Thriller

Irish Fiction & Mysteries – 2020 List

 

View from Blarney Castle

 

St. Patrick’s Day will be here soon! For those of you that focus your reading on holiday/cultural themed books, the list below features Irish writers, mysteries/suspense set in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day murders, or titles with Irish characters central to the plot. Some are modern classics, some are newbies, but all are entertaining reads. You’re sure to find a story in the updated list of 38 Irish Fiction & Mysteries–2020 List that you will want to read again and again. (Links included for bold titles)

 

Lisa Alber: “Path into Darkness
Maeve Binchy:  “Chestnut Street
S. Furlong-Bollinger: “Paddy Whacked
Declan Burke: “The Lost and the Blind
Steve Cavanagh: “Th1rt3en
Sheila Connolly: “Fatal Roots
Kathy Cranston: “Apple Seeds and Murderous Deeds
Sinead Crowley: “One Bad Turn
Kathi Daley: “Shamrock Shenanigans
Frank Delaney: “The Last Storyteller
Nelson Demille: “Cathedral
Patricia Falvey: “The Yellow House
Tana French: “Broken Harbor
Alexia Gordon: “Murder in G Major
Andrew Greeley: “The Bishop at the Lake
Jane Haddam: “A Great Day for the Deadly
Lyn Hamilton: “The Celtic Riddle
Lee Harris: “The St. Patrick’s Day Murder
Erin Hart: “The Book of Killowen
Jonathan Harrington: “A Great Day for Dying
Mary Anne Kelly: “Twillyweed
Amanda Lee: “The Long Stitch Good Night
Dan Mahoney: “Once in, Never Out
Caimh McDonnell: “A Man with One of Those Faces
Brian McGilloway: “Preserve the Dead/The Forgotten Ones
Adrian McKinty: “The Chain
Ralph M. McInerny: “The Green Revolution
Leslie Meier: “St. Patrick’s Day Murder
Stuart Neville: “So Say the Fallen
Carlene O’Connor: “Murder in an Irish Cottage
Sister Carol Anne O’Marie: “Death Takes Up a Collection”
Helen Page: “Equal of God”
Louise Phillips: “The Doll’s House
Janet Elaine Smith: “In St. Patrick’s Custody
Jo Spain: “Beneath the Surface
Patrick Taylor: “An Irish Country Family
Peter Tremayne: “Blood in Eden
Kathy Hogan Trochek: “Irish Eyes

 

 

 

If your favorite Irish Fiction & Mysteries titles are not on the list, let me know and I’ll add them! Happy choosing and reading!

 

 

Irish Fiction & Mysteries – 2020 List Read More »

The Edgar Awards – 2020

 

Each year at this time, the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) announces the nominees for The Edgar Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in the previous year. Because of the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the annual MWA April conference was cancelled, but the Edgar Awards for 2020 were still voted upon by the members and the winners announced on April 30, 2020. (indicated in red)

 

BEST NOVEL
“Fake Like Me” by Barbara Bourland
“The Stranger Diaries” by Elly Griffiths
“The River” by Peter Heller
“Smoke and Ashes” by Abir Mukherjee
“Good Girl, Bad Girl” by Michael Robotham

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
“My Lovely Wife” by Samantha Downing
“Miracle Creek” by Angie Kim
“The Good Detective” by John McMahon
“The Secrets We Kept” by Lara Prescott
“Three-Fifths” by John Vercher
“American Spy” by Lauren Wilkinson

 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
“Dread of Winter” by Susan Alice Bickford
“Freedom Road” by William Lashner
“Blood Relations” by Jonathan Moore
“February’s Son” by Alan Parks
“The Hotel Neversink” by Adam O’Fallon Price
“The Bird Boys” by Lisa Sandlin

 

BEST FACT CRIME
“The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America” by Karen Abbott
“The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity” by Axton Betz-Hamilton
“American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century” by Maureen Callahan
“Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History” by Peter Houlahan
“Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall” by James Polchin

 

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
“The Night Visitors” by Carol Goodman
“One Night Gone” by Tara Laskowski
“Strangers at the Gate” by Catriona McPherson
“Where the Missing Go” by Emma Rowley
“The Murder List” by Hank Phillippi Ryan

 

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
“Shamed” by Linda Castillo
“Borrowed Time” by Tracy Clark
“The Missing Ones” by Edwin Hill
“The Satapur Moonstone” by Sujata Massey
“The Alchemist’s Illusion” by Gigi Pandian
“Girl Gone Missing” by Marcie R. Rendon

 

Nominees for other categories (Best Critical/Biographical, Best Short Story, Juvenile, YA, Teleplay) can be found at https://mysterywriters.org/mwa-announces-the-2020-edgar-nominations/

 

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners for the 2020 Edgar Awards!

