Award Winner

2023 Barry Awards (Crime Fiction)

Established in 1997, the Barry Awards are presented at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, to be held this year in San Diego. The winners were announced at the Opening Ceremonies on August 31st. Voted on by readers of the Deadly Pleasures mystery magazine, the award was named in honor of Barry Gardner, an American critic and lover of great crime fiction. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners (indicated in red)!

Best Mystery or Crime Novel
THE ACCOMPLICE, Steve Cavanagh
DESERT STAR, Michael Connelly
THE DARK FLOOD, Deon Meyer
SHIFTY’S BOYS, Chris Offutt
SECRET IDENTITY, Alex Segura
CITY ON FIRE, Don Winslow

Best First Mystery or Crime Novel
BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME, Jacqueline Bublitz
DON’T KNOW TOUGH, Eli Cranor
SHUTTER, Ramona Emerson
THE MAID, Nita Prose
BLOOD SUGAR, Sascha Rothchild
DIRT CREEK, Hayley Scrivenor

Best Thriller
IN THE BLOOD, Jack Carr
WINTER WORK, Dan Fesperman
SIERRA SIX, Mark Greaney
BAD ACTORS, Mick Herron
KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, Deanna Raybourn
GOERING’S GOLD, Richard O’Rawe

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2023 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards

The 2023 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards honor the Best Books of 2022. Congratulations to the finalists and winners (indicated in red)!

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE
Victor Acquista / Revelation
A. M. Adair / Shadow War
Thomas A. Burns, Jr. / Sister! A Natalie McMasters Mystery
Angela Greenman / The Child Riddler
Eric S. Hoffman / The Ballad of Clay Moore
Timothy S. Johnston / The Shadow of War
J.B. Manning / Richter The Mighty
S. Lee Manning / Bloody Soil
Johan Rosenlind / Franco’s Lost Gold

BEST COMEDY 
SL Calder / A Dusty Demise
Mindy Carlson / Her Dying Day
A.J. Devlin / Five Moves of Doom
Lucy Lakestone / Jiggered by Gin
J. B. Manning / Richter the Mighty
Haris Orkin / Goldhammer
Cindy Sample / Birthdays are Murder
Lida Sideris / Gambling with Murder
Gabrielle St. George / How to Kill a Kingpin
Susan Wingate / Gag Me: A Friday Harbor Novel

BEST COZY 
M.K. Dean / The Dog Days of Murder
Debra H Goldstein / Five Belles Too Many
Sasscer Hill / Murder at the Willcotts Hotel
Polly Holmes / Black Magic Murder
Christine Knapp / Murder at the Wedding
Judy L Murray / Killer in the Kitchen – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery
Lori Robbins / Murder in Third Position
Peggy Rothschild / A Deadly Bone to Pick
Nancy Raven Smith / Bushwhacked in the Outback
C.B. Wilson / Doodled to Death

BEST HISTORICAL 
Joy Allyson / Whiskey Love
Carmen Amato / Murder at the Galliano Club
Mally Becker / The Counterfeit Wife
Katherine Cowley / The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception
Michelle Cox / A Spying Eye
Richard Helms / A Kind and Savage Place
Joy Jordan-Lake / A Bend of Light
Laurie Loewenstein / Funeral Train
Kelly Oliver / Chaos at Carnegie Hall
Nina Wachsman / The Gallery of Beauties

BEST INVESTIGATOR 
J. L. Delozier / The Photo Thief
Mary Keliikoa / Hidden Pieces
Thomas Holland / Grind Slowly, Grind Small
Colin Holmes / Thunder Road
James L’Etoile / Dead Drop
Emilya Naymark / Behind the Lie
D.R. Ransdell / Party Wine
Saralyn Richard / Crystal Blue Murder
Drew Strickland / Abducted in Appalachia
Joyce Woollcott / A Nice Place To Die

