2018 Anthony Award Eligible Titles.

By Jay Stringer

Hey all. You know the drill by now. This is a list that will be updated between now and the end of voting. 

(NOTE: These are eligible titles, it's not an exhaustive list. Nominating a title here is not nominating a title for the Anthony, you still need to submit the ballot you received by email.)

Do you want to suggest a book or author for the list? Feel free to drop it in the comments. It can be one of yours. It can be someone else's. Work published in 2017 is eligible, in the various formats. Please include all relevant info with your suggestion (publisher, editor, etc. Don't create more work for me...)

If you're shy of self-promotion and want to suggest it in private, track me down on the social media sites. If you've already suggested a title ad don't see it here, it's probably next on my list, but don't be afraid to mention it again. So...

BEST NOVEL

Blame - Jeff Abbott
The Secrets on Chicory Lane - Raymond Benson
The Savage - Frank Bill
Love Like Blood - Mark Billingham
Dead Woman Walking - Sharon Bolton
Another Man's Ground - Claire Booth
In Farleigh's Field - Rhys Bowen
A Killer Harvest - Paul Cleeve
Give Up the Dead - Joe Clifford
the Late Show - Michael Connelly
Blood Truth - Matt Coyle
The Seagull - Ann Cleeves
Winterlong - Mason Cross
Cottonmouths - Kelly J Ford
A Negro and an Ofay - Danny Gardner
The Long Count - JM Gulvin
The Mentor - Lee Matthew Goldberg
The Chalk Pit - Elly Griffiths
Every Day Above Ground - Glen Erik Hamilton

She Rides Shotgun - Jordan Harper
The Woman From Prague - Rob Hart
The Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz

The Weight of This World - David Joy.
Seven Suspects - Renee James
Bury the Past - James L'Etoile
The Last Place You Look - Kristen Lepionka
Insidious Intent - Val McDermid
House. Tree. Person. - Catriona McPherson
Everything You Want Me To Be - Mindy Meija
The Long Drop - Denise Mina
Lightning Men - Thomas Mullen
Dangerous to Know - Renee Patrick
Lightwood - Steph Post
Hellhound on my Tail - J.D. Rhoades
Murderabilia - Craig Robertson
Marshall's Law - Ben Sanders
Dangerous Ends - Alex Segura
World Enough - Clea Simon
City of Lies - Victoria Thompson
The Red  Hunter - Lisa Unger
Protocol - Kathleen Valenti
The Force - Don Winslow
The Corruptions - Vincent Zandri

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Double Wide - Leo Banks
Deep Down Dead - Steph Broadribb  
Where The Sun Shines Out - Kevin Catalano
All Things Violent - Nikki Dolson
Heaven's Crooked Finger - Hank Early
Hollywood Homicide - Kellye Garrett
The Dry - Jane Harper
Ragged - Chris Irvin
Dark Chapter - Winnie M  Li
The Irregular - H.B. Lyle
If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL


Hardway - Hector Acosta
Path into Darkness - Lisa Alber
Knuckledragger - Rusty Barnes
The Blade This Time - Jon Bassoff

The Quiet Child - John Burley
Blacky Jaguar Against the Cool Clux Cult - Angel Luis Colón
Desert Remains - Steven Cooper
The Art Of Murder - Casey Doran
Idyll Years - Stephanie Gayle
Reconciliation For The Dead - Paul Hardisty
The Exiled - Kati Hiekkapelto
The Woman in the Camphor Trunk - Jennifer Kincheloe
The Rebellions Last Traitor - Nik Korpon
A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps - Nick Kolakowski

The Soak - Patrick McLean 
Uncorking A Lie - Nadine Nettman
Bad Boy Boogie - Thomas Pluck
What We Reckon - Eryk Pruitt
The Day I Died - Lori Rader-Day
Imperial Valley - Johnny Shaw
Hunger Moon - Alexandra Sokoloff
Blind To Sin - Dave White
Cast The First Stone -James Ziskin

