Strand Critics Awards Nominees:

The Strand Critics Awards, recognising excellence in the field of mystery fiction, were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists.

Best Novel 
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown and Company)
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
The Trespasser by Tana French (Viking) 
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow)
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (Gallery)

Best Debut Novel
The Widow by Fiona Barton (NAL)
IQ by Joe Ide (Mulholland)
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell (Touchstone)
A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt (Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Homeplace by Kevin Wolf (Minotaur)
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (William Morrow)

Clive Cussler will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party in New York City, hosted by The Strand on July 12, 2017. Congratulations to all the nominees.

Agatha Award Winners - Malice Domestic

The Agatha Awards were presented at the Malice Domestic Banquet on 29th April 2017. Winners in each category were decided by the attendees of Malice Domestic 29.

Best Contemporary Novel
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

Best Historical Novel
The Reek of Red Herrings by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel
The Semester of our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery Press)

Best Nonfiction
Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats by Jane K. Cleland (Writer's Digest Books)

Best Short Story
"Parallel Play" by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning (Wildside Press)

Best Children/Young Adult
The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club by Penny Warner (Darby Creek)

Lifetime Achievement: Charlaine Harris

Poirot Award: Martin Edwards

 A full list of all the nominees can be found here.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Edgar Award Winners 2017

Mystery Writers of America announced the Winners of the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2016.

Best Novel
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

Best First Novel by an American Author 
Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

Best Paperback Original
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

Best Fact Crime
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

Best Critical /Biographical 
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton - Liveright)

Best Short Story
"Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)

Best Juvenile 
OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

Best Young Adult
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)

Best Television Episode Teleplay 
"A Blade of Grass" – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)

Robert L Fish Memorial Award
"The Truth of the Moment" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine  by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart

RAVEN AWARD
Dru Ann Love

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD 
Neil Nyren

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

The Edgar® Awards were presented to the winners at the 71st Gala Banquet, on 27 April, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City. Congratulations to all!

CrimeFest Awards Shortlists

Winners will be announced at the CRIMEFEST Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday 21 May 2017.

AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD
The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2016 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader(s) share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:
Kill Me Again by Rachel Abbott read by Lisa Coleman (Bolinda / Audible)
The Widow by Fiona Barton read by Clare Corbett (Bolinda / Audible)
I See You by Clare Mackintosh read by Rachel Atkins (Sphere)
Try Not to Breath by Holly Seddon read by Jot Davies, Lucy Middleweek & Katy Sobey (Bolinda)
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch read by Kobna Holdbrook– Smith (Orion Publishing Group)
Night School by Lee Child read by Jeff Harding (Transworld Digital)
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz read by Allan Corduner & Samantha Bond (Orion Publishing Group)
Coffin Road by Peter May read by Peter Forbes (Riverrun)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.

eDUNNIT AWARD
The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2016.

Nominees for the eDunnit Award:
The Twenty– Three by Linwood Barclay (Orion Publishing Group)
Deep Down Dead  by Steph Broadribb (Orenda Books)

The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly (Orion Publishing Group)
Blackout by Ragnar Jonasson (Orenda Books)
Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber)
Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin (Orion Publishing Group)
The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor (HarperFiction)
Cat Among the Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

LAST LAUGH AWARD
The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2016. The winner receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for the Last Laugh Award:
PIMP  by Ken Bruen & Jason Starr (Hardcase Crime)
I Don’t Like Where This Is Going by John Dufresne (Serpent’s Tail)
A Cast of Vultures by Judith Flanders (Allison & Busby)
Real Tigers by Mick Herron (John Murray)
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen (Little, Brown Book Group)
The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
Cat Among the Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)
Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker (Twenty7)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles in 2016. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction. The winning author receives a commemorative Bristol Blue Glass award.

