Tag Archives: Shamus Awards

2023 Shamus Awards Finalists

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The Private Eye Writers of America announced the finalists for the 2023 Shamus Awards on June 13. The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2022.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

The Wheel of Doll by Jonathan Ames (Mulholland Books)
The Big Bundle by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)
The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books)
Holmes Coming by Kenneth Johnson (Blackstone Publishing)
The Blackmail by M. Ravenel (Chikara Press)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

Quarry’s Blood by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)
DoubleBlind by Libby Fischer Hellmann (The Red Herrings Press)
Canary in a Coal Mine by Charles Salzberg (Down & Out Books)
Dead-Bang Fall by J.R. Sanders (Level Best Books)
Hush Hush by Gabriel Valjan (Historia/Level Best Books)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

Big Fat F@!k-up by Lawrence Allan (M.S. Wooten Press)
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen (Minotaur Books)
Foote by Tom Bredehoft (West Virginia University Press)
What Meets the Eye by Alex Kenna (Crooked Lane Books)
The Goldenacre by Philip Miller (Soho Crime) 

BEST  PI SHORT STORY

“No Place for a Dame” by Lori Armstrong 
(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)
“Charlie’s Medicine” by Libby Cudmore 
(Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon/Down & Out Books)
“A Jelly of Intrigue” by O’Neil De Noux 
(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)
“The Pearl of Antilles” by Caroline Garcia-Aguilera 
(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)
“Bad Actor” by Elliot Sweeney 
(Nov/Dec 2022, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

The 2022 Shamus Awards

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The winners of the 2022 Shamus Awards, for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2021, were announced August 4 by the Private Eye Writers of America.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

  • Family Business by S. J. Rozan (Pegasus)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

  • Every City Is Every Other City by John McFetridge (ECW Press)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

  • Lost Little Girl by Gregory Stout (Level Best Books) 

BEST PI SHORT STORY

  •  “Sweeps Week” by Richard Helms (EQMM July/August)

 [Thanks to Todd Mason for the story.]

The 2022 Shamus Award Nominees

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The 2022 Shamus Award nominees, for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2021, were revealed June 2 by John Shepphird, Chairperson for the Shamus Awards. The winners will be announced in August.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

  • Runner by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
  • Last Redemption by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
  • Pay Or Play by Howard Michael Gould (Severn House)
  • Family Business by S. J. Rozan (Pegasus)
  • Head Case by Michael Wiley (Severn House)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

  • Every City Is Every Other City by John McFetridge (ECW Press)
  • The Burden of Innocence by John Nardizzi (Weathertop Media Co.)
  • Angels in the Wind by Manuel Ramos (Arte Pὐblico Press)
  • Frog in a Bucket by Clive Rosengren (Coffeetown Press)
  • An Empty Grave by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Swallow Press)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

  • Porno Valley by Phillip Elliot (Into The Void) 
  • Dead Man’s Eyes by Lori Duffy Foster (Level Best Books) 
  • Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nieza (Putnam) 
  • The Arrangement by M. Ravenel (Chikara Press) 
  • Lost Little Girl by Gregory Stout (Level Best Books) 

BEST PI SHORT STORY

  • “Disposable Women” by Michael Bracken (ToughCrime.com) 
  • “Sixteen Lies” by Matt Goldman (EQMM September/October) 
  • “Sweeps Week” by Richard Helms (EQMM July/August)
  • “Oro De Tontos (Fool’s Gold)” by Tom Larsen (AHMM November/December)
  • “The Hidden Places” by Linda Stansberry (EQMM May/June)

[Thanks to Todd Mason and Cat Eldridge for the story.]

Crime Fiction Award Winners and Shortlists

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SHAMUS AWARDS

The Private Eye Writers of America have announced winners of the 2021 Shamus Awards.

The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2020.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

  • Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

  • Brittle Karma by Richard Helms (Black Arch Books)

BEST PI SHORT STORY

  •  “Mustang Sally” by John M. Floyd in Black Cat Mystery Magazine

BEST FIRST  PI NOVEL 

  • The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho)

THE EYE, the PWA Life Achievement Award

  • Michael Z. Lewin

DASHIELL HAMMETT AWARD

The 2019 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing winner has been named by the International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch).

