Catching Up on Crime Prizes

Today brings word of five contenders for the 2018 Nero Award. The Nero has been presented annually, ever since 1979, by the New York City-based Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin fan organization, The Wolfe Pack, to “the best American mystery written in the tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe stories.” This year’s candidates are:

• The Dime, by Kathleen Kent (Mulholland)
• The Lioness Is the Hunter, by Loren D. Estelman (Forge)
• Gone to Dust, by Matt Goldman (Forge)
• August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones (Soho Crime)
• Blood for Wine, by Warren C. Easley (Poisoned Pen Press)

The winner of the 2018 Nero Award will be announced during the Wolfe Pack’s annual Black Orchid Banquet, which by tradition is held in Manhattan on the first Saturday in December.

* * *

You are probably aware that I spent last week away from my office. While I was absent, the nominees for the 2018 Macavity Awards were announced, in five different categories. As organizer Janet Rudolph explains in her blog Mystery Fanfare, books are nominated for the Macavitys “by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI.” This year’s Macavity recipients will be declared during the opening ceremonies at Bouchercon in St. Petersburg, Florida (September 6-9).

Best Mystery Novel:
• The Marsh King’s Daughter, by Karen Dionne (Putnam)
• Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)
• Glass Houses, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Old Man, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
• The Force, by Don Winslow (Morrow)

Best First Mystery Novel:
• Hollywood Homicide, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)
• The Dry, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
• She Rides Shotgun, by Jordan Harper (Ecco)
• The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)
• The Last Place You Look, by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur)
• Lost Luggage, by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press)

Best Mystery-Related Non-Fiction:
• From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon, by Mattias Bostrom (Mysterious Press)
• The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, by Martin Edwards
(Poisoned Pen Press/British Library)
• Chester B. Himes: A Biography, by Lawrence P. Jackson (Norton)
• The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery, by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James (Scribner)
• Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes, by Michael Sims (Bloomsbury)
• Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History, by Tori Telfer (Harper Perennial)

Best Mystery Short Story:
• “As Ye Sow,” by Craig Faustus Buck (from Passport to Murder: Bouchercon Anthology 2017, edited by John McFetridge;
Down and Out Books)
• “The #2 Pencil,” by Matt Coyle (from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Paul D. Marks and Andrew McAleer; Down & Out Books)
• “Infinite Uticas,” by Terence Faherty (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)
• “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?” by Barb Goffman (from 50 Shades of Cabernet: A Mysterious Anthology; Koehler)
• “Windward,” by Paul D. Marks (from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea)
• “A Necessary Ingredient,” by Art Taylor (from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
• Dangerous to Know, by Renee Patrick (Forge)
• The Devouring, by James R. Benn (Soho Crime)
• In Farleigh Field, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union)
• Cast the First Stone, by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street)
• Racing the Devil, by Charles Todd (Morrow)
• A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus)

Congratulations to all of this year’s rivals!