Barry Award Nominations 2023

 

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine have announced the Barry Award Nominations for 2023. 

Novels in each category are arranged in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.

Best Mystery or Crime Novel

The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh (orion)

Desert Star by Michael Connelly (Little,Brown) 

The Dark Flood, Deon Meyer (Atlantic Monthly)

Shifty’s Boys by Chris Offutt (Grove Press)

Secret Identity by Alex Segura (Flatiron Books)

City on Fire by Don Winslow (William Morrow)

Best Debut Mystery or Crime Novel

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz (Atria/Emily Bestler)

Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)

Shutter by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)

The Maid by Nita Prose (Ballantine)

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild (Putnam)

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron)

Best Thriller

In the Blood by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester)

Winter Work by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)

Sierra Six by Mark Greaney (Berkley)

Bad Actors by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)\

Goering’s Gold by Richard O’Rawe (Melville House)

Congratulations to all the nominated authors and books. Winners will be announced at the Opening Ceremonies of Bouchercon San Diego on 31 August 2023

In The St Hilda's Spotlight: - Abir Mukherjee

 

Name:- Abir Mukherjee

Job:- author (and former accountant)

Twitter:- @radiomukhers

Website :- https://abirmukherjee.com 

Introduction:-

Abir Mukherjee is a Hamilton raised former accountant turned crime writer of the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen (A Rising Man), the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing (A Necessary Evil) and the Amazon Publishing Readers Award for E-book for the Year.

His first book A Rising Man (2016) was shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2018. It was also both the Waterstones' Thriller of the Month and the Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month in May 2017. It also won the CWA Endevour Historical Dagger, a Barry Award and the Jhalak Prize. It also won the Harvill Secker and Daily Telegraph crime writing competition. His second book A Necessary Evil was published in 2017 and was also nominated for Gold Dagger and a Barry Award,

His third book Smoke and Ashes (2018), the fourth book was also shorlisted for the CWA Sapere Historical Dagger and the HWA (Historical Writers Association) Gold Crown and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. Death in The East (2019 )was also won the CWA Sapere Historical Dagger and was also a Sunday Times books of 2021 pick. Shadows of Men (2021) shortlisted for the Gold Dagger. Alongside fellow author, Vaseem Khan, he also hosts the popular Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast,

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing)

I’m currently reading The Black Drop by Leonora Nattrass, set in the London of the 1790s on the brink of revolution and possible war with America.

Favourite book?

Only ever one choice: Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

Bernie Gunther and Arkady Renko – two anti-heroes from different countries, both beaten down, but both linked by that thread of common decency. I think both of them would appreciate a good meal and neither would judge my cooking abilities too harshly.

How do you relax?

My feet up, some good music and a glass of whisky.

Which book do you wish you had written and why? 

Razorblade Tears by S A Cosby – It’s a fantastic concept and a brilliant book. It’s the sort of thing I wish I could write.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer.

Have more self-confidence. Start earlier. Don’t spend twenty years of your life being an accountant!

How would you describe your series characters? 

Sam Wyndham is a tired, jaded ex Scotland Yard detective who takes a job in Calcutta as it’s slightly preferable to suicide. Surendranath Banerjee (known as Surrender-not by his linguistically challenged British superiors) is a clever, idealistic, young detective who puts Sam on a pedestal – at least until he works with him. They develop an odd, but close friendship, solving crimes while negotiating the racial tensions of the closing decades of the Raj.

With Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets being the theme at St Hilda's this year, Where is your favourite town and where is your favourite country? Why have you chosen these?

My favourite town has to be Kolkata (Calcutta) – it’s not an easy place to live, but once you see beyond the surface, you discover a place of art and culture and humour and love and vibrancyto rival anywhere in the world.

As for my favourite country – right now I’m still basking in the glow of returning from a trip to Polignano in the south of Italy and so, I’d have to say Italy – for the food, the wine, the climate and the good friends I’ve made there.

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

The stimulating debate, the wonderful lectures and the sheer fun of hanging out with people who love crime fiction.

The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage Publishing) Out Now

Calcutta, 1923. When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war. Can officers of the Imperial Police Force, Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee track down those responsible in time to stop a bloodbath? Set at a time of heightened political tension, beginning in atmospheric Calcutta and taking the detectives all the way to bustling Bombay, the latest instalment in this 'unmissable series presents Wyndham and Banerjee with an unprecedented challenge. Will this be the case that finally drives them apart?

