Young Adult/Teen

The Edgar Awards – 2018

 

Edgar Statues

Each year, the Mystery Writers of America honors the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television, published or produced the previous year. This year, on the 209th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the winners of The Edgar Awards – 2018 were announced at the Gala Banquet held in New York City, on April 26, 2018.

 

Here are the nominees (and winners indicated in red) for the prestigious Edgars:

 

 

BEST NOVEL

“The Dime” by Kathleen Kent

“Prussian Blue” by Philip Kerr

“Bluebird, Bluebird” by Attica Locke

“A Rising Man” by Abir Mukherjee

“The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley” by Hannah Tinti

 

 

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

“She Rides Shotgun” by Jordan Harper

“Dark Chapter” by Winnie M. Li

“Lola” by Melissa Scrivner Love

“Tornado Weather” by Deborah E. Kennedy

“Idaho” by Emily Ruskovich

 

 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

“In Farleigh Field” by Rhys Bowen

“Ragged Lake” by Ron Corbett

“Black Fall” by Andrew Mayne

“The Unseeing” by Anna Mazzola

“Penance” by Kanae Minato

“The Rules of Backyard Cricket” by Jock Serong

 

 

BEST FACT CRIME

“Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann

“The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple” by Jeff Guinn

“American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land” by Monica Hesse

“The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery” by Bill and Rachel McCarthy James

“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation” by Brad Ricca

 

 

BEST SHORT STORY

“Spring Break” – New Haven Noir by John Crowley

“Hard to Get” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Jeffery Deaver

“Ace in the Hole” – Montana Noir by Eric Heidle

“A Moment of Clarity at the Waffle House” – Atlanta Noir by Kenji Jasper

“Chin Yong-Yun Stays at Home” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by S.J. Rozan

 

 

BEST YOUNG ADULT

“The Cruelty” by Scott Bergstrom

“Grit” by Gillian French

“The Impossible Fortress” by Jason Rekulak

“Long Way Down” by Jason Reynolds

“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

 

 

For nominees and winners in the categories of BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL, BEST JUVENILE, BEST TELEVISION TELEPLAY, as well as the recipients of specialty awards, please visit www.theedgars.com/nominees

 

MWA logo

 

Congratulations to all The Edgar Awards – 2018 nominees and winners!  Happy reading.  🙂

 

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National Book Awards – 2017

 

NationalBookFoundationLogo

“The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America.” *
 

The National Book Award is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation. There are twenty judges for the competition, five in each of the categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Young People’s Literature. The judges are a mix of writers, librarians and booksellers. This year, American publishers submitted books published between December 1, 2016 and November 30, 2017, written by American authors. The winners were announced on November 15, 2017. Each Winner received a prize of $10,000. Each Finalist received a prize of $1,000. 

 

The winners are indicated in red. Click on the authors’ names to discover information about the book.


Fiction:

Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing

Elliot Ackerman, Dark at the Crossing

Lisa Ko, The Leavers

Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

 

Non-Fiction:

Masha Gessen, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

Frances FitzGerald, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America

David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

 


Poetry:

Frank Bidart, Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016

Leslie Harrison, The Book of Endings  

Layli Long Soldier, WHEREAS

Shane McCrae, In the Language of My Captor

Danez Smith, Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems

 

Young People’s Literature:

Robin Benway, Far from the Tree

Elana K. Arnold, What Girls Are Made Of

Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Rita Williams-Garcia, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

Ibi Zoboi, American Street

 

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the National Book Awards – 2017!    🙂

 

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Goodreads Choice Awards – 2017


 

GoodreadsChoiceLogo2017

 

 

Most of the winners of major book awards are selected by members of the groups that give the award – much like the film industry’s Academy Awards are selected each year. Mystery writers vote on the major mystery awards; romance writers vote on the Rita Award, etc.

 

 

 


Goodreads, the popular readers/authors site, has a slightly different model for the Goodreads Choice Awards. During the year, readers chat about books they’re reading and make lists of their favorites for their friends and followers to see. They also rank books they’ve read with stars, indicating how much they liked (or disliked) the titles published that year. There are thousands of books listed on the site, with thousands of comments, giving anyone who’s interested a way to see how a book (published in the U.S. in English) is viewed by the Goodreads group. Amazon acquired Goodreads, so these reviews and stars probably have an impact on book sales.

 

 


During October each year, the Goodreads staff looks at the stats and does the math, then nominates 15 books for each of 20 categories that have an average rating of 3.5 stars or more.

 

 


The members of the Goodreads community vote in elimination rounds. They are allowed to vote in all twenty categories, giving a broader view of a book’s popularity. If you sign up to become a member of Goodreads, you can vote as well.

