Critical Thinking

The Strand Magazine today announced its contenders for the 2018 Strand Critics Awards in two categories. They are:

Best Novel:
• A Legacy of Spies, by John le Carré (Viking)
• The Late Show, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• My Darling Detective, by Howard Norman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)
• Wonder Valley, by Ivy Pochoda (Ecco)

Best First Novel:
• My Sister’s Bones, by Nuala Ellwood (Morrow)
• Quicksand, by Malin Persson Giolito (Other Press)
• August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones (Soho Press)
• The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)
• Lola, by Melissa Scrivner Love (Crown)
• See What I Have Done, by Sarah Schmidt (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Winners will be declared on July 11 during “an invitation-only cocktail party in New York City, hosted by The Strand Magazine.”

Meanwhile, the magazine has broadcast the names of the crime novelists to whom it will present Lifetime Achievement Awards this year: Jonathan Gash (aka John Grant), British creator of the antiques-focused Lovejoy mysteries; and Seattleite J.A. Jance, best recognized for her J.P. Beaumont series and her Joanna Brady series. Both of those authors will receive their commendations during that same July 11 fête. Also at that event, Tom Doherty, publisher of Tor/Forge books, will be given The Strand’s Publisher of the Year Award.

Congratulations to all of the nominees and honorees.