BEST MAINSTREAM / COMMERCIAL 
Katherine Faulkner / Greenwich Park

S.E. Greco / A Patient Enemy
Vinnie Hansen / One Gun

BEST MYSTERY 
Hope Clark / Badge of Edisto
Trish Esden / The Art of the Decoy
Leonard Getz / Innocent Spouse
Kim Hays / Pesticide
K. L. Murphy / Her Sister’s Death
Ann Parker / The Secret in the Wall
Michael Stanley / A Deadly Covenant
Ruth Ware / The It Girl
Marla A. White / Cause for Elimination
Rich Zahradnik / The Bone Records

BEST SCI-FI / FANTASY
Esteban Corio / The Future of Humanity
David Cornish / 2003: The Time-Loop Device
Frank Gratton / Nula
Elle Hartford / Beauty and the Alchemist
Jeanne Hull Godfroy / Midgard
Bryan Johnston / Death Warrant
Madison Lawson / The Registration
Nola Nash / Traveler
Palmer Pickering / Heliotrope
Jordan Reed / The Wizard’s Brew: A Zane Vrexon Mystery
Janet Raye Stevens / It’s Been A Long, Long Time
Joss Walker and R.L. Perez / Master of Shadows

BEST SUSPENSE & BOOK OF THE YEAR
Traci Hunter Abramson and Sian Ann Bessey / The Danger with Diamonds
Georgina Cross / The Niece
Tracey Devlyn / Flash Point
Kathleen Donnelly / Chasing Justice
Kelly Irvin / Trust Me
Lynessa Layne / Target Acquired
Kiersten Modglin / The Dinner Guests
Kiersten Modglin / A Quiet Retreat
Carrie Stuart Parks / Fallout
Iain Reid / We Spread

BEST THRILLER 
Traci Hunter Abramson / Not Dead Yet
Yasmin Angoe / They Come At Knight
Terry Barnett / Foregone Revenge
Erica Ferencik / Girl in Ice
Erin Flanagan / Blackout
Angela Greenman / The Child Riddler
Kevin Kuhens / Terror’s Sword, A Kyle McEwan Novel
Jodé Millman / Hooker Avenue
Jeneva Rose / One of Us is Dead
Michael Stockham / Confessions of an Accidental Lawyer

Winners in each category and best overall winner were announced on August 19, 2023.

 

 

 

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2023 Edgar Awards

Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2022. Awards were given in person on April 27, 2023, in New York City. The winners are indicated in red.

BEST NOVEL
Devil House by John Darnielle
Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett
Gangland by Chuck Hogan
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
The Maid by Nita Prose

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Jackal by Erin E. Adams
Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Quarry’s Blood by Max Allan Collins
On a Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass
Or Else by Joe Hart
Cleopatra’s Dagger by Carole Lawrence
A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre

BEST FACT CRIME
Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale
Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles
American Caliph: The True Story of a Muslim Mystic, a Hollywood Epic, and the 1977 Siege of Washington, D.C. by Shahan Mufti
American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“One Mighty and Strong” – Under the Banner of Heaven, Written by Brandon Boyce (Hulu)
“Episode 1” – Magpie Murders, Written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece/PBS)
“Episode 1″ – Karen Pirie, Written by Emer Kenny (BritBox)
“When Harry Met Fergus” – Harry Wild, Written by David Logan (Acorn TV)
“The Reagan Way” – Blue Bloods, Written by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS)
“Eighteen Wheels A Predator” – Law & Order: SVU, Written by Brianna Yellen & Monet Hurst-Mendoza (NBC Universal)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
The Disinvited Guest by Carol Goodman
A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers
Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
An Unforgiving Place by Claire Kells
Hideout by Louisa Luna
Behind the Lie by Emilya Naymark
Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD
The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry
Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry
Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette
Desert Getaway by Michael Craft
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

 

Nominees for Best Juvenile, Best Critical/Biographical, Best Short Story can be found on the Edgar website: Edgarawards.com

 

2023 Edgar Awards Read More »

Book List: Lynn Chandler Willis

Have you read all of Lynn Chandler Willis’ books? Are you sure? Read on and click on the links to find out more about her terrific work.

