Killer Nashville

2024 Killer Nashville – Silver Falchion Awards

The 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists represent the best books published in 2023, as determined by the judges. Full disclosure, I was a judge this year and one of my choices won! The winners in each category (indicated in  red) were announced on August 24, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee, at Killer Nashville.

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE
A New Game / A.M. Adair
Siphon / Ley Esses
A Blanket of Steel / Timothy S. Johnston
Hanging the Devil / Tim Maleeny
Splinter / Paul McHugh
The Warmaker: A Black Spear Novel / Benjamin Spada

BEST COMEDY
Downsized or Dead / S.E. Greco
Shocked by Champagne / Lucy Lakestone
Cultured / DP Lyle
Citizen Orlov / Jonathan Payne
Model Suspect / TK Sheffield
A Crafty Collage of Crime / Lois Winston

BEST COZY
Under the Cocoon Moon / Kathleen Bailey
Dumpster Dying / Michelle Bennington
Puppy Love / Mike Faricy
Naked Came the Detective / Glendall Jackson
Karma Comes in Red, A Beyond Mystery / Morgan James
Trust the Terrier: A Coral Shores Veterinary Mystery / DL Mitchell

BEST HISTORICAL
Revenge at the Galliano Club / Carmen Amato
Red Flags: A Novel / Rebecca McQueen
Arsenic at Ascot, A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery / Kelly Oliver
The Sorrowful Girl / Keenan Powell
The Last Drop of Hemlock / Katharine Schellman
A Courtesan’s Secret / Nina Wachsman

BEST INVESTIGATOR
When Things Fall Apart / Alan Brenham

Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye / Bradley Harper MD
Vessels of Wrath / Thomas Holland
These Still Black Waters / Christina McDonald
Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery / Margaret Mizushima
Splintered Loyalty / Mark Troy

BEST JUVENILE / Y.A.
Where Echoes Die / Courtney Gould
The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary / K.B. Jackson
A Place of Vengeance / David Lafferty 
A Tall Dark Trouble / Vanessa Montalban
Immortality: A Love Story / Dana Schwartz
Stateless / Elizabeth Wein

BEST MYSTERY
Mouse in the Box / Lewis Allan
Indigo Road / Reed Bunzel
Beautiful Death / John Deal
Secrets Don’t Sink / Kate B. Jackson
BeatNikki’s Café / Renee James
The Empty Kayak / Jode Millman

BEST SUPERNATURAL
Monstera / EL Block
Personal Demons / L.R. Braden
The Paleontologist / Luke Dumas
Downpour / Christopher Hawkins
A Mother’s Torment / Xavier Poe Kane
Ghost Tamer / Meredith R. Lyons

BEST SUSPENSE
Don’t Close Your Eyes / Mary Alford
Deep Fake Double Down / Debbie Burke
Deadly Tides / Mary Keliikoa
Perspectives / Matthew Minson
Dead West / Linda L. Richards
The Rule of Thirds / Jeannee Sacken

BEST THRILLER
Checkout Time / John Bukowski
The Followers / Bradeigh Godfrey
The Trap / Catherine Ryan Howard
Implied Consent / Keenan Powell
Breaking Apart / Wanda Venters, MD and Mary Rae, MD
Kyd’s Game / Marc Rosenberg

BEST WESTERN
Reckoning / Baron Birtcher
Bladestay / Jackie Johnson
Sting of Lies / Carol Potenza

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners!

 

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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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