The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Short Mystery Fiction Society 2009 Derringer Awards:

Congratulations to all of those nominated AND to those who won! The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the winners of the 2009 Derringer Awards:

2009 Derringer Award Best Flash Story (1,000 Words or Less):
No Flowers for Stacey by Ruth McCarty   (Tied Winner)
No Place Like Home by Dee Stuart   (Tied Winner)
A Killing Season by J.F. Benedetto
Black Pearls by James C. Clar
Rainy Day Fund by J.K. Cummins
Incident in Itawamba by Gary Hoffman
This Bird has Flown by BV Lawson

2009 Derringer Award Best Short Story (1,001 – 4,000 Words):
The Cost of Doing Business by Michael Penncavage (Winner)
Independence Day by Allan Leverone
Regrets, I’ve Had a Few by Allan Leverone
Taste for It by Sophie Littlefield
Stalkers by Lew Stowe
Wishing on Whores by John Weagly

2009 Derringer Award Best Long Story (4,001 – 8,000 Words):
The Quick Brown Fox by Robert S. Levinson (Winner)
Bonnie and Clyde Caper by O’Neil De Noux
The Big Score by Chris Holm
The Art of Avarice by Darrell James
Dead Even by Frank Zafiro

2009 Derringer Award Best Novelette (8,001 – 17,500 Words):
Too Wise by O’Neil De Noux (Winner)
Haven’t Seen You Since the Funeral by Ernest B & Alice A. Brown
Vegetable Matters by Terry W. Ervin II
Jack Best and the Line in the Sand by Steve Olley
Panic on Portage Path by Dick Stodghill

2009 Recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Clark Howard

This will be the last post about mystery book awards for a little while. (I have gotten so far behind on the 2009 award postings.)

♦Back to the Mystery Book Awards page♦

2009 Nero Wolfe Award Finalists…

Congratulations to the Finalists for the 2009 Nero Wolfe  Awards. The (yearly) Black Orchid Banquet will be taking place in early December, so we will have to wait until then to find out which of the three finalists is chosen as the Winner… Let’s face it, though, all three of them are winners for being finalists!

2009 Nero Wolfe Award Finalists:

The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross

The Tenth Case by Joseph Teller

The Fault Tree by Louise Ure

I’ll try to be a little more timely when it comes to posting the winner!

♦Back to the Mystery Book Awards page♦

Happy Thanksgiving! Written on Tuesday…

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of the site readers in the USA. (I’m guessing it’s just another Thursday for those of you who find yourselves living in “exotic” locations.)

As this entry’s title says, I am writing this on Tuesday, and post-dating it. To all of you out there who are the primary (as in “only”) cook in your homes >>> If you are reading this entry during the day, you know that I am probably “enjoying” the national day off by doing one of the following “fun” activities:

Peeling potatoes
Cutting up celery
Dicing onions
Preparing the green beans
Making the white sauce to go on the pearl onions
Preparing the stuffing
Mashing potatoes
Cutting the turkey
Baking the pumpkin pie
Preparing the gravy (Which I have to admit, I cheat on>>> I use the turkey flavor canned gravy with a whole lot of coarse cracked pepper in it >>> No lumps for us… and a whole lot easier for me!) 
ETC!!! 

Of course, if you’re reading this entry after, let’s say, 6:00 PM… Then my “fun” activities will be somewhat different:

Doing the dishes
De-boning and carving the turkey
Finding space in the refrigerator for all of the left-overs
Labeling cut-up turkey for the freezer
Finding space in the freezer for all of the excess turkey
ETC!!!

Not to worry though… Since we favor the Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce, someone will probably help me by opening the can… if only to hear the swoosh as the air suctions out of the can when the cranberry “blob” falls into the bowl >>> which I placed right by the can >>> next to the can opener!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you… cooks and non-cooks!

Lorraine Bartlett aka Lorna Barrett aka L. L. Bartlett >>> Booktown Mystery Series, Jeff Resnick Mystery Series, AND Victoria Square Mystery Series Will Be Out Soon!

It seems like more and more frequently, I am told about mystery book authors who are being dropped by their publishers. What a shame!!! Perhaps people are reading less books, or people are feeling the economy’s crunch and are now trading their books, or perhaps… well, I don’t know why, but it does seem to be a growing trend. Publishers simply aren’t as loyal and helpful as shows like Murder She Wrote would suggest that they are…

Remember when Jessica would be wined, dined, chauffeured around the city while looking for the “bad guys” (& “bad gals”) and then treated to a suite in a swanky 5 ♦ hotel? (That symbol is the closest I can get to a star…) Jessica would usually eat her room-service breakfast as she was heading out for a day of solving mysteries (in between making her appearances to sell her mysteries).

But there is good news for Lorna Barrett fans, as well as L. L. Bartlett fans, and Lorraine Bartlett fans, also! A very helpful librarian from the Indianapolis area (Thank you, AGAIN, Janet!) has just updated me on Barrett/Bartlett.  

Lorna Barrett (aka L. L. Bartlett) will be starting a new mystery series called the Victoria Square Mystery Series. The first book in the Victoria Square Mystery Series is called A Matter of Murder, and will be published in the later part of 2010 or the beginning of 2011.  The Victorian Square Mystery Series will feature Katie Bonner as the sleuth… She’s the first-found dead man’s beneficiary, and will have to do a lot of investigating to get to the bottom of the crimes that are taking place. (Yes, I did make that crimes… plural!)

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