Nominees for the H.R.F. Keating Award:
Agatha Christie on Screen by Mark Aldridge (Palgrave Macmillan)

Queering Agatha Christie by J.C. Berthnal (Palgrave Macmillan)
Brit Noir by Barry Forshaw (No Exit Press)
Crime Uncovered: Private investigator by Rachel Franks & Alistair Rolls (Intellect)
Crime Fiction in German: Der Krimi by Katharina Hall (University of Wales Press)
Gender and Representation in British ‘Golden Age’ Crime Fiction by Megan Hoffman (Palgrave Macmillan)
The Contemporary Irish Detective Novel by Elizabeth Mannion (Palgrave Macmillan)

BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR CHILDREN (08 – 12)
Rose Campion and The Stolen Secret by Lyn Gardner (Nosy Crow)
Murder In Midwinter by Fleur Hitchcock (Nosy Crow)
The Thornthwaite Betrayal by Gareth P. Jones (Piccadilly Press)
The Accidental Secret Agent by Tom McLaughlin (Oxford University Press)
Murder Most Unladylike: Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens(Puffin)
Murder Most Unladylike: Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens (Puffin)
Violet and the Smugglers by Harriet Whitehorn (Simon & Schuster) 

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth by Katherine Woodfine (Egmont)

BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (12 – 16)

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (Hachette Children’s Group)
Cell 7 by Kerry Drewery  (Hot Key Books)
Theodore Boone: The Scandal by John Grisham (Hodder & Stoughton)
Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah  by Erin Lange (Faber & Faber)
Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hachette Children’s Group)
Kid Got Shot  by Simon Mason (David Fickling Books)
Blame  by Simon Mayo (Penguin)
In The Dark, In The Woods by Eliza Wass (Hachette Children’s Group)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Congratulations to all!

Books to Look Forward to from Titan Books

May 2017

Warlock Holmes: The Hell Hounds of the Baskervilles is by G S Denning.  The game's afoot once more as Holmes and Watson face off against Moriarty's gang, the Pinkertons, flesh-eating horses, a parliament of imps, boredom, Surrey, a disappointing butler demon, a succubus, a wicked lord, an overly-Canadian lord, a tricycle-fight to the death and the dreaded Pumpcrow. Oh, and a hell hound, one assumes.

Two Lost Boys is by L F Robertson.  Janet Moodie has spent years as a death row appeals attorney. Over-worked, underpaid, and recently widowed, she's had her fill of hopeless cases, and is determined that this will be her last. Her client is Marion 'Andy' Hardy, convicted fifteen years ago along with his brother Emory of kidnapping, rape and murder of two prostitutes, but Janet discovers a series of errors made by his previous lawyers. Andy may well be guilty of something, but what?

 

When a mint copy of the final album by Valerian England's great lost rock band of the 1960s surfaces in a charity shop, all hell breaks loose. Finding this record triggers a chain of events culminating in our hero learning the true fate of the singer Valerian, who died under equivocal circumstances just after - or was it just before? - the abduction of her two-year-old son.  The Vinyl Detective: The Run Out Grove is by Andrew Cartmel.

June 2017

A formerly rich businessman thrown out of Hong Kong when the Chinese took over from the British decides to fix his dire financial problems and take revenge on the Chinese by tunneling under Hong Kong's bank vaults and stealing all their gold, then using a doomsday device to set off a "soliton wave" that will turn the ground to sludge, causing the whole city to collapse. Only the engineer on his staff who designed the soliton wave technology (intending it for good purposes, to help with construction projects) can stop him, working together with a beautiful young environmental activist who gets caught up in one of the soliton tests and nearly killed. From the deck of a yacht near the Great Barrier Reef to Australia and Singapore and finally Hong Kong itself, it's a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as our heroes first struggle to escape the villain's clutches and then thwart his insanely destructive plan.  Forever and a Death is by Donald E Westlake

 

Fight or Die is by James Hilton.  When the Gunn brothers Danny and Clay answer a call to help old friends, they are plunged into a volatile and deadly situation. Larry and Pamela Duke own one of the most popular nightclubs in the Spanish resort town of Ultima, but a local gang known as the Locos are determined to take it. Danny and Clay are hired to protect the club, but new adversaries enter the game. Against such odds there are only two choices: fight or die...

Sherlock Holmes : The Labyrinth of Death is by James Lovegrove. London, 1895, and a widowed gentleman comes calling at 221B Baker Street. Due to his preoccupation with his grief at losing his wife, Fitzhugh Woolfson's daughter Hannah has become estranged from him, and has disappeared from the family home. Woolfson begs Sherlock Holmes to find her. Holmes and Watson soon discover that Hannah has joined a religious sect known as the Elysians - led by the charismatic Sir Philip Buchanan - which conducts secretive rituals in the countryside derived from Ancient Greek myth and religion. Hannah's friend Sophia has disappeared after becoming embroiled with the Elysians, and foul play is suspected. The companions must infiltrate the mysterious cult to discover the terrifying truth.

