Sounds About Right

The Audio Publishers Association has announced the winners of its 2023 Audie Awards, “recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” There were 26 categories of contenders, a couple of which should interest Rap Sheet readers.

Mystery: The Heron, by Don Winslow,
narrated by Ed Harris (Audible Originals)

Also nominated: The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra, narrated by Soneela Nankani (Blackstone); The Maid, by Nita Prose, narrated by Lauren Ambrose (Penguin Random House Audio); The Murder of Mr. Wickham, by Claudia Gray, narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown (Penguin Random House Audio); and Suspect, by Scott Turow, narrated by Helen Laser (Hachette Audio)

Thriller/Suspense: Greenwich Park, by Katherine Faulkner,
narrated by Laura Kirman (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Also nominated: The Boys from Biloxi, by John Grisham, narrated by Michael Beck (Penguin Random House Audio); The Island, by Adrian McKinty, narrated by Mela Lee (Hachette Audio); The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley, narrated by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, and Charlie Anson (HarperAudio); Snowstorm in August, by Marshall Karp, narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla and Michael Manuel (Blackstone); and Where Secrets Live, by S.C. Richards, narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya (Dreamscape Media)

In addition, this year’s victor in the very competitive Multi-Voiced Performance division was Sparring Partners, by John Grisham, narrated by Jeff Daniels, Ethan Hawke, January LaVoy, and John Grisham (Penguin Random House Audio).

Click here to see all of this year’s Audie Awards finalists.

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Now that the Short Mystery Fiction Society has posted the full, complete list of finalists for its 2023 Derringer Awards (thank you, Kevin R. Tipple), I can present that below. Titles and authors are broken down into four categories, according to story length.

Best Flash Fiction (up to 1,000 words):
• “Catch and Release,” by April Kelly (Mystery Magazine, May 2022)
• “Acknowledgments,” by Karen Harrington (Guilty Crime Story Magazine, April 2022)
• “Easter Spam,” by John Weagly (Shotgun Honey)
• “The Final Chapter,” by James Blakey (Yellow Mama, October 2022)
• “Where Palms Sway and the Surf Pounds,” by Curtis Ippolito
(Shotgun Honey)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words):
• “Double Trouble,” by M.E. Proctor (Bristol Noir, March 2022)
• “Hiding Out in Cedar Key,” by Sharon Marchisello (White Cat Publications, April 2022)
• “The Shape of Australia,” by Christine Poulson (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2022)
• “My Two-Legs,” by Melissa Yuan-Innes (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine [AHMM], September/October 2022 [published under the byline “Melissa Yi”])
• “Digging In,” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Black Cat Weekly #40)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words):
• “The Vigil,” by Toni Goodyear (from Carolina Crimes: Rock, Roll and Ruin, edited by Karen Pullen; Down & Out)
• “Tethered,” by Marcelle Dubé (from Crime Wave: Women of a Certain Age; Sisters in Crime-Canada West)
• “The White Calf and the Wind,” by Mike Adamson (Black Cat
Mystery Magazine #11)
• “The Donovan Gang,” by John M. Floyd (AHMM, September/
October 2022)
• “Negative Tilt,” by Bobby Mathews (from Rock and a Hard Place, Issue VII, edited by Nokes, Butkowski, Tucher, Cudmore, Sullivan, and Garth; ‎ Rock & a Hard Place Press)
• “Something Blue,” by G.M. Malliet (EQMM, November/
December 2022)

Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words):
• “The Wraith of Bunker Hill,” by Paul D. Marks (EQMM, September/October 2022)
• “Two Shrimp Tacos and a .22 Ruger,” by Adam Meyer (Guns & Tacos; Down & Out)
• “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” by Liz Filleul (The People’s Friend,
Issue 225)
• “The Refusal Camp,” by James R. Benn (AHMM, Sept/Oct 2022)
• “Ripen” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (Black Cat Weekly #48)

Winners will be chosen by a vote of SMFS members on May 1.