North Carolina author, Lynn Chandler Willis, has been a professional in the writing business for quite a while, first as a newspaper owner/publisher/reporter. During that experience, she developed a keen eye for detail and for what makes people tick. She could sniff out a great story and her first book dealt with the real-life murder of the wife of a preacher’s son, committed by the preacher’s son himself in small town North Carolina. Willis attended the trial every day and did meticulous research into everything that surrounded that case. Twenty years later, the book is still being sold, a rarity in the publishing world. That book is “Unholy Covenant” (also known as “The Preacher’s Son”) and was the subject of a TV documentary about the case.

 

The Rising” won a Grace Award (review here)

 

 

 

“Wink of an Eye” A private investigator tries to lay low in Texas and still gets involved in a case.   (review here)  It won Minotaur’s PWA Best First Private Eye novel competition. Well deserved!

 

The Ava Logan Series is a romantic suspense trilogy featuring newspaper publisher/reporter Ava Logan.

Tell Me No Lies” is the first in the series  (review here)

Tell Me No Secrets” 

Tell Me You Love Me”  third book in the Ava Logan trilogy (review here)

 

Periodically, Nightstand Book Reviews has a crossover post with www.kerriansnotebook.com. Ava Logan was a Visiting Detective with “Crime in Appalachia.” Take a look here.

New Series: January, 2023, brings us the highly anticipated “What the Monkey Saw.” I read it and can tell you it’s got a fantastic lead character, and taut action scenes. You’ll feel like you’re right in the middle of the fray! You can order it here.

The Second New Series: Introducing Raynor Beck, a detective who operates on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Coming in May 2023, The Devil to Pay: Raynor Beck, Book 1.

The setup: “Private Investigator Raynor Beck has been hired by the victim of a crime more than once. But he’s never been hired by a murder victim. Until now.”

How long is it until May?  🙂

 

Please visit www.lynnchandlerwillis.com for details about Ms. Willis’ appearances as well as news about Finn and the events in her life.

Facebook Author Page

*Book Covers and banner from Ms. Willis’ website and Facebook page.

 

Book List: Lynn Chandler Willis Read More »

Book List: Jessica Estavao/Jessie Crockett/Jessica Ellicott

Jessica Estavao is a talented, bestselling, award-winning New England author with several entertaining mystery series to her credit. She is one of the “Wicked Authors,” a group of women writing wicked good mysteries mostly set in New England. Take a look at the list of her books below and see if you’ve read them all. (Click on the titles to learn more about the books)

 

Granite State Mysteries  (as Jessie Crockett)

Her debut mystery in the Granite State series, “Live Free or Die”, was the 2011 winner of the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Mainstream Mystery, an auspicious beginning to her career.

 

Sugar Grove Mysteries (as Jessie Crockett)

The series begins “Drizzled with Death,” one hilarious romp through championship pancake breakfasts, maple syrup, and animals on the loose. Who knew that falling dead head first into a stack of pancakes could be used as a crime scene setting?

Drizzled with Death” – review here

Maple Mayhem

Sticky Situation

 

Change of Fortune Mysteries (as Jessica Estavao)

Jessie moved her next series back in time to 1890’s Orchard Beach, Maine, with a con artist and tarot card reader protagonist. Ruby tries to stay one step ahead of the law, while helping her straight arrow aunt keep her hotel. Great fun featuring an innovative female lead character.

 

Whispers Beyond the Veil” 

review here     

 

 

Whispers of Warning

 

Beryl and Edwina Mysteries (as Jessica Ellicott)

Jessie’s current series is set in post WW1 England and introduces the former Finishing School duo of Edwina, the conservative English character, to Beryl’s adventurous American persona. They reunite many years later in the quiet (or is it?) southern English village of Warmsley Parva when Edwina advertises for a boarder and Beryl crashes onto her property.


