Congratulations to all of this year’s Bouchercon mystery author nominees!
Most of you already know that Bouchercon is a huge convention that celebrates mystery authors and their books. This year, Bouchercon XLIV will be held in Albany, New York (at the Empire State Plaza) during the September 19 – 22 weekend.
The awards they present at the Bouchercon conventions are the Anthony Awards, which are named after Anthony Boucher, one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America organization.
Here is the list of the Bouchercon XLIV authors and their works:
Lifetime Achievement: Sue Grafton
International Guest of Honor: Anne Perry
American Guest of Honor: Tess Gerritsen
Toastmaster: Steve Hamilton
Fan Guests of Honor: Chris Aldrich & Lynn Kaczmarek
Best Novel:
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Best First Novel:
Don’t Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman
The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
The Expats by Chris Pavone
The 500 by Matthew Quirk
Black Fridays by Michael Sears
Best Paperback Original:
Whiplash River by Lou Berney
Murder for Choir by Joelle Charbonneau
And She Was by Alison Gaylin
Blessed are the Dead by Malla Nunn
Big Maria by Johnny Shaw
Best Short Story:
Mischief in Mesopotamia by Dana Cameron
Kept in the Dark by Shelia Connolly
The Lord is My Shamus by Barb Goffman
Peaches by Todd Robinson, Grift
The Unremarkable Heart by Karin Slaughter
Best Critical Nonfiction Work:
Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels by John Connolly and Declan Burke, eds.
Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950 by Joseph Goodrich, ed.
More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered by D.P. Lyle, M.D.
The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie by Mathew Prichard, ed.
In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero by Otto Penzler, ed.
Patti S. says
I sure do miss the little mystery newspaper that Lynn Kaczmarek and Chris Aldrich used to put out. It was a great resource for mysteries and had lots of good stories. I sure do miss them!
Donna says
Thanks for posting, Danna. They’re all going on my TBR list. A very looooong list, alas. A bit of trivia: I believe that Mathew Prichard is the grandson of Agatha Christie (someone please correct me if that is wrong), so that particular book should be especially interesting.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, I just looked it up, and yes, Mathew Prichard is Agatha Christie’s grandson.
Susan Sundwall says
Albany is twenty-five minutes from me. Can’t wait!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Susan, and you wouldn’t have to pay for the hotel! Lucky you!
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
Hope you’re doing okay down there with all the rain you got. We only had a couple of inches up here in Austin, but we’re seeing pictures and it looks WET and flooded down there. Hope you’re okay!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Maria, we haven’t had a rain like this in (literally) years. Luckily, we live on a slope, so the water just kept right on going. Of course, this means that our neighbor got a lot of our mulch >>> which meant that we had to go rake it all up. (Her yard is beautiful, and she likes it to remain that way.)