  • When These Mountains Burn by David Joy (Putnam) 

 DAVITT AWARDS

The shortlist for the 2021 Davitt Awards, given out by Sisters in Crime Australia, has also been unveiled. The awards highlight “the best crime and mystery books by Australian women.”

ADULT CRIME NOVELS 

  • B M Allsopp, Death Beyond the Limit (Fiji Islands Mysteries #3) (Coconut Press)
  • Sarah Barrie, Deadman’s Track (Calico Mountain #3) (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia)
  • Candice Fox, Gathering Dark (Penguin Random House Australia)
  • Sulari Gentill, A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) (Pantera Press)
  • Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister (Pan Macmillan Australia)
  • Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia) 
  • Suzanne Leal, The Deceptions (Allen & Unwin) 
  • Mirandi Riwoe, Stone Sky Gold Mountain (University of Queensland Press)
  • Kimberley Starr, Torched (Pantera Press)

YOUNG ADULT CRIME NOVELS 

  • Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing) 
  • Sarah Epstein, Deep Water (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
  • Ellie Marney, None Shall Sleep (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
  • Christie Nieman, Where We Begin (Pan Macmillan Australia) 
  • Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press) 

 CHILDREN’S CRIME NOVELS 

  • Jackie French, The Ghost of Howlers Beach (Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
  • Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press) 
  • Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press) 
  • Pamela Rushby, The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle (Walker Books Australia)
  • Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 
  • Sue Whiting, The Book of Chance (Walker Books Australia)

 NON-FICTION CRIME BOOKS 

  • Stephanie Convery, After the Count: The death of Davey Browne (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 
  • Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications) 
  • Louise Milligan, Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice (Hachette Australia)
  • Caroline Overington, Missing William Tyrrell (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
  • Angela Williams, Snakes and Ladders: A memoir (Affirm Press) 
  • Sonya Bates, Inheritance of Secrets (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
  • Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing)
  • Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications)
  • Anna Downes, The Safe Place (Affirm Press)
  • Mary Jones, Troubled Waters (Green Olive Press)
  • Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia)
  • Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press)
  • Kate Mildenhall, The Mother Fault (Simon & Schuster Australia)
  • Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press)
  • Leah Swann, Sheerwater (4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
  • Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
  • Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press)

Sisters in Crime Australia was set up 29 years ago and has chapters in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The Davitts are named after Ellen Davitt, the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865.

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for the story.]

2021 Shamus Awards Finalists

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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.

2020 Shamus Awards

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The Private Eye Writers of America have announced the 2020 Shamus Awards. The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2019.

 Best PI Hardcover

  • Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)

Best First PI Paperback Original

  • Behind the Wall of Sleep by James DF Hannah (author)

Best PI Short Story

  • “Sac-A-Lait Man” by O’Neil De Noux (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct)

Judges:  John Wessel, John Hegenberger, Mark Keliikoa, Stephen Rogers, Michael Pool, Virginia Welker, Matt Coyle, Michael Bracken, Kristen Lepionka, Colleen Collins, Matt Goldman and Alan Orloff.

2020 Shamus Award Nominees

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The Private Eye Writers of America announced the 2020 Shamus Awards finalists on June 3. The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2019.

 Best PI Hardcover

  • The Tower of Songs by Casey Barrett (Kensington)
  • Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
  • The Shadows by Matt Goldman (Forge)
  • Below the Line by Michael Gould (Dutton)
  • Cold Way by Julia Keller (Minotaur)

Best First PI Paperback Original

  • The Skin Game by JD Allen (Midnight Ink)
  • Behind the Wall of Sleep by James DF Hannah (author)
  • Paid in Spades by Richard Helms (Clay Stafford Books)
  • Ration of Lies by M. Ruth Myers (author)
  • The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin (Cinco Puntos Press)

Best PI Short Story

  • “The Smoking Bandit of Lakeside Terrace” by Chad Baker (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine May/June)
  • “Sac-A-Lait Man” by O’Neil De Noux (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct)
  • “The Dunes of Saulkrasti” by William Burton McCormick (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct)
  • “The Fourteenth Floor” by Adam Meyer (Crime Travel anthology, Wildside Press)
  • “Weathering the Storm” by Michael Pool (The Eyes of Texas anthology, Down & Out Books)

Judges:  John Wessel, John Hegenberger, Mark Keliikoa, Stephen Rogers, Michael Pool, Virginia Welker, Matt Coyle, Michael Bracken, Kristen Lepionka, Colleen Collins, Matt Goldman and Alan Orloff

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Barry and Shamus Award Winners Named at Bouchercon

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2019 BARRY AWARDS

The 2019 Barry Awards were presented October 31 at Bouchercon by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. 