Beryl and Edwina, while culturally and personally quite different, are fond of each other even after years apart. They find that their distinctive talents help them wonderfully well in their new business venture, a ‘private inquiry agency’ that solves mysteries in the charming village, while earning them an income.

Ellicott has written a series that is both historically enlightening and entertaining, with the sometimes serious subject matter of the day woven into the story of the two women drawn together by economics as well as friendship. Beautifully researched, the books reveal societal views about women 100 years ago, and peek inside the quaint village shops that have survived despite the post-war challenges.

Edwina’s shrewd intellect and Beryl’s clever approach to the mysteries outwit lesser minds and create a few comical moments to save the day and befuddle the clueless. These two engaging, intelligent women will capture your hearts and minds as you enjoy these wonderful books.

 

 

 

 

Murder in an English Village” 

review here

Murder Flies the Coop

Murder Cuts the Mustard

Murder Comes to Call

 

Murder in an English Glade

Murder through the English Post

Murder at a London Finishing School” pre-order

NEW SERIES!
Jessica Ellicott has a new series, this time set in WW2 England. Titled the WPC Billie Harkness Mysteries, the first book is out now. Beautifully researched as always, it features Billie Harkness, a female police officer. Find “Death in a Blackout” here.

Enjoy them all!

 

 

 

 

 

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Book List: Edith Maxwell

 

Edith Maxwell is a prolific writer of absorbing, wonderful mysteries. Each of her series feature strong, independent women, with true-to-life intelligent, sometimes challenging, families and an always intriguing boyfriend. The stories are layered, the characters are complex, and the mysteries are well drawn. Click on the book titles and fall into a great read. 

 

as Edith Maxwell:

Quaker Midwife Mysteries  The Agatha-nominated historical series features unconventional Quaker midwife Rose Carroll in late 1880s Amesbury, Massachusetts.
Delivering the Truth”   review here

Called to Justice

Turning the Tide” 

Charity’s Burden”  Agatha Award winner! Best Historical Novel 2020

Judge Thee Not

Taken Too Soon

“A Changing Light”


The Local Foods Mysteries feature novice organic farmer Cameron Flaherty and take place in the town of Westbury, Massachusetts.

A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die”  review here

’Til Dirt Do Us Part

Farmed and Dangerous

Murder Most Fowl

Mulch Ado About Murder

 

as Maddie Day:

The Country Store Mysteries feature Robbie Jordan and Pans ‘N Pancakes, her country store/restaurant in fictional South Lick, Indiana.
Flipped for Murder

Grilled for Murder”    review here

When the Grits Hit the Fan

Biscuits and Slashed Browns

Death over Easy

Strangled Eggs and Ham

Nacho Average Murder

Candy Slain Murder

Batter Off Dead”

Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse

Four Leaf Cleaver” coming in January, 2023


Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries
are set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and feature Mackenzie Almeida and her sleuthing book club members.

Murder on Cape Cod”  review here

Murder at the Taffy Shop

Murder at the Lobstah Shack”

Murder in a Cape Cottage


as Tace Baker, now as Edith Maxwell
:
 

The Lauren Rousseau Mysteries feature Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau, a self-reliant, multi-talented woman who finds herself involved in college politics, local Massachusetts intrigue, and bodies.

Speaking of Murder” (new title is “Murder on the Bluffs”) review here

Bluffing is Murder”  review here

 

Short Fiction

The following stories of “murderous revenge and other crimes” were originally published in anthologies or magazines. Many have been republished as standalone short stories.

“An Ominous Silence” appears in Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories

“The Unfortunate Death of Mrs. Edna Fogg” in Malice Domestic 12: Mystery Most Historical 

 “Murder in the Summer Kitchen” in Murder Among Friends: Mysteries Inspired by the Life and Works of John Greenleaf Whittier. 

“The Mayor and the Midwife” in Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 

“Adam and Eva,” – free read on Kings River Life Magazine

“A Questionable Death” was originally published in the History and Mystery, Oh My! anthology and is a free read over at Kings River Life Magazine.

