For folks pondering Anthony Award nominations, I wanted to share some of my favorite eligible titles. If you’re not doing nominations, please consider this a list of books I’d recommend you read.
They’re in no particular order. Some of these are books I was lucky enough to work on, and all are ones I loved reading. I’m quite certain I will forget to include some books I should and I still have 2015 releases in my TBR stack, so please feel free to point these out!
Where books are eligible in multiple categories, I’ve listed those in parentheses.
BEST NOVEL
- The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes by Lawrence Block (Paperback Original and Audiobook)
- Crazy Love You by Lisa Unger (Audiobook)
- Time of Death by Mark Billingham (Audiobook)
- Young Americans by Josh Stallings (Paperback Original and Audiobook)
- Come to Harm by Catriona McPherson (Paperback Original)
- The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson
- The Mercy of the Night by David Corbett (Paperback Original and Audiobook)
- Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes (Paperback Original)
- Trust No One by Paul Cleave (Audiobook)
- Monday’s Lie by Jamie Mason (Audiobook)
- Brush Back by Sara Paretsky (Audiobook)
- Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman (Audiobook)
- Life or Death by Michael Robotham (Audiobook)
- Canary by Duane Swierczynski (Audiobook)
- A Song of Shadows by John Connolly (Audiobook)
- Blood Foam by Brendan DuBois
- What You See by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Audiobook)
- Follow You Home by Mark Edwards (Paperback Original and Audiobook)
- Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman (Audiobook)
- A Killing at the Creek by Nancy Allen (Paperback Original)
- Taking Pity by David Mark (Audiobook)
- The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth (Audiobook)
- No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary (Paperback Original)
BEST FIRST NOVEL
(I didn’t read many of these released in 2015!)
- Yellow Death by Alex Lettau (Novel and Paperback Original)
- Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich (Novel)
- Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott (Paperback Original and Audiobook)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
See above
BEST SHORT STORY
I told myself that I really should mention that the story I wrote, Old Hands, that’s in “Dark City Lights” is eligible in this category. After much debate, I’ve listened to myself. So there you go.
- The Little Men by Megan Abbott, “Bibliomysteries”
- The Lady Upstairs by Jill D. Block, “Dark City Lights”
- The Safest Form of Conveyance by Jim Fusilli, “Dark City Lights”
- The Big Snip by Thomas Pluck, “Dark City Lights”
- Holmes On the Range by John Connolly, “Night Music”
- The Travelling Companion by Ian Rankin, “Bibliomysteries”
BEST CRITICAL OR NONFICTION WORK
- The Crime of our Lives by Lawrence Block
BEST ANTHOLOGY
- Dark City Lights, edited by Lawrence Block
BEST AUDIOBOOK
See above
BEST YA
I got nothin’. Suggestions welcome!