Information about 2022 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.

In Memoriam - Mo Hayder

 

1 January 1962 – 27 July 2021

The crime fiction world have been deeply upset to hear the news of the sad death of Mo Hayder of Motor Neurone Disease on 27 July 2021. Alison Flood's article in the Guardian can be found here. Over on social media lots of crime writers have been expressing their condolences and paying tribute to her as they remember Mo Hayder. Her debut novel Birdman (1999) took the crime fiction world by storm and was an international best-seller. 

She was certainly a firm favourite with us over on Shots since her first book Birdman was published. Ali Karim interviewed her after her second book The Treatment (2001) had been published and the interview can be read here. There is also an interview with Christine Campbell. A review of The Treatment also by Christine Campbell can be read here. The treatment was not only a Sunday Times best-seller but it was also won the 2002 WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award. Mo Hayder also wrote the screenplay for De Behandeling (2014) which was a Belgian film of an adaptation of her book The Treatment. 

Ali Karim also interviewed when her first standalone book (and my favourite) Tokyo (2004) was published. Tokyo was published in the US as The Devil of Nanking. It was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger

Pig Island her second standalone book was published in 2006 and was nominated for both a Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Her fifth book Ritual (2008) and third book to feature DI Jack Caffery which was the first in The Walking Man series was nominated for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. This was followed by Skin (2009) the second book in the series.  Gone (2010) the third book in the series was nominated and won an Edgar Award for Best novel. 

A review of Poppet (2013) the sixth book to feature DI Jack Caffery series can be read here.

Her third standalone Hanging Hill was published in 2011.  Wolf (2014) which was the final book to feature DI Jack Caffery was nominated in 2015 for an Edgar Award. It was also announced in March 2021 that the BBC were filming Wolf in Wales.

It was announced in March 2021 that Cornerstone imprint Century had acquired two speculative thriller novels by her under the name Theo Clare. The first in the series, The Book of Sand, is due to be published in January 2022 as a lead title for Century and its sequel, The Book of Clouds, will follow in early 2023.

The death of Mo Hayder is a blow to the crime writing community and she will be sorely missed by not only her fellow crime writers but also her fans. Our condolences to her family and her friends.

The Book of Sand by Theo Clare (Published by Century) Out January 2022

SAND. A hostile world of burning sun. Outlines of several once-busy cities shimmer on the horizon. Now empty of inhabitants, their buildings lie in ruins. In the distance a group of people - a family - walk towards us. Ahead lies shelter: a 'shuck' the family call home and which they know they must reach before the light fails, as to be out after dark is to invite danger and almost certain death. To survive in this alien world of shifting sand, they must find an object hidden in or near water. But other families want it too. And they are willing to fight to the death to make it theirs. It is beginning to rain in Fairfax County, Virginia when McKenzie Strathie wakes up. An ordinary teenage girl living an ordinary life - except that the previous night she found a sand-lizard in her bed, and now she's beginning to question everything around her, especially who she really is … Two very different worlds featuring a group of extraordinary characters driven to the very limit of their endurance in a place where only the strongest will survive.

Photograph ©Ayo Onatade (2004)

2021 Barry Award Nominations from Deadly Pleasures Magazine

 

The 2021 Barry Award nominations have been announced. The winners of these awards will be announced at the Opening Ceremonies at the New Orleans Bouchercon on August 26, 2021.

Best Novel

The Boy From The Woods by Harlan Coben
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly
Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
And Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall
Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

Best First Novel

Deep State by Chris Hauty
Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The Eighth Detective, Alex Pavesi
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Darling Rose Gold by , Stephanie Wrobel

Best Paperback Original

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Mongkok Station by Jake Needham
Hide Away by Jason Pinter
Bad News Travels Fast by James Swain
Darkness for Light by Emma Viskic
Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin

Best Thriller

Double Agent by Tom Bradby
Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle
One Minute Out by Mark Greaney
The Last Hunt by Deon Meyer
Eddie's Boy by Thomas Perry
The Wild One by Nick Petrie

Congratulations to all the nominated authors.

