Delayed but Still Well-Received

Seven months have passed since The Strand Magazine spread word of its nominees for two annual Critics Awards. Expectations were that the winners’ identities would be broadcast long ago, but editor Andrew Gulli told me recently that the announcement was delayed by difficulties in arranging for all of the relevant parties to participate.

Only last evening, during a Zoom presentation (which I missed due to work duties), were the following recipients of the 2023 Strand Magazine Critics Awards finally named.

Best Novel: Secret Identity, by Alex Segura (Flatiron)

Also nominated: Anywhere You Run, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow); Back to the Garden, by Laurie R. King (Bantam); Desert Star, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); Her Last Affair, by John Searles (Mariner); and A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best Debut: A Flicker in the Dark, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Jackal, by Erin E. Adams (Bantam); Before You Knew My Name, by Jacqueline Bublitz (Atria/Emily Bestler); Don’t Know Tough, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime); and Shutter, by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)

In addition, the magazine gave out not one, but two Lifetime Achievement Awards, to authors James Lee Burke and Lee Child. And Dan Smetanka, vice president and editorial chief of Counterpoint Press, was declared 2023’s Publisher of the Year.

Congratulations to all of the nominees!