 

 


Opening round now closed  (voting on the selected 15 in each category, write-ins accepted) : Oct. 31st thru Nov. 5th

 

 

 

Semifinal Round now closed: Nov. 7th thru Nov. 12th  (voting on the original 15 along with the top 5 write-ins in each category – voters can change their minds about the original vote):

 

 

Final Round now closed: Nov. 14th thru Nov. 27th  (voting on final top 10 books in each category)

 

It's December 5th and the winners have been announced. Click on the links and see how close the voting in some categories was.

 

 

Here are the 2017 links for eight of the categories (once there, the other twelve categories are an easy click away):

Fiction

Mystery & Thriller

Historical Fiction

Fantasy

Romance

Science Fiction

Non-Fiction

YA Fantasy & Science Fiction

 

 

 

 

The 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards went to:

Fiction: Liane Moriarty “Truly Madly Guilty”

Mystery & Thriller: Stephen King  “End of Watch”

Historical Fiction: Colson Whitehead “The Underground Railroad”

Fantasy: J.K. Rowling “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”

Romance: Colleen Hoover  “It Ends With Us”

Science Fiction: Pierce Brown  “Morning Star”

Non-Fiction: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy Carter “Hamilton: The Revolution”

YA Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sarah J. Maas  “Court of Mist and Fury”

 

 

Did you read any of the winning choices from 2016? If so, what did you think? Let us know in the comment section.

 

 

The 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards went to:

Fiction: Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman”

Mystery & Thriller:  Paula Hawkins’ “The Girl on the Train”

Historical Fiction:  Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale”

Fantasy:  Neil Gaiman’s “Trigger Warning”

Romance:  Colleen Hoover’s “Confess”

Science Fiction: Pierce Brown’s “Golden Son”

 

 

 

The 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards went to:

Fiction: Rainbow Rowell's "Landline"

Mystery & Thriller:  Stephen King's "Mr. Mercedes" 

Historical Fiction:  Anthony Doerr's "All the Light We Cannot See"

History & Biography:  Helen Rappaport's The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra"

Romance:  Diana Gabaldon's "Written in My Own Heart's Blood"

Science Fiction:  Andy Weir's "The Martian"

 

 

The 12 additional categories include cookbooks, horror, non-fiction, children’s books and more.

 

 

It’s interesting to note that in 2013, 1,953,770 total votes were cast for the Goodreads Choice Awards.

The final tabulation for 2015 was 3,007,748 votes.

In 2016?  3,550,346 votes.    🙂

This year's final total was 3,887,698!

 

Happy reading! You're in for a treat.  🙂

 

 

 

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Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards – 2017

 

 

SilverFalchionWinnerLogo

Killer Nashville is one of the most popular conferences in the country for writers and readers and is held each year in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Established by writer and filmmaker Clay Stafford in 2006, the conference assists authors in the craft of mystery, thriller, suspense and crime fiction writing. Stafford and American Blackguard, Inc. also work to further various literacy programs throughout the year.

 

As a part of both encouraging and rewarding writers in their varied fields, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards are given to authors and their outstanding books published in the previous year. This year, the awards were presented on August 26th at the Killer Nashville Awards Banquet. The winners are indicated in red.
Take a look at the 2017 finalists for their 2016 titles:

 

BEST FICTION ADULT ACTION / ADVENTURE

• Michael Byars Lewis, “Veil of Deception”

• Gigi Pandian, “Michelangelo's Ghost”

• Randall Reneau, “The Medinandi License”

• Carrie Smith, “Forgotten City”

 

BEST FICTION ADULT MYSTERY

• Traci Andrighetti, “Amaretto Amber”

• Allen Eskens, “The Heavens May Fall”

• Pamela Fagan Hutchins, “Fighting for Anna”

• Peter James, “Love You Dead”

• Kelly Oliver, “Coyote”

• Howard Owen, “Grace”

• Twist Phelan, “Exit”

• L. A. Toth, “Dead Secrets”

• Robin Yocum, “A Brilliant Death”

 

BEST FICTION ADULT SUSPENSE

• Christina Hoag, “Skin of Tattoos”

• Kathryn Lane, “Waking Up in Medellin”

• Ray Peden, “Prime Cut”

• Gay Yellen, “The Body Next Door”

 

BEST FICTION ADULT THRILLER

• R.G. Belsky, “Blonde Ice”

• Diane Capri, “Blood Trails”

• Rodd Clark, “Ash and Cinders”

• Robert Dugoni, “The 7th Canon”

• J.A. Jance, “Clawback”

• Ward Larsen, “Assassin's Silence”

• Catherine Lea, “Child of the State”

• Pierre LeMaitre, “Blood Wedding”

• Jim Nesbitt, “The Last Second Chance”

• Lynn Sholes, “Brain Trust”

 

BEST FICTION TWEEN / YA MYSTERY / THRILLER

• P. A. De Voe, “Trapped”

• James Hannibal, “The Lost Property Office”

• Gabriela Naumnik, “Dream Crimes”

• Sheila Sobel, “Color Blind”

• Jane Suen, “Children of the Future”

 

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!  🙂


(Check out the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award 2017 nominees and winners for anthology, non-fiction, horror/fantasy, and for children at www.killernashville.com.)