Barry Award Nominations 2020

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the Barry Award Nominees. The winners of this year’s Barry Awards will be announced during the Opening Ceremonies at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Sacramento, California on October 15, 2020. The nominees were chosen by panels of experts in mystery/crime fiction.  

The readers/subscribers of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine will determine by vote who wins each category.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel

The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
If She Wakes by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
Metropolis by Philip Kerr (Putnam)
The Border by Don Winslow (Harpercollins)
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (Ecco)
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh (Flatiron)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup (Harper)
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Celadon)
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)
Save Me From Dangerous Men by S. A. Lelchuk (Flatiron)
Scrublands by Chris Hammer (Atria)
To The Lions by Holly Watt    (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre (Ecw)
Winner Kills All by R. J. Bailey (Simon & Schuster Uk)
Killing Quarry by Max Allan Collins (Hardcase Crime)
Fate by Ian Hamilton (Spiderline)
Missing Daughter by Rick Mofina (Mira)
No Good Deed by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Thriller

Mission Critical by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
Backlash by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bester)
The Chain by Adrian Mckinty (Mulholland)
The Burglar by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
True Believer by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester)
White Hot Silence by Henry Porter (Mysterious Press)

Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
Suspect by Robert Crais (Putnam)
The Dry by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
The Black House by Peter May (Quercus)
The Cartel by Don Winslow (Knopf)

The 2019 Barry Award Winners

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the Barry Award Winners of the Barry Awards at the Dallas Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies. 

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)

Congratulations to all! 

International Bestselling Author John Connolly to appear at Capital Crime

John Connolly has been announced as a headliner and special guest at Capital Crime, London’s new crime and thriller festival, which takes place at the Grand Connaught Rooms on the 26th – 28th September 2019. Capital Crime co-founder, David Headley says, ‘We’re thrilled to welcome John Connolly to Capital Crime and give John’s readers the chance to hear him talk about his life and the Charlie Parker series.’ 

John Connolly is the Sunday Times, Irish Times and New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books. His body of works include the Charlie Parker novels, The Book of Lost Things and The Samuel Johnson Adventures.  John Connolly is the first non-US author to win the Shamus Award. He has also won the Barry and Agatha awards. He is sold in 28 languages. 

Capital Crime co-founder, Adam Hamdy says, “I am delighted that John Connolly will be joining us at Capital Crime.  He is one of the world’s favourite authors and a ground breaker in so many ways.  Like many fans I’m excited to have the opportunity to hear him in person”.

Tickets for Capital Crime are available at www.capitalcrime.org 

For publicity enquiries please contact 

Lizzie Curle 

E: info@capitalcrime.org 

www.twitter.com/CapitalCrime1

2019 Barry Award Nominations

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the Barry Award Nominees. Winners will be announced on October 31 at the Dallas Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies. Congratulations to all!

Best Novel
November Road by Lou Berney,(Morrow) 
Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly, (Little, Brown)
The Shadow We Hide by Allen Eskens, (Mulholland)
Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson, (Viking)
Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia,(Atria)
A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee, (Pegasus)

Best First Novel
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite,(Doubleday)
Need to Know by Karen Cleveland, (Ballantine)
Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver,(Pegasus)
Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear, (Harper)
Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin, (Ecco)
The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Paperback Original 
A Sharp Solitude by Christine Carbo, (Atria)
Dead Pretty by David Mark, (Blue Rider Press)
The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan, (Penguin)
The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas,(Berkley)
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic, (Pushkin Vertigo)

Best Thriller
The Terminal List by Jack Carr, (Atria)
Safe Houses by Dan Fesperman,(Knopf)
London Rules by Mick Herron, (Soho)
Forever and  a Day by Anthony Horowitz, (Harper)
Light it Up by Nick Petrie, (Putnam)
The King Tides by James Swain, (Thomas & Mercer) 

In Memoriam

22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018

© Shotsmag.co.uk 

On Friday 23^rd March 2018 the crime writing community were notified of the sad death of Scottish crime writer Philip Kerr by his wife novelist Jane Thynne via Twitter.

Philip Kerr was best known for his Bernie Gunther novels with the first one in the series March Violets being published in 1989. March Violets introduced readers to his sardonic, tough talking former soldier who fought in World War I on the Turkish Front and also an ex-cop. Gunther went on to work as a private eye in the pre World War II. The series blended fact and fiction and set mostly in Berlin, as Gunther carried out investigations against the backdrop of the rise of the Nazis, whose reach he is always trying to escape.