BEST SHORT STORY

Roja Muerta - Hector Acosta - Killing Malmon
Name That Killer - J.D. Allen - The Carolina Crimes
How You Did It - Eric Beetner - Killing Malmon
Home is..... - Jerry Broomfield - Beat To A Pulp
Trial Of Madame Pelletier - Susanna Calkins - Murder Most Historical
Episode Four: Raven and The Cave Girl vs. Dan Malmon! - Dana Cameron - Killing Malmon
Love That Dirty Water - Matthew Clemens - Killing Malmon
God's Gonna Cut You Down - Jen Conley - Just To Watch Them Die
Missouri Waltz - Sarah M. Chen - Just To Watch Them Die
Masterpiece - Sarah M. Chen - Killing Malmon
Blacky Jaguar Might Avengue You, Dan Malmon - Angel Luis Colón - Killing Malmon
My Side of the Matter - Hilary Davidson - Killing Malmon
The Unseen Opponent - P. A. De Voe - Mystery Most Historical 
Ice Cream, Dan? - Cory Funk - Killing Malmon
Straight Fire - Danny Gardner - Killing Malmon
Millions of Hungry Mouths - Paul J. Garth - Killing Malmon
Crazy Cat Lady - Barb Goffman - Black Cat Mystery Magazine
Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Barb Goffman - 50 Shades of Cabernet
The Hug - Rob Hart - Killing Malmon - Killing Malmon
To the Moon and Back - Kristn Kisska - DAY OF THE DARK 
Send 'im A Chicago Sunset - Nik Korpon - Hard Sentences
Rose of my Heart - Nik Korpon - Hard Sentences
The Nebbish - Ed Kurtz - Killing Malmon
25 Minutes To Go - S.W. Lauden - Just To Watch Them Die
Reunion - S.W. Lauden - Killing Malmon
The Many Deaths of Dan Malmon - Russel D. McLean
The Last Issue - Jeff Macfee - Killing Malmon
Smiling Gnome - J. Michael Major - Mystery Weekly Magazine
Tuesday - Erin Mitchell - Killing Malmon
Laundry Day - Erica Ruth Neubauer - Killing Malmon
Malmon's Last Moments - Brad Parks - Killing Malmon
Truth Comes Out of her Well to Shame Mankind - Thomas Pluck - Alive in Shape and Color
Deadbeat - Thomas Pluck - Down & Out: The Magazine
Russian Roulette - Tomas Pluck - Killing Malmon
The Nicest Guy in Town - Bryon Quertermous - Killing Malmon
I Know They're In There - Travis Richardson - The Obama Inheritance
Studs Winslow and the Karate Island of Emperor Malmon - Todd Robinson - Killing Malmon 
Master Pandemonium - Alex Segura - Killing Malmon
Streak - Jeff Shelby - Killing Malmon
Good Evening, Pigtown - Nathan Singer - Killing Malmon
Guardian of Galaxy Street - Josh Stallings - Killing Malmon
How To Not Find Somebody In Houston - Liam Sweeny - Betrayed
The Panda Heist - Jay Stringer - Killing Malmon
Well Dead - RD Sullivan - Killing Malmon
Fairy Tales - Art Taylor - Black Cat Mystery Magazine 
A Necessary Ingredient — Art Taylor — Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea
Kill Malmon - Bryan VanMeter - Killing Malmon
Money For Nothing - Holly West - Killing Malmon
Don't Want The World To Burn - Dave White - Killing Malmon

BEST CRITICAL/NON-FICTION BOOK

From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon - Bostrom, Matthias

Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier - de Rosnay, Tatiana
 Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall - Evans, Curtis
Killers Of The Flower Moon - David Grann
American Fire - Monica Hesse
Chester B. Himes: A Biography - Jackson, Lawrence
Rewrite Your Life - Jess Loury
Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes - Sims, Michael
The End of Policing - Alex Vitale

BEST ANTHOLOGY

Just To Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction Inspired By The Songs Of Johnny Cash - Ed Joe Clifford 
Meat City (And Other Assorted Debacles) - Angel Luis Colón 
Nothing You Can Do - Ed Kurtz
Killing Malmon - Editors Kate & Dan Malmon 
Hard Sentences - Ed David James Keaton and Joe Clifford
Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea -ed by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks
Passport To Murder - Ed John McFetridge
The Obama Inheritance - Ed Gary Phillips
Betrayed: Powerful Stories of Kick-Ass Crime Survivors - Ed Pam Stack
Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology 2: The Body

BEST ONLINE CONTENT

BOLO Books 
Carstairs Considers
Crimespree
Do Some Damage 
Dru's Book Musings
LitReactor
The Rap Sheet
The Reading Room
Sirens Of Suspense
Sleuthsayers
The Thrill Begins 
Two Crime Writers And A Microphone 
Unlawful Acts
Writer Types 