“Just Desserts for Johnny”

“Pickled” in That Mysterious Woman

“A Fire in Carriagetown” first appeared as “Breaking the Silence” in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold 

“The Stonecutter,” first appeared in Fish Nets: the Second Guppy Anthology

“Reduction in Force” was first published in Thin Ice: Crime Stories by New England Writers 

“Yatsuhashi for Lance” was originally published as “Obake for Lance” in Riptide: Crime Stories by New England Writers.

“An Idea for Murder,” first appeared (written as Tace Baker) in the Burning Bridges: A Renegade Fiction Anthology.

“The Importance of Blood”

“A Divination of Death” appears in Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical.

“Sushi Lessons” appears in Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible.

“An Intolerable Intrusion” appears in Edgar Allen Cozy.

 

For more information about Edith and her writing life, read the Author Profile here.

 

Happy Reading!  🙂

 

 

Book List: Edith Maxwell Read More »

2022 Pulitzer Prize for Journalism

 

 

 

 

The 2022 winners of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Journalism have been announced. The Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal is awarded each year to the American news organization that wins the Public Service category. Congratulations to all the talented writers and staffs! (Descriptions of the Public Service Category, as well as the individual awards, are credited to the Pulitzer site) Click on the links (in brown) to learn more about the winners.

 

The Washington Post Public Service Category
For its compellingly told and vividly presented account of the assault on Washington on January 6, 2021, providing the public with a thorough and unflinching understanding of one of the nation’s darkest days.

 

Staff of the Miami Herald Breaking News Reporting
For its urgent yet sweeping coverage of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex, merging clear and compassionate writing with comprehensive news and accountability reporting.

 

Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray of the Tampa Bay Times Investigative Reporting
For a compelling exposé of highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant that forced the implementation of safety measures to adequately protect workers and nearby residents.

 

Staff of Quanta Magazine, New York, N.Y., notably Natalie Wolchover Explanatory Reporting
For coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to facilitate groundbreaking astronomical and cosmological research.

 

Madison Hopkins of the Better Government Association and Cecilia Reyes of the Chicago Tribune Local Reporting
For a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.

 

Staff of The New York Times National Reporting
For an ambitious project that quantified a disturbing pattern of fatal traffic stops by police, illustrating how hundreds of deaths could have been avoided and how officers typically avoided punishment.

 

Staff of The New York Times, notably Azmat Khan, contributing writer International Reporting
For courageous and relentless reporting that exposed the vast civilian toll of U.S.-led airstrikes, challenging official accounts of American military engagements in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. (Moved by the Board from the Public Service category, where it was also nominated.)

 

Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic Feature Writing
For an unflinching portrait of a family’s reckoning with loss in the 20 years since 9/11, masterfully braiding the author’s personal connection to the story with sensitive reporting that reveals the long reach of grief.

 

Melinda Henneberger of The Kansas City Star Commentary
For persuasive columns demanding justice for alleged victims of a retired police detective accused of being a sexual predator.

 

Salamishah Tillet, contributing critic at large, The New York Times Criticism
For learned and stylish writing about Black stories in art and popular culture–work that successfully bridges academic and nonacademic critical discourse.

 

Lisa Falkenberg, Michael Lindenberger, Joe Holley and Luis Carrasco of the Houston Chronicle Editorial Writing
For a campaign that, with original reporting, revealed voter suppression tactics, rejected the myth of widespread voter fraud and argued for sensible voting reforms.

 

Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey of Insider, New York, N.Y. Illustrated Reporting and Commentary
For using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public.

 

Marcus Yam of the Los Angeles Times Breaking News Photography
For raw and urgent images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. (Moved from Feature Photography by the jury.)

Win McNamee, Drew Angerer, Spencer Platt, Samuel Corum and Jon Cherry of Getty Images
For comprehensive and consistently riveting photos of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

 

 

 

 

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