2015 Silver Falchion Awards: Killer Nashville Awards

* = winner

Best Attending Authors

Expedition Indigo by Stacy Allen
The Kennedy Connection by R.G. Belsky
Dark Road, Dead End by Philip Cioffari
*Palmetto Poison by C. Hope Clark
Unnatural Murder by Connie Dial
A Billion Ways to Die by Chris Knopf
Limestone Gumption by Bryan E. Robinson
Reckless Disregard: A Parker Stern Novel by Robert Rotstein
Swann’s Lake of Despair by Charles Salzberg
Last Words by Rich Zahradnik

Best Novel: Romantic Suspense

Judgment by Carey Baldwin
The Lost Key by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison
Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich
Sweet Damage by Rebecca James
*Truth Be Told by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Novel: Cozy/Traditional
Angelica’s Smile by Andrea Camilleri
The Question of the Missing Head by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen
The Alpine Yeoman by Mary Daheim
Designated Daughters by Margaret Maron
*Hunting Shadows by Charles Todd

Best Novel: Historical

The Reckoning by Rennie Airth
An Air of Treason by P.F. Chisholm
The Johnstown Girls by Kathleen George
The Devil’s Workshop by Alex Grecian
Death on Blackheath by Anne Perry

Best Novel: Private Detective/Police Procedural

The Forsaken by Ace Atkins
The Hollow Girl by Reed Farrel Coleman
Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler
Sorrow Bound by David Mark
*Field of Prey by John Sandford

Best Novel: Speculative

The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones
Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon
Lock In by John Scalzi
*Fear City by F. Paul Wilson
Yesterday’s Hero by Jonathan Wood

Best Novel: Literary Suspense

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo
Red 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
*The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith

Best Novel: Political Thriller/Adventure

Night Heron by Adam Brookes
Dark Spies: A Spycatcher Novel by Matthew Dunn
The Hilltop by Assaf Gavron
*I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Assassin’s Game by Ward Larsen

Best Novel: Crime Thriller

The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron
Dakota by Gwen Florio
Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg
The Keeper by John Lescroart
*In the Blood by Lisa Unger

Best First Novel: Cozy/Traditional/Historical

Honor Above All by J. Bard-Collins
To Fudge or Not to Fudge by Nancy Coco
Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison
*The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Dying to Know by TJ O’Connor

Best First Novel: Literary Suspense

Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
Deep Winter by Samuel W. Gailey
*The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh
Forty Days Without Shadow by Oliver Truc
The Devil Takes Half by Leta Serafim

Best First Novel: Mystery/Thriller:

Someone Else’s Skin by Sarah Hilary
Hotlanta! By Mark Nielsen
The American Mission by Matthew Palmer
*The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day
The Hawley Book of the Dead by Chrysler Szarlan
The Ways of the Dead by Neely Tucker
The Martian by Andy Weir

Best Children’s Picture Book

Nine Words Max by Dan Bar-El, Illustrated by David Huyck
The Bambino and Me by Zachary Hyman, Illustrated by Zachary Pullen
*An Armadillo in Paris by Julie Kraulis
Spic-and-Span! Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen by Monica Kulling, Illustrated by David Parkins
Hope Springs by Eric Walters, Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Best Children’s Chapter Book

Range Riders: Cassie & Jasper to the Rescue by Bryn Fleming
The Milo & Jazz Mysteries: The Case of the Buried Bones by Lewis B. Montgomery, Illustrated by Amy Wummer
The Frankenstein Journals: Volume 1 by Scott Sonneborn, Illustrated by Timothy Banks
The Whodunit Detective Agency: The Diamond Mystery by Martin Widmark, Illustrated by Helena Willis
*The Haunted Library by Dori Hillestad Butler, Illustrated by Aurore Damant

Best Middle Grade

Audrey (Cow) by Dan Bar-El, Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
The Swallow: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter
The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi, Illustrated by Gregory O’Brien
The One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth
*Still Life (The Books of Elsewhere, Book #5) by Jacqueline West

Best Young Adult

How We Fall by Kate Brauning
Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
*Grunge Gods and Graveyards by Kimberly G. Giarratano
Unaccompanied Minor by Hollis Gillespie
The Voice Inside My Head by S.J. Laidlaw

Best Nonfiction: Mainstream Crime Reference

*400 Things Cops Know by Adam Plantinga
The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley

Best Single-Author Collection

Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country by C.J. Box
Trouble in Mind: The Collected Stories, Volume 3 by Jeffery Deaver
Wait for Signs: Twelve Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson
High Crime Area: Tales of Darkness and Dread by Joyce Carol Oates
*Seeing Red: From the Case Files of Detective James T. Kirkland by Terry Odell

Best Multi-Author Anthology

Rogue Wave: Best New England Crime Stories - Edited by Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler
Faceoff – Edited by David Baldacci
Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War – Edited by Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson
*In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon – Edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
Fiction River Special Edition: Crime – Edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Best Long-form Novelty Fiction/Poetry/Graphic/Experimental

Notes from the Cat House by Jack Ketchum (Poems)
*The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgorodoff (Graphic Novel)

Best Nonfiction: Memoir/Biography

*Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird
Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell
The Other Side: A Memoir by Lacy M. Johnson
Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe by J.W. Ocker

Best Nonfiction: Academic

*The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis by Charles Brownson
Bloody Italy: Essays on Crime Writing in Italian Settings by Edited by Patricia Prandini Buckler
Mysteries Unlocked: Essays in Honor of Douglas G. Greene by Edited by Curtis Evans
Blood on the Stage 480 B.C. to 1600 A.D.: Milestone Plays on Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem by Amnon Kabatchnik
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by James Mancall

Best Nonfiction: True Crime

Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, The Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook

*The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America’s Coldest Cases by Deborah Halber
War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann
A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention by Matt Richtel