 

 

 

The Edgar Awards – 2020 Read More »

Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year 2019 – McIlvanney Prize

 

The Scotland Crime Book of the Year Award, now called The McIlvanney Prize, is given at Bloody Scotland, a premier conference for crime writers. Eligible authors must be born in Scotland, live there, or set their books there. The winner receives 1,000 pounds and the book is promoted for a year by a major bookstore chain in Great Britain. The winners of both awards were announced on Friday, September 20, 2019 and are indicated in red.
 

McIlvanney Prize Shortlist and winner:
 Breakers, by Doug Johnstone
 Conviction, by Denise Mina
 The Way of All Flesh, by “Ambrose Parry”, aka Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman
 A Treachery of Spies, by Manda Scott

 

McIlvanney Debut Prize Shortlist and winner:
 All the Hidden Truths, by Claire Askew
 From the Shadows, by G.R. Halliday
 Black Camp 21, by Bill Jones
 In the Silence, by M.R. Mackenzie
 The Peat Dead, by Allan Martin

 

 

Congratulations to all! 

Previous winners are noted below:

2018: Liam McIlvanney – “The Quaker”

2017: Denise Mina – “The Long Drop”

2016: Chris Brookmyre – “Black Widow”

2015: Craig Russell – “The Ghosts of Altona”

2014: Peter May – “Entry Island”

 

 

 

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Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards – 2019

 

 

Killer Nashville is one of the most popular conferences in the country for writers and readers and is held each year in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Established by writer and filmmaker Clay Stafford in 2006, the conference assists authors in the craft of mystery, thriller, suspense, and crime fiction writing. Stafford and American Blackguard, Inc. also work to further various literacy programs throughout the year.

 

As a part of both encouraging and rewarding writers in their varied fields, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards are given to authors and their outstanding books published in the previous year. This year, the awards will be presented on August 24th at the Killer Nashville Awards Banquet. The finalists and winners (in red) are:

 

Best Action Adventure
Baron Birtcher  “Fistful of Rain”
Linda Sands  “Precious Cargo”
Robert Slayton  “Running to Graceland”
Mary Ting  “ISAN”
Jill Wallace  “War Serenade”


Best Cozy Mystery
Traci Andrighetti  “Campari Crimson”
L.A. Chandler  “The Gold Pawn”
Phyllis Gobbell  “Treachery in Tuscany”
Morgan James  “Quiet Fury”
Jill Orr  “The Bad Break”


Best Mystery
Delphine Boswell  “Unholy Secret”
Larry Enmon  “The Burial Place”
Allan Eskens  “The Shadows We Hide”
Mike Faricy  “Star Struck”
Alexia Gordon  “Killing in C Sharp”
Bradley Harper  “A Knife in the Fog”
Roger Johns  “River of Secrets”
Ann Parker  “A Dying Note”
Keenan Powell  “Deadly Solution”
Cindy Sample  “Dying for a Deal”


Best Procedural
Bruce Robert Coffin “Beyond the Truth”
James Doherty  “An Obscure Grave”
Amanda Feyerbend  “Girls of Summer”
Margaret Mizushima  “Burning Ridge: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery”
Saralyn Richard  “Murder in the One Percent”


Best Thriller
R.G. Belsky  “Yesterday’s News”
Timothy S. Johnston  “The War Beneath”
Thomas Kelso “Fractured”
Michael Niemann “Illegal Holdings”   (tie)
T.J. O’Conner  “The Consultant”
Rick Outzen  “City of Grudges”
Eliot Parker  “A Knife’s Edge”
Charley Pearson  “Scourge”   (tie)
Rick Pullen  “Naked Truth”
Dana J. Summers  “The Dark and the Dead”

 

Winners in other categories:

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
Maggie Toussaint  "Confound It"


Best Short Story/Anthology
Carmen Amato  "The Artist"

 

Please visit https://killernashville.com/2019-killer-nashville-awards-winners/?fbclid=IwAR1x_ for finalists and winners in the YA, Non-fiction, and Suspense categories.   Congratulations to all!

