Let’s Not Forget About the Anthonys

Concluding our coverage of this weekend’s “virtual Bouchercon,” we now bring you the winners of the 2020 Anthony Awards. As blogger Les Blatt notes in Classic Mysteries, “The Anthony Awards are named in honor of the late author and mystery critic Anthony Boucher (for whom Bouchercon is named), and they are considered to be among the most prestigious awards for crime-fiction authors.”

Best Novel:
The Murder List, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Also nominated: Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); They All Fall Down, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge); Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman (Morrow); and Miami Midnight, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel:
One Night Gone, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)

Also nominated: The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge (Agora); Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton); Three-Fifths, by John Vercher (Agora); and American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

Best Paperback Original:
The Alchemist’s Illusion, by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)

Also nominated: The Unrepentant, by E.A. Aymar (Down & Out); Murder Knocks Twice, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur); The Pearl Dagger, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington); Scot & Soda, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink); Drowned Under, by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press); and The Naming Game, by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Press)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work:
The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women, by Mo Moulton (Basic)

Also nominated: Hitchcock and the Censors, by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky); The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of the Collins Crime Club, by John Curran (Collins Crime Club); The Trail of Lizzie Borden: A True Story, by Cara Robertson (Simon & Schuster); and The Five: The Untold Stories of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Best Short Story: “The Red Zone,” by Alex Segura (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón; Down & Out)

Also nominated: “Turistas,” by Hector Acosta (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!); “Unforgiven,” by Hilary Davidson (from Murder a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West; Down & Out); “Better Days,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2019); and “Hard Return,” by Art Taylor (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press)

Best Anthology or Collection:
Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press)

Also nominated: The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken (Down & Out); ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out); Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman (Wildside Press); and Murder A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West (Down & Out)

Best Young Adult:
Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry, by Jen Conley (Down & Out)

Also nominated: Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen); Killing November, by Adriana Mather (Knopf Books for Young Readers); Patron Saints of Nothing, by Randy Ribay (Kokila); The Deceivers, by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen); and Wild and Crooked, by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury YA)

A hearty congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!