & L Dreamspell); Murder by the Seaside, by Julie Anne Lindsey (Carina Press); and Locked Within, by Helen Macie Osterman (Dark Oak Mysteries)

Best Suspense:
The Black Stiletto: Stars & Stripes, by Raymond Benson (Oceanview)

Also nominated: Fear of Beauty, by Susan Froetschel (Seventh Street); Havana Lost, by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Red Herrings Press); Deceived, Julie Anne Lindsey (Merit Press); Inconspicuous, by M.E. May (CreateSpace); Brilliance, Marcus Sakey (Thomas & Mercer); and The Fate of Mercy Alban, by Wendy Webb (Hyperion)

Best Paranormal/Sci-fi:
Girl Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie, by Christine Verstraete (Intrigue)

Also nominated: Blood Red, by Heather Graham (Mira); How I Started the Apocalypse, Book Two, by Brian Pinkerton (Severed Press); and The Vanishing, by Wendy Webb (Hyperion)

Best Series:
Close-Up on Murder (Murder, She Wrote), by Donald Bain (NAL)

Also nominated: Totally Evil (The Miller Sisters Mysteries), by Gale Borger (Echelon Press); The Ice Woman Assignment (The Stark & O’Brian Series), by Austin Camacho (Intrigue); Emma Caldridge Series by Jamie Freveletti (Morrow), and the Krewe of Hunters Series by Heather Graham (Mira)

Best Short Story:
“Harry’s Loss of Grace,” by Luisa Buehler

Also nominated: “Once Upon a Time in the Woods,” by Raymond Benson (from Kwik Krimes, edited by Otto Penzler; Thomas & Mercer); “War Secrets,” by Libby Fischer Hellmann (from Mystery Writers of America Presents The Mystery Box, edited by Brad Meltzer; Grand Central) and “A Letter to My Ex,” by J. Michael Major (in Splatterlands: Reawakening the Splatterpunk Revolution, edited by Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson; Grey Matter Press)

Congratulations to all of the winners and other nominees.

(Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)