 

 

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards – 2019 Read More »

Take Something Different to the Beach

 

Every once in a while, we should stretch our reading horizons and try something completely different. Just for fun. You may think that straying out of your tried and true and thoroughly enjoyed genre is a bad idea, but here is a batch of books that may change your mind. Go ahead. Take a peek.  🙂

 

Adventure/Sci-Fi

 

 

James Rollins writes the exceptional Sigma Force adventure series, which incorporates archeology, historical events, science, a bit of technology, and always a dash of romance. Rollins’ research is so thorough and his writing so skilled that the readers often wonder which parts are true and which are a figment of his incredible imagination. He always includes sections in the books to answer the questions that might arise. Spanning 50,000 years, “The Bone Labyrinth” focuses on the discovery of a subterranean Catholic chapel holding the bones of a Neanderthal woman, as well as revealing a brutal attack on a primate research center. The Sigma Force teams are tasked with finding a connection between the two, taking them to three continents, while being tested as never before by unexpected enemies. The action never stops, with twists and turns until the very last page in this search for the explanations of human intelligence development. “The Bone Labyrinth” is the 11th full length book in the Sigma Force Series, with #14, “Crucible,” out this year.

 

Amish Fiction

 

Laura Bradford writes the wonderful, bestselling Amish Mysteries. “Just Plain Murder” is the sixth installment, with “A Killer Carol” due out in September. In “Just Plain Murder,” Claire Weatherly and Jakob Fisher grow closer and Jakob’s relationship with the family that shunned him shows signs of warming a bit. Jakob’s mentor and retired police chief, Russ Granger, has returned to town, but soon Claire must help Jakob solve the mystery of Russ’ death and so much more. Shocking secrets and lies are uncovered and long-standing relationships are questioned in this marvelous entry in the series. Read them all.
 

 

Christian Fiction

 

 

Terri Blackstock writes entertaining fiction that has wowed her fans for decades. The If I Run Series finishes with book #3, “If I Live.” Casey Cox is still running for her life after being wrongfully indicted for murder. She teams with the investigator on her case to help find the real killers, with consequences for each of them. Blackstock creates a sense of urgency that will keep you spellbound with surprises throughout.

 


 

Non-Fiction

 

 

Gretchen Rubin’s “Happiness Project” is an uplifting way to look at your life and change it for the better. If you’re not happy with the way things are going and want to make some adjustments, this book is for you. Ms. Rubin talks about her own life and how she came to believe that she could be happier. She took a year to experiment with advice given by experts and came up with some ideas of her own, including strategies for each month of the year. It’s a personal plan that can easily be applied to anyone willing to ‘be more present’ in their own life.
 

 

Thriller

 

Internationally bestselling author, Jamie Freveletti, writes the multi-award winning Emma Caldridge Series. Emma Caldridge is a brilliant biochemist who enjoys extreme distance running. She uses both skills while undertaking missions around the world that would reduce the ordinary person to a puddle of fear and mumbling. In “Blood Run,” Caldridge is tasked with delivering vaccines to villages in Africa, but the big pharma CEO accompanying her and providing the financial and logistical support for the operation, is holding out on her. They find themselves in the middle of a war zone between brutal African factions with no way out except through even more dangerous territory. If that weren’t enough, an extra challenge involves an international terrorist who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, complete with a target on Emma’s back. This pulse-pounding story will keep you turning the pages and wondering how in the world Caldridge will make it out alive.

 

Happy reading!  🙂

 

 

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2019 Anthony Awards

 

The 2019 Anthony Awards were handed out at The World Mystery Convention (usually referred to as Bouchercon) on November 2, 2019. Bouchercon is an annual conference named after Anthony Boucher, a mystery author and critic who helped found the Mystery Writers of America. This event honors various segments of the mystery and crime fiction community.
 

The nominees for the 2019 Anthony Awards were chosen by attendees at the 2018 convention, as well as early registrants for the 2019 event. The recognized works were published during 2018 and the finalists were voted upon by the 2019 Bouchercon attendees.

 

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners (indicated in red)! (Links included to highlighted short story titles.)
 

