The 2017 Egar Award Nominations

Best Novel

The Ex by Alafair Burke (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

Best First Novel

Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (Crown Publishing Group)
IQ by Joe Ide (Little, Brown & Company – Mulholland Books)
The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Dancing with the Tiger by Lili Wright (Penguin Random House –Marian Wood Book/Putnam)
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

Best Paperback Original

Shot in Detroit by Patricia Abbott (Polis Books)
Come Twilight by Tyler Dilts (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
Heart of Stone by James W. Ziskin (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

Best Fact Crime

Morgue: A Life in Death by Dr. Vincent DiMaio & Ron Franscell (St. Martin's Press)
The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan 
by Laurence Leamer (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder That Shocked Victorian England by Paul Thomas Murphy (Pegasus Books)
While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness by Eli Sanders (Penguin Random House – Viking Books)
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer 
by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

Best Critical/Biographical

Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd (Penguin Random House – Nan A. Talese)
Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967 by Mitzi M. Brunsdale (McFarland & Company)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton – Liveright)
Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Draculaby David J. Skal (W.W. Norton – Liveright)

Best Short Story

"Oxford Girl" – Mississippi Noirby Megan Abbott (Akashic Books)
"A Paler Shade of Death" – St. Louis Noir by Laura Benedict (Akashic Books)
"Autumn at the Automat" – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)
"The Music Room" – In Sunlight or in Shadow  by Stephen King (Pegasus Books)
"The Crawl Space" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazineby Joyce Carol Oates (Dell Magazines)

Best Juvenile

Summerlost by Ally Condie (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton BFYR)
OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
The Bad Kid by Sarah Lariviere by  (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand  (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
Framed! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught
(Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

Young Adult

Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger (Simon & Schuster – Simon Pulse)
The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry (Christy Ottaviano Books/Macmillan)
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (Soho Press – Soho Teen)
Thieving Weasels by Billy Taylor (Penguin Random House –
Penguin Young Readers – Dial Books)

TV Episode Teleplay

"Episode 1 – From the Ashes of Tragedy" – The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Teleplay by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (FX Network)
"The Abominable Bride" – Sherlock, Teleplay by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat
(Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
"Dark Road" – Vera,Teleplay by Martha Hillier (Acorn TV)
"A Blade of Grass" – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)
"Return 0" – Person of Interest, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Denise The
(CBS/Warner Brothers)
"The Bicameral Mind" – Westworld, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy
(HBO/Warner Bros. Television)

Robert L. Fish Memorial

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

Mary Higgins Clark

The Other Sister by Dianne Dixon (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)
Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Tor/Forge Books – Forge Books)
Blue Moon by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

Grand Master

Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart

Raven Award

Dru Ann Love 

Ellery Queen Award

Neil Nyren

It's all better with friends.

Inside the Crime Lab: A Complete Tour of the Denver Police Crime Laboratory

My gift to crime writers and crime readers.

Did you see the paperclip?




It's all better with friends.

The One, Two, Three Punch

My thanks to friend and reader, Pat Easter, who got my head wrapped around this.

You're in the crime fiction section of your favorite bookstore (physical or cyber), and are trying to find something to read for the weekend. Whether you're on the beach in warm sunshine or in front of a blazing fire, you're looking for a book that can transport you (and make you forget the client who is demanding a full report first thing Monday morning).

FIRST, it's the cover. You should be able to tell if it's a cozy or something darker. If you see pinks and teals and are looking for a thriller, it's a good bet this won't fill your needs. Cover designers are savvy, but some (even professionals) miss the boat. Still, this is the first punch.  Either a book cover wins by ducking it, or the game is over.

But let's pretend you spot a cover that looks promising. What's the SECOND thing you do? If you're me, you flip the book over and check out the BACK COVER COPY. The Blurb. The few words (100-150) that spotlight the novel without giving it away. Whether an author is self-published (responsible for everything) or traditionally published (shared blame) the author often writes these words.

I suck at this part. I've even received a review from a reader who said she enjoyed the book much more than she thought she would based on the description. Yep. I wrote both.

So that's the second punch. Let's get really crazy and pretend the back cover copy didn't totally turn you off. In fact, it sort of intrigued you.

What's the THIRD thing you do? You flip to the first page.

This is where it gets especially dicey. I mean, the cover got you to the back cover. Wow. And the back cover was good enough to get you to thumb to the first page. Sometimes, if you're feeling generous, you read the whole page. But often you read the first few lines. That's all.

Are you gonna like this story? Are you gonna like the way the author writes it?

You decide. That quick. 

What do you think? Is this fairly accurate?

It's all better with friends.

Random Thoughts

In no particular order, here are some thoughts I have tonight about writing, reading, and especially about my newest story:

The moments when the words pour out perfectly describing the character, the scene, the energy, the emotion, the force, the whatever, are rare. They're also the drug that keeps me going back for more.

I've fallen in love with the three young girls in my book. They're too big and real and wonderful not to at least be mentioned in the next story from Mex and Cade and crew. Knowing that I'll find out what happens to them next makes it easier for me to let them go for now.

It can be incredibly hard to take what's in your mind (that movie screen we all have), and what's in your gut, and put it on the page.

One of the markers for me that I'm reading a great story? I'm compelled to stop everything else in my life and find a quiet place to just read. OR (and this is a little weird) keep reading while I'm watching a "must-see" on television. I'll mute the TV during the commercials and read.

If an editor is doing his or her job, I'm being pushed to perform. The lazy bit I didn't write? Well, it's time to address it.

I can come up with the most amazing excuses to procrastinate when the drug mentioned above wears off and my editor is pushing. Cleaning out the fridge or pantry? Done that. Clean bird feeders? Yep. Play one more game of Spider or Free Cell? Oh, yeah.

I'm close to sending my revisions back to my editor so tomorrow I think I'll switch my summer/winter closets. Oh, and go to Jazzercise and get a mani-pedi. Sometimes rewards get all mixed up with excuses.

There's something to reading in large time increments. It helps me feel the story better.  I don't have to constantly "find" it.


What about you? Do you have something to add?




It's all better with friends.