The Private Eye Writers of America announced the finalists for  the 2021 Shamus Awards on June 2. The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2020.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

• What You Don’t See by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
• Do No Harm by Max Allan Collins (Tor Forge)
• Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
• House on Fire by Joseph Finder (Dutton)
• And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall (Tor Forge) 

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

• Farewell Las Vegas by Grant Bywaters (Wild Rose Press)
• All Kinds of Ugly by Ralph Dennis (Brash Books)
• Brittle Karma by Richard Helms (Black Arch Books)
• Remember My Face by John Lantigua (Arte Publico)
• Damaged Goods by Debbi Mack (Renegade Press)

BEST PI SHORT STORY

• “A Dreamboat Gambol” by O’Neil De Noux in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
• “Mustang Sally” by John M. Floyd in Black Cat Mystery Magazine
• “Setting the Pick” by April Kelly in Mystery Weekly Magazine 
• “Show and Zeller” by Gordon Linzner in Black Cat Mystery Magazine
• “Nashua River Floater” by Tom MacDonald in Coast to Coast Noir

BEST FIRST  PI NOVEL 

• Squatter’s Rights by Kevin R. Doyle (Camel Press)
• Derailed by Mary Keliikoa (Epicenter Press)
• I Know Where You Sleep by Alan Orloff (Down & Out Books)
• The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho)
• Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Ecco)

 The award judges are: Colleen Collins, O’Neil DeNoux, Dennis Palumbo, April Kelly, Chad Williams, Clive E. Rosengren, Mary Keliikoa, David Thompson, Matt Coyle, Andrew McAleer, Ron Katz an  Kevin Burton Smith.