Best Novel

  • November Road by Lou Berney (Morrow) 

Best First Novel

  • The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Paperback Original 

  • The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan (Penguin)

Best Thriller

  • Safe Houses by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)

Dan Sandstrom Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery
Fandom

  • Jeff Popple

2019 SHAMUS AWARDS

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the 2019 Shamus Awards winners at Bouchercon in Dallas on November 1.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

  • What You Want to Seeby Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur Books)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

  • The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco (MCD Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

BEST PI PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • The Questionable Behavior of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone (Redhook Books)

BEST PI SHORT STORY

  • “Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool” by S.J. Rozan (EQMM)

Even More Crime Fiction Awards

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The winner of the Mystery Writers Whodunit Writing Competition, and longlists or shortlists for the Shamus Awards, Ngaio Marsh Awards, Killer Nashville Claymore Awards, and the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction have been announced.

2019 MYSTERY WRITERS WHODUNIT WRITING COMPETITION

Mystery Fest Key West has announced the winner in the 2019 Mystery Writers Whodunit Writing Competition:

  • First Place Winner: “The Strange Disappearance of Rose Stone”  byJ.E. Irvin of Springboro, Ohio. (This is the second time in five years that Irvin has taken top honors in the blind-judged competition.)
  • Second Place: “Dog-Eared for Death,” by Bev Thompson of New York, NY
  • Third Place: “Where There’s Smoke” by Paul Sinor of Barnesville, GA

2019 SHAMUS AWARDS

The Private Eye Writers of America have announced the finalists for the 2019 Shamus Awards

BEST PI HARDCOVER

  • Wrong Light by Matt Coyle (Oceanview Publishing)
  • What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur Books)
  • The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
  • Baby’s First Felony by John Straley (Soho Crime)
  • Cut You Down by Sam Wiebe (Quercus)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

  • The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco (MCD Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
  • Broken Places by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
  • Last Looks by Howard Michael Gould (Dutton)
  • What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink)
  • Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth)

BEST PI PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • She Talks to Angels by James D. F. Hannah (Hannah)
  • No Quarter by John Jantunen (ECW Press)
  • Shark Bait by Paul Kemprecos (Suspense Publishing)
  • Second Story Man by Charles Salzberg (Down & Out Books)
  • The Questionable Behavior of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone (Redhook Books)

BEST PI SHORT STORY

  • “Fear of the Secular” by Mitch Alderman (AHMM )
  • “Three-Star Sushi” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out Magazine)
  • “The Big Creep” by Elizabeth McKenzie (Santa Cruz Noir)
  • “Game” by Twist Phelan (EQMM)
  • “Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fooll” by S.J. Rozan (EQMM)

2019 NGAIO MARSH AWARDS

The longlist for the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Awards for the best New Zealand crime novel has been announced.

  • NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU by Nikki Crutchley (Oak House Press)
  • CASSIE CLARK: OUTLAW by Brian Falkner (OneTree House)
  • THIS MORTAL BOY by Fiona Kidman (Penguin)
  • MONEY IN THE MORGUE by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy (HarperCollins)
  • THE QUAKER by Liam McIlvanney (HarperCollins)
  • CALL ME EVIE by JP Pomare (Hachette)
  • THE STAKES by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)
  • MAKE A HARD FIST by Tina Shaw (OneTree House)
  • THE VANISHING ACT by Jen Shieff (Mary Egan Publishing)
  • RAIN FALL by Ella West (Allen & Unwin)

KILLER NASHVILLE CLAYMORE AWARDS

The finalists for the 2019 Killer Nashville Claymore Awards have been announced:

HARPER LEE PRIZE FOR LEGAL FICTION 

The American Bar Association has announced the finalists for the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction  and you can actually vote for your favourite at the site.

  • The Boat People, by Sharon Bala
  • Class Action, by Steven B. Frank
  • The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for the story.]