Turning an Eye Toward P.I.s

This is turning out to be a surprisingly busy Saturday for crime-fiction prize news. First came the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year contenders. Now, the Private Eye Writers of America has announced its nominees for the 2018 Shamus Awards.

Best Original Private Eye Paperback:
• Play a Cold Hand, by Terence Faherty (Perfect Crime)
• The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star,
by Vaseem Khan (Redhook)
• Dames Fight Harder, by M. Ruth Myers (CreateSpace)
• The Painted Gun, by Bradley Spinelli (Akashic)
• Lights Out Summer, by Rich Zahradnik (Camel Press)

Best First Private Eye Novel:
• Under Water, by Casey Barrett (Kensington)
• A Negro and an Ofay, by Danny Gardner (Down & Out)
• Gone to Dust, by Matt Goldman (Forge)
• August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones (Soho Crime)
• The Last Place You Look, by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur)

Best P.I. Short Story:
• “Out of Business,” by Eric Beetner
(Down & Out: The Magazine, Volume 1/Issue 1)
• “Breakage,” by Reed Farrel Coleman
(Down & Out: The Magazine, Volume 1/Issue 1)
• “Random,” by Brendan Dubois
(Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2017)
• “Rosalie Marx is Missing,” by Robert S. Levinson
(Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)
• “Windward,” by Paul D. Marks
(from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks; Down & Out)

Best Private Eye Novel:
• Dark Water, by Parker Bilal (Bloomsbury USA)
• Blood Truth, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
• Y Is for Yesterday, by Sue Grafton (Marian Wood/Putnam)
• The Room of White Fire, by T. Jefferson Parker (Putnam)
• Monument Road, by Michael Wiley (Severn House)

The winners of this year’s Shamus Awards will be declared during a banquet held in association with Bouchercon 2018, which is set to take place in St. Petersburg, Florida, from September 6 to 9.