July 2017

A mysterious Catholic priest arrives at 221B Baker Street, only to utter the words 'if corpe' before dropping dead. Though the man's death is attributed to cholera, when news of a similar case reaches Holmes, he is convinced that the priests have been poisoned. He and Watson learn that the men were on a mission from the Vatican to investigate a miracle; but surely no miracle could lead to murder?  Sherlock Holmes: City of the Innocents is by Cavan Scott.

November 2017

Turn on the Heat is by Erle Stanley Gardner.  Return to the sizzling 1940s as Bertha Cool and Donald Lam investigate a missing woman, a desperate husband, a politician with a past, and a femme fatale with a future…assuming she doesn’t go to jail for murder! 

February 2018

A group of criminals serving time in prison dream up the perfect heist – using an escape tunnel to break out, rob two banks, and then break back into jail again, where they have the perfect alibi! But can they pull it off? Help I am Being Held a Prisoner is by Donald E Westlake.

Books to Look Forward to from Europa Editions

July 2017

Glass Souls is by Maurizio de Giovanni.  In the abyss of a profound personal crisis, Commissario Ricciardi feels unable to open himself up to life. He has refused the love of both Enrica and Livia and the friendship of his partner, Maione. Contentment for Ricciardi proves as elusive as clues to the latest crime he has been asked to investigate.  The beautiful, haughty Bianca, countess of Roccaspina, pleads with Ricciardi to investigate a homicide that was officially closed months ago. In the tense, charged atmosphere of 1930s Italy, where Benito Mussolini and his fascist thugs monitor the police closely, an unauthorized investigation is grounds for immediate dismissal and possible criminal charges. But Ricciardi's thirst for justice cannot be sated.  A tightly plotted historical noir novel, this eighth instalment in the Commissario Ricciardi series is a gripping meditation on revenge and justice in which each character's soul reveals itself to be made of glass.

August 2017

In Ostia, a depressed coastal settlement twenty miles from the powerful and corrupt city of Rome, a mighty local crime family, the Mafia, corrupt politicians, and new rabid criminal elements battle each other for a billion-dollar payoff. During the final days of Silvio Berlusconi's reign, a massive development proposal that will turn Ostia into a gambling paradise, a Las Vegas on the Mediterranean, is winding its way through the Italian legislature thanks to the sponsorship of politicians in the pay of crime syndicates with vested interests. In short, it's business as usual in the Italian capital. But a vicious gang of local thugs loyal to nobody but themselves is insisting on a bigger cut than agreed upon. They argue their case quite convincingly, but the Mafia and their political puppets aren't likely to back down without a fight.  Suburra is by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo and is soon to be a Netflix original series.

October 2017

Ferocity is by Nicola Lagioia and is the Winner of the 2015 Strega Prize. Southern Italy, the 1980s. On a hot summer's night under a full moon, far from the outlying neighborhoods of a southern Italian metropolis, Clara stumbles naked, dazed, and bloodied down a major highway. When she dies no-one is able to say exactly how or why, but her brother cannot free himself from her memory or from the questions surrounding her death. The more he learns about her life and death, the more he uncovers the moral decay at the core of his family's ascent to social prominence.

 

Venice 1118 AD.  In a medieval Venice undone by devastating famine and excessive, orgiastic Carnival festivities of all kinds, the protagonists of The Apothecary's Shop chase a dream of rebirth, the eternal dream of defeating death.  The young Costanza, of the noble Grimani family, has disappeared. The family scribe, Edgardo, promises to return the girl to her family, who themselves may not be above suspicion. Doctors, apothecaries, undertakers, Eastern merchants, farmers: everyone seems to be involved in the girl's disappearance, even African slave traders.  Abella, Edgardo's ambiguous ally and the only female doctor in Venice, introduces him into secrets and occult practices of medicine. Through her, Edgardo discovers Sabbatai's Apothecary, where remedies and concoctions of all kinds are prepared and clues to Costanza's disappearance may lie.  The Apothecary's Shop is by Roberto Tiraboschi.