In March Violets Bernhard Gunther is a private eye, specializing in missing persons. And in Hitler's Berlin, he's never short of work... Winter 1936. A man and his wife shot dead in their bed. The woman's father, a millionaire industrialist, wants justice - and the priceless diamonds that disappeared along with his daughter's life.  As Bernie follows the trail into the very heart of Nazi Germany, he's forced to confront a horrifying conspiracy.

March Violets was followed by The Pale Criminal which was published in 1990 and A German Requiem in 1991. The first three novels later became known as The Berlin Trilogy and were published as such in 2012. 

In 1992 his standalone novel A Philosophical Investigation was published.  Set in London 2013: a world in which serial murder has reached epidemic proportions.

Tested positively by the government as one disposed to criminal violence, a serial killer breaks into the computer to erase his name, where he discovers a list of others so accused and hits on the horrifying idea: what if he were to become a killer of serial killers? A Philosophical Investigation was well received on publication with the narrative unfolding from a dual perspective. The killer's being told in first person and the detective's is told in third.

 

This was followed in 1993 with Dead Meat and Gridiron in 1995,  The Shot in 1999, Dark Matter (2002), Hitler’s Peace (2012) amongst others.  The most recent standalone being The Most Frightening Story Ever Told in 2016.

He returned to the Bernie Gunther novels after a 15 year gap with The One From the Other in 2006.  This was followed by A Quiet Flame (2008), If the Dead Rise Not (2009), Field Grey (2010), Prague Fatale (2011), A Man Without Breath (2013), The Lady from Zagreb (2015), The Other Side of Silence (2016) and Prussian Blue in 2017. His novel If The Dead Not Rise won the Crime Writers Association Ellis Peters Historical Award in 2009 as well as the Premio RBA de Novela Negra. It also won the Barry Award for Best British Novel.  The novels Field Grey, The Lady of Zaregb and Prussian Blue were all shortlisted for an Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2012, 2016 and 2018 respectively. 

© Shotsmag.co.uk (Philip Kerr & Jane Wood)

The latest book in the Bernie Gunther series Greeks Bearing Gifts is due to be published in April this year.  In Greeks Bearing Gifts, it is Munich, 1956. Bernie Gunther has a new name, a chip on his shoulder, and a dead-end career when an old friend arrives to repay a debt and encourages “Christoph Ganz” to take a job as a claims adjuster in a major German insurance company with a client in Athens, Greece.  Under the cover of his new identity, Bernie begins to investigate a claim by Siegfried Witzel, a brutish former Wehrmacht soldier who served in Greece during the war. Witzel’s claimed losses are large , and, even worse, they may be the stolen spoils of Greek Jews deported to Auschwitz. But when Bernie tries to confront Witzel, he finds that someone else has gotten to him first, leaving a corpse in his place.  Enter Lieutenant Leventis, who recognises in this case the highly grotesque style of a killer he investigated during the height of the war. Back then, a young Leventis suspected an S.S. officer whose connection to the German government made him untouchable. He’s kept that man’s name in his memory all these years, waiting for his second chance at justice…  Working together, Leventis and Bernie hope to put their cases–new and old–to bed. But there’s a much more sinister truth to acknowledge: A killer has returned to Athens…one who may have never left.

© Shotsmag.co.uk  (Janet Ellis, Philip Kerr & Mike Ripley)

Between 2014 and 2015 three books in the Scott Manson thriller series were also written. The first in the series January Window (2014) introduced readers to Scott Manson a team coach for a London football club and all-round fixer. This was followed by Hand of God and False Nine both in 2015.

   

He was also wrote children’s novels using the name P B Kerr as well as a number of non-fiction books under his own name.

Over the years Shots have reviewed a number of his books including The Other Side of Silence, Hand of God, The Lady of Zaregb, A Man Without Breath, Prague Fatale and Field Grey. 

According to his publishers Quercus, Philip finished a fourteenth Bernie Gunther novel Metropolis, which will be published in the UK and US next year

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A 2011 interview on the Shots website can be found here. The Guardian have also reported on his death.

His passing is a great loss to so many; his family, authors and readers.  He will be solely missed.