BILL CRIDER AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL IN A CONTINUING SERIES(Part of a series having published at least three books, one of which must be in 2017)

Path into Darkness - Lisa Alber
Everglade - Greg Barth
Blessed Are the Peacekeepers - Kristi Belcamino
Love Like Blood - Mark Billingham
The Lost Woman - Sara Blaedel
The Ghost of Christmas Past - Rhys Bowen
Murder in Shadow - Anne Cleeland
Give Up the Dead - Joe Clifford
Blood Truth - Matt Coyle
Garden of Lamentations - Deborah Crombie
The Deep, Dark Descending - Allen Eskins
Marathon - Brian Freeman
The Blood Card - Elly Griffiths
Woman From Prague - Rob Hart
City of Saviours - Rachel Howzell Hall
Prussian Blue - Philip Kerr
Remo Went Down - Mike McCrary
Imperial Valley - Johnny Shaw
The House of Unexpected Sisters - Alexander McCall Smith
Silent Rain - Karin Salvalaggio
Dangerous Ends - Alex Segura
An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock -Terry Shames
Flashpoint - Derek Thompson
Murder in the Bowery - Victoria Thompson

The Shadow: The Black Falcon

by
Scott D. Parker

THE BLACK FALCON is not only the fourth Shadow novel I’ve read in 2018 but my fourth one overall. And, to date, it might be my favorite for all the action, mystery, and zeal of the storytelling.

As the story opens, Rowdy Kershing is at a poker game amongst his criminal brethren. When he loses his winnings, he needs to buy more chips. He does so with a fat wad of money he makes sure all around him see. What he hides is the presence of a falcon’s feather, dyed black. For Rowdy has been assigned a task: recruit some “gorillas” to be of service to the super criminal, The Black Falcon, who has already kidnapped one millionaire and taunts the police that he’ll do it again.

But as gruff a talker as Rowdy is, he pales when the Knight of Darkness enters the room. They all do. Action ensues and Rowdy squeals like a rat.

The next set piece is the preparations the police deployed to protect Elias Carthers, the next millionaire on The Black Falcon’s list. This is a great action sequence mainly for how it plays out and the clues it reveals. I know that in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, authors frequently left clues for the readers to draw their own conclusions. Pulp fiction was not too known for that, but the clues in this sequence are plain to see.

It is after these scenes where The Shadow, in disguise as millionaire Lamont Cranston, takes action not in Shadow garb. Again, I’m too new at reading these stories to know if this is normal or special, but I’m guessing it’s likely normal, seeing as how The Shadow inserts himself as Cranston into the action.

And by poking his nose into the action gets Cranston in hot water. You see, he’s a millionaire and he walks directly into the clutches of The Black Falcon. From here to the end, the action is fantastic, the revelations are eye-opening, and the ending is outstanding in a “how will he get out of this” manner.
Perhaps the reason I like this one so much is the similarities to the villains of Batman. The Joker or The Riddler rarely commit their crimes without letting everyone know ahead of time, and The Black Falcon is right in that wheelhouse. Surprisingly, the Falcon makes some deductions of his own, and that got me to worrying for The Shadow’s safety. This novel is from February 1934 so I needn’t have worried. There was still going to be another fifteen years of stories, but still.

At one point, The Shadow reveals his true face to another character…and author Walter Gibson doesn’t describe the face! He only describes the reactions of the other character. I found that simultaneously great and frustrating. Who really is The Shadow? And what must his visage look like to bring such dread?

Of the new productions by Audible, THE BLACK FALCON is not a full-cast recording but a single narrator. Thankfully, it’s the same narrator as the full-cast versions so there is continuity.
For those of y’all who have never read a Shadow novel, here is a good one with which to start. It’s got all the pieces in place for a rip-roaring pulp adventure tale.

Partners in Peril
The Shadow Unmasks
The Romanoff Jewels

Ain't No Party Like A Book Store Party

Switchblade Magazine is one of the coolest new crime fiction mags out there right now, and Book Show is one of the coolest indie book shops out there right now - so it only makes sense to smash them together and have a good time.

I've attended a handful of events at Book Show, and recently was part of the Just To Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by The Songs of Johnny Cash launch there. It's a killer little shop with a ton of amazing books, cool knick knacks, and zines I haven't seen anywhere else. It's totally worth a visit, and a Switchblade reading is the best excuse I can think of.

If you're in Southern California, you should come see us and buy some stuff from Book Show!