January 2018

The Sacco Gang is by Andrea Camilleri.  Raffadali, province of Agrigento, 1920s. The Sacco brothers are free men with strong ideas about socialism and the State. Their lives change radically one morning when their father, Luigi Sacco, receives an anonymous letter from the local Mafia demanding protection money and is the victim of a robbery attempt. Luigi tells the police of the extortion letters he received, but the police don't know what to do: no one in the village has ever dared denounce the Mafia before. From that moment on, the Sacco brothers must defend themselves: from the Mafia and the forces of order, from their collaborators, traitors, and from the village's leaders, as they are assailed by murder attempts, false accusations, and false testimony.  Through the tale of the Sacco brothers and what happens to the town of Raffadali, The Sacco Gang makes clear that not only does the mafia kill people, but it can also condition and irreparably devastate people's lives.

-->

2017 Arthur Ellis Award Shortlist

Best Novel

City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong, Penguin Random House of Canada

After James by Michael Helm McClelland & Stewart

Dead Ground in Between by Maureen Jennings McClelland & Stewart

Wishful Seeing by Janet Kellough  Dundurn Press

The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey Viking Canada

Best First Novel (Sponsored by Kobo)

Rum Luck by Ryan Aldred, Five Star Publishing

Cold Girl by R.M.Greenaway Dundurn Press

Where the Bodies Lie by Mark Lisac, NeWest Press

Still Mine by Amy Stuart Simon & Schuster Canada

Strange Things Done by Elle Wild, Dundurn Press

Best Novella The Lou Allin Memorial Award

Rundown by Rick Blechta, Orca Book Publishers

No Trace by Brenda Chapman, Grass Roots Press

The Devil You Know by Jas. R. Petrin, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing

When Blood Lies by Linda L. Richards, Orca Book Publishers

The Village That Lost Its Head by Peter Robinson, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing

Best Short Story

Steve’s Story by Cathy Ace - The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime

A Death at the Parsonage by Susan Daly - The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime

Where There’s a Will by Elizabeth Hosang, The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime

The Ascent by Scott Mackay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing

The Granite Kitchen by David Morrell Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing

Best Book in French

Marie-Eve Bourassa Red Light: Adieu, Mignonne, Groupe Ville-Marie Littérature, vlb éditions

Chrystine Brouillet, Vrai ou faux, Éditions Druide

Guillaume Morrissette, Terreur domestique, Guy Saint-Jean Éditeur

Johanne Seymour, Rinzen et l’homme perdu, Expression Noire

Richard Ste-Marie, Le Blues des sacrifiés, Éditions Alire

Best Juvenile/YA Book

Masterminds: Criminal Destiny by Gordon Korman Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

Trial by Fire by Norah McClintock, Orca Book Publishers

The Girl in a Coma by John Moss The Poisoned Pencil- Poisoned Pen Press

Shooter by Caroline Pignat Tundra Books

Another Me by Eva Wiseman Tundra Books

Best Nonfiction Book

Life Sentence: Stories from Four Decades of Court Reporting — or, How I Fell Out of Love with the Canadian Justice System by Christie Blatchford Doubleday Canada

The Ballad of Danny Wolfe: Life of a Modern Outlaw by Joe Friesen Signal McClelland & Stewart

A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story by Jeremy Grimaldi, Dundurn Press

Black River Road: An Unthinkable Crime, an Unlikely Suspect, and the Question of Character by Debra Komar Goose Lane

Shadow of Doubt: The Trial of Dennis Oland by Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon Goose Lane

Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel (Sponsored by Dundurn Press)

An Absence of Empathy by Mary Fernando

The Golkonda Project by S.J. Jennings

Concrete Becomes Her by Charlotte Morganti

Celtic Knot by Ann Shortell

The Last Dragon by Mark Thomas

The Derrick Murdoch Award is a special achievement award for contributions to the crime genre the 2017 recipient is Christina Jennings who is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury Films. She has won a number of awards, including Genies, Geminis and Canadian Screen Awards, among several other nominations and accolades throughout her career.

Congratulations to all the nominees.  The 2017 Arthur Ellis Award winners will be announced on May 25th 2017 at the award dinner that is due to take place at the Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto, ON