Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Baldacci Takes the Nero

Virginia author David Baldacci has won the 2020 Nero Award for his novel One Good Deed (Grand Central), the first to star Aloysius Archer, a “straight-talking World War II veteran fresh out of prison.” The Nero Award is presented annually by the New York City-based fan organization The Wolfe Pack to what it calls “the best American mystery written in the tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe stories.”

Strangely, the Wolfe Pack press release carrying that news makes no mention of other finalists for this commendation. However, we’ve heard (through Twitter) that David C. Taylor’s Night Watch (Severn House) was also in contention for the 2020 Nero. If anyone out there has a complete list of the Nero nominees, please let us know.

The Wolfe Pack’s news release reports as well that “El Cuerpo en el Barril” (“The Body in the Barrel”), by Tom Larsen, will receive the 2020 Black Orchid Novella Award. This prize is given out jointly by The Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Larsen’s tale will be published in the July 2021 issue of AHMM.

(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)

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