Measuring Up to Expectations

This is going to be a quiet week here at The Rap Sheet, as I have an old college friend in from out of town, and am doing my best to provide entertainment. However, I do want to mention the preliminary or final results of three different awards competitions.

First up are the 2019 Dead Good Reader Awards. Organized by the British crime-fiction Web site Dead Good, these honors are presented to recent works in half a dozen categories. Here are the winners:

The Nosy Parker Award for Best Amateur Detective:
The Suspect, by Fiona Barton

Also nominated: A Clean Canvas, by Elizabeth Mundy; The Brighton Mermaid, by Dorothy Koomson; Red Snow, by Will Dean; The Stone Circle, by Elly Griffiths; and The Taking of Annie Thorne, by C.J. Tudor

The Jury’s Out Award for Most Gripping Courtroom Drama:
Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh

Also nominated: Anatomy of a Scandal, by Sarah Vaughan; Blood Orange, by Harriet Tyce; Marked for Death, by Tony Kent; No Further Questions, by Gillian McAllister; and Our Kind of Cruelty, by
Araminta Hall

The Dish Served Cold Award for Best Revenge Thriller:
My Lovely Wife, by Samantha Downing

Also nominated: Do No Harm, by L.V. Hay; Final Betrayal, by Patricia Gibney; Marked for Death, by Tony Kent; The Puppet Show, by M.W. Craven; and Sticks and Stones, by Jo Jakeman

The Cancel All Plans Award for the Book You Can’t Put Down:
Skin Deep, by Liz Nugent

Also nominated: The Brighton Mermaid, by Dorothy Koomson; Her Name Was Rose, by Claire Allan; The Night Olivia Fell; by Christina Mcdonald; The Passengers, by John Marrs; and Sleep, by C.L. Taylor

The Cat and Mouse Award for Most Elusive Villain:
Last of the Magpies, by Mark Edwards

Also nominated: Beautiful Liars, by Isabel Ashdown; Do No Harm, by L.V. Hay; The Infirmary, by L.J. Ross; The Rumour, by Lesley Kara; and Twisted, by Steve Cavanagh

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book:
The Stone Circle, by Elly Griffiths

Also nominated: The Death of Mrs. Westaway, by Ruth Ware; Now You See Her, by Heidi Perks; The Passengers, by John Marrs; Skin Deep, by Liz Nugent; and Sleep, by C.L. Taylor

These results were announced late last week at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.

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Meanwhile, B.V. Lawson reports in In Reference to Murder on the results of this year’s contest for the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, sponsored by the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal. The fortunate 2019 recipient is The Boat People, by Sharon Bala (Doubleday). Two other novels were vying for that same accolade: Class Action, by Steven B. Frank (HMH Books for Young Readers); and The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime).

According to a press release, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction “was authorized by the late Harper Lee [and was] established in 2011 by the University of Alabama Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law and the ABA Journal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.”

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And this year’s longlist of 13 Man Booker Prize nominees includes one novel drawn from the mystery/thriller stacks: My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday). A shortlist of contenders will be released on September 3.