BEST NOVEL

  • Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
  • November Road by Lou Berney
  • Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
  • Sunburn by Laura Lippman
  • Blackout by Alex Segura


BEST FIRST NOVEL

  • My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
  • Broken Places by Tracy Clark
  • Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver
  • What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix
  • Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin


BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

  • Hollywood Ending by Kellye Garrett
  • If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin
  • Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara
  • Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day
  • A Stone’s Throw by James W. Ziskin


BEST SHORT STORY

  • The Grass Beneath My Feet” by S.A. Cosby, in Tough
  • Bug Appétit” by Barb Goffman, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
  • “Cold Beer No Flies” by Greg Herren, in Florida Happens
  • English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
  • The Best Laid Plans” by Holly West, in Florida Happens


BEST CRITICAL OR NONFICTION WORK

  • Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin
  • Mastering Plot Twists: How To Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure To Captivate Your Readers by Jane K. Cleland
  • Pulp According to David Goodis by Jay A. Gertzman
  • Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger
  •  I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
  • The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman


Have fun reading them all!

 

 

 

 

2019 Anthony Awards Read More »

CrimeFest 2019

 

CrimeFest Awards began as a variation of the USA’s Left Coast Crime Awards and has become one of the best crime fiction conferences in Europe. In most cases, eligible titles for the various awards were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title. The 2019 awards for 2018 books/titles were presented at a dinner held on Saturday, May 11th.


Congratulations to all the nominees and winners (indicated in red). Click on the book titles to discover more about the nominees and winners.


The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2018 in both printed and audio formats.
– Ben Aaronovitch for Lies Sleeping, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
– Louise Candlish for Our House, read by Deni Francis & Paul Panting
– Bill Clinton & James Patterson for The President Is Missing, read by Dennis Quaid, January LaVoy, Peter Ganim, Jeremy Davidson, Mozhan Marnò and Bill Clinton
– Robert Galbraith for Lethal White, read by Robert Glenister
– Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen for The Wife Between Us, read by Julia Whelan
– Stephen King for The Outsider, read by Will Patton
– Clare Mackintosh for Let Me Lie, read by Gemma Whelan & Clare Mackintosh
– Peter May for I’ll Keep You Safe, read by Anna Murray & Peter Forbes
– Ian Rankin for In a House of Lies, read by James MacPherson
– Sarah Vaughan for Anatomy of a Scandal, read by Julie Teal, Luke Thompson, Esther Wane and Sarah Feathers


eDUNNIT AWARD is for the best crime fiction ebook published in both hardcopy and in electronic format.
– Leye Adenle for When Trouble Sleeps
– Steve Cavanagh for Thirteen
– Martin Edwards for Gallows Court
– Laura Lippman for Sunburn
– Khurrum Rahman for Homegrown Hero
– Andrew Taylor for The Fire Court
– Sarah Ward for The Shrouded Path


LAST LAUGH AWARD is for the best humorous crime novel.
– Simon Brett for A Deadly Habit
– Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May – Hall of Mirrors
– Mario Giordano for Auntie Poldi and the Fruits of the Lord
– Mick Herron for London Rules
– Khurrum Rahman for Homegrown Hero
– Lynne Truss for A Shot in the Dark
– Antti Tuomainen for Palm Beach Finland
– Olga Wojtas for Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar


H.R.F. KEATING AWARD is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction.
– Nils Clausson for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Art of Fiction
– Brian Cliff for Irish Crime Fiction
– Glen S. Close for Female Corpses in Crime Fiction
– Laura Joyce & Henry Sutton for Domestic Noir
– Barry Forshaw for Historical Noir
– Steven Powell for The Big Somewhere: Essays on James Ellroy’s Noir World
– James Sallis for Difficult Lives – Hitching Rides


BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR CHILDREN nominees:
– P.G. Bell for The Train to Impossible Places
– Fleur Hitchcock for Murder At Twilight
– S.A. Patrick for A Darkness of Dragons
– Dave Shelton for The Book Case: An Emily Lime Mystery
– Lauren St. John for Kat Wolfe Investigates
– Nicki Thornton for The Last Chance Hotel


BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS nominees:
– David Almond for The Colour of the Sun
– Mel Darbon for Rosie Loves Jack
– Julia Gray for Little Liar
– Tom Pollock for White Rabbit, Red Wolf
– Nikesh Shukla for Run, Riot
– Neal & Jarrod Shusterman for Dry


THE PETRONA AWARD celebrates the best of Scandinavian crime fiction. The winner this year is Norwegian writer, Jorn Lier Horst, for “The Katharina Code.”
 

Happy Reading!

 

 

CrimeFest 2019 Read More »

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