Gearing up for Bouchercon!

by Kristi Belcamino

Less than a month until my favorite mystery conference - Bouchercon! It's my favorite because it's a chance to hang with all my writer friends, but more than that, it's a chance to meet new readers.

(True story - I was walking back to my hotel, struck up a conversation with an amazing woman who does a super important job working with kids and comes to B'Con for some down time and a special treat. She was soooo cool.  I ran into her again later on while I was walking with our very own Alex Segura and found out it was his mother-in-law!)

I'm a total dork, planning what I'm going to wear, who I'm going to meet with (never enough time to hang with all the people I want to), and what I'm going to eat. Oh no you didn't! Yes, I did— I have researched restaurants near the conference hotels and made breakfast plans left and right!

Meanwhile, this will be the most amazing Bouchercon for me ever - I'm nominated for two awards for best first mystery and while my competition is STIFF and I don't expect to win the award, I'm just beside myself to even be nominated. The best part of all is that the other nominees are my friends, so it's going to be amazing no matter what happens.

Below is a round up of the Anthony and Macavity award nominees for this year's Bouchercon.  (I wish I could say I've read all the nominations, but I can say I've read all the nominees in my categories!) If you click on the link for the short story nominees for the Anthony, they will link to the story themselves!

ANTHONY NOMINATIONS:

Best Novel

             

Lamentation – Joe Clifford [Oceanview]
The Secret Place – Tana French [Hodder & Stoughton/Viking]
After I’m Gone – Laura Lippman [William Morrow]
The Long Way Home – Louise Penny [Minotaur]
Truth Be Told – Hank Phillippi Ryan [Forge]

Best First Novel

            

Blessed Are the Dead – Kristi Belcamino [Witness Impulse]
Ice Shear – M.P. Cooley [William Morrow]
Invisible City – Julia Dahl [Minotaur]
The Life We Bury – Allen Eskens [Seventh Street]
The Black Hour – Lori Rader-Day [Seventh Street]

Best Paperback Original

            

Stay With Me – Alison Gaylin [Harper]
The Killer Next Door – Alex Marwood [Penguin]
The Day She Died – Catriona McPherson [Midnight Ink]
World of Trouble – Ben H. Winters [Quirk]
No Stone Unturned – James W. Ziskin [Seventh Street]

Best Critical or Non-Fiction Work

            

The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis – Charles Brownson [McFarland]
Death Dealer: How Cops and Cadaver Dogs Brought a Killer to Justice – Kate Clark Flora [New Horizon]
Dru’s Book Musings – Dru Ann Love [http://drusbookmusing.com]
Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe – J.W. Ocker [Countryman]
Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey – Hank Phillippi Ryan, ed. [Henery]

Best Short Story

Click each story to read it in full

“Honeymoon Sweet” Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology 2014 – Craig Faustus Buck [Down & Out]
“The Shadow Knows” Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays – Barb Goffman [Wildside]
“Howling at the Moon” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Nov 2014 – Paul D. Marks [Dell]
“Of Dogs & Deceit” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Nov 2014 – John Shepphird [Dell]
“The Odds Are Against Us” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Nov 2014 – Art Taylor [Dell]

Best Anthology or Collection

            

FaceOff – David Baldacci, ed. [Simon & Schuster]
Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology 2014 – Dana Cameron, ed. [Down & Out]
Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen – Joe Clifford, ed. [Gutter/Zelmer Pulp]
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon – Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, eds. [Pegasus Crime]
Carolina Crimes: 19 Tales of Love, Lust, and Longing – Karen Pullen, ed. [Wildside]

MACAVITY NOMINATIONS

The Macavity Award is named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories.

The year listed is the year of the award, for books published in the previous year.

2015

Best Mystery Novel:

• Sophie Littlefield: The Missing Place (Gallery)
• Alex Marwood: The Killer Next Door (Penguin)
• Peter May: The Lewis Man (Quercus)
• Catriona McPherson: The Day She Died (Midnight Ink)
• Louise Penny: The Long Way Home (Minotaur)
• Terry Shames: The Last Death of Jack Harbin (Seventh Street)

Best First Mystery Novel:

• Kristi Belcamino: Blessed Are the Dead (Witness Impulse)
• Tom Bouman: Dry Bones in the Valley (W. W. Norton)
• Julia Dahl: Invisible City (Minotaur)
• Sarah Hilary: Someone Else's Skin (Penguin)
• Elizabeth Little: Dear Daughter (Viking)
• Lori Rader-Day: The Black Hour (Seventh Street)

Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction:

• Charles Brownson: The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis(McFarland)
• J.W. Ocker: Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe (Countryman)
• Adam Plantinga: 400 Things Cops Know: Street Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (Quill Driver)
• Hank Phillippi Ryan, editor: Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer's Journey (Henery Press)

Best Mystery Short Story:

• Craig Faustus Buck: "Honeymoon Sweet" (Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out)
• Barb Goffman: "The Shadow Knows" (Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
• Paul D. Marks: "Howling at the Moon" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)
• Travis Richardson: "The Proxy" (Thuglit #13, Sept./Oct. 2014)
• Art Taylor: "The Odds Are Against Us" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)

Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:

• Rhys Bowen: Queen of Hearts (Berkley Prime Crime)
• Alan Finn: Things Half in Shadow (Gallery)
• Robert Harris: An Officer and a Spy (Knopf)
• Catriona McPherson: A Deadly Measure of Brimstone (Minotaur)
• Malla Nunn: Present Darkness (Atria)
• Charles Todd: Hunting Shadows (Wm. Morrow)