 

 

 

 

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Crimefest 2017

 

CrimeFest2016Banner.jpg

CRIMEFEST had its beginnings in 2008 as a convention for fans of crime novels and has become one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe. Its reputation is such that top crime novelists, publishers and reviewers now attend from around the world.

 

This year the CRIMEFEST awards dinner was held on May 20, 2017 in Bristol, England. Take a look at all the nominees and click on the book titles to read more about them. Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, then (except for the Audio category) British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title. The winners are indicated in red.


The eDunnit Award is for the best ebook published in both hardcopy and ebook.

Linwood Barclay for The Twenty-Three
Steph Broadribb for Deep Down Dead
Michael Connelly for The Wrong Side of Goodbye
Ragnar Jonasson for Blackout
*Laura Lippman for Wilde Lake
Ian Rankin for Rather Be the Devil
Andrew Taylor for The Ashes of London
L.C. Tyler for Cat Among the Herrings

Last Laugh Award
The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2016.

Ken Bruen & Jason Starr for PIMP
John Dufresne for I Don’t Like Where This Is Going
Judith Flanders for A Cast of Vultures
*Mick Herron for Real Tigers
Carl Hiaasen for Razor Girl
Vaseem Khan for The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown
L.C. Tyler for Cat Among the Herrings
– Chris Whitaker for Tall Oaks

 

AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD
The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2016 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk. Audible UK listeners picked the shortlist and the winning title. The winning author and audiobook reader(s) share the £1,000 prize equally.

Ben Aaronovitch for The Hanging Tree, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Rachel Abbott for Kill Me Again, read by Lisa Coleman
Fiona Barton for The Widow, read by Clare Corbett
Lee Child for Night School, read by Jeff Harding
Anthony Horowitz for Magpie Murders, read by Allan Corduner & Samantha Bond
*Clare Mackintosh for I See You, read by Rachel Atkins 
Peter May for Coffin Road, read by Peter Forbes
Holly Seddon for Try Not to Breathe, read by Jot Davies, Lucy Middleweek & Katy Sobey

 

BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (AGES 12–16)
CRIMEFEST introduced a new award recognizing crime novels for young adults.

Leigh Bardugo for Crooked Kingdom
Kerry Drewery for Cell 7
John Grisham for Theodore Boone: The Scandal
Erin Lange for Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah
Patrice Lawrence for Orangeboy
*Simon Mason for Kid Got Shot
Simon Mayo for Blame
Eliza Wass for In The Dark, In The Woods

 

Please visit www.crimefest.com for nominees and winners in other categories (Scandinavian crime fiction; short short story; crime novels for children 8-12; biographical or critical).

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners for the Crimefest Awards-2017!  🙂

 

 

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The Edgar Awards – 2017

 

Edgar Statues

Each year the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) awards the Edgar Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television, this year published or produced in 2016. The Edgar® Awards were presented at the annual banquet on April 27, 2017, in New York City. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!   🙂
 

The winners are noted in red. Click on the authors’ names for more information.


BEST NOVEL
“The Ex” by Alafair Burke
“Where It Hurts” by Reed Farrel Coleman
“Jane Steele” by Lyndsay Faye
“What Remains of Me” by Alison Gaylin
“Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley

 
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
“Under the Harrow” by Flynn Berry
“Dodgers” by Bill Beverly
“IQ” by Joe Ide
“The Drifter” by Nicholas Petrie
“Dancing with the Tiger” by Lili Wright
“The Lost Girls” by Heather Young

 
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
“Shot in Detroit” by Patricia Abbott
“Come Twilight” by Tyler Dilts
“The 7th Canon” by Robert Dugoni
“Rain Dogs” by Adrian McKinty
“A Brilliant Death” by Robin Yocum
“Heart of Stone” by James W. Ziskin


 
BEST FACT CRIME
“Morgue: A Life in Death” by Dr. Vincent DiMaio & Ron Franscell

“The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan” by Laurence Leamer

“Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder That Shocked Victorian England” by Paul Thomas Murphy

“While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man’s Descent into Madness” by Eli Sanders

“The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer” by Kate Summerscale

  
BEST SHORT STORY
“Oxford Girl” – Mississippi Noir by Megan Abbott
“A Paler Shade of Death” – St. Louis Noir by Laura Benedict
“Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block
“The Music Room” – In Sunlight or in Shadow  by Stephen King
“The Crawl Space” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Joyce Carol Oates

 

BEST YOUNG ADULT
“Three Truths and a Lie” by Brent Hartinger
“The Girl I Used to Be” by April Henry
“Girl in the Blue Coat” by Monica Hesse
“My Sister Rosa” by Justine Larbalestier
“Thieving Weasels” by Billy Taylor


RAVEN AWARD

Dru Ann Love
  

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
“The Other Sister” by Dianne Dixon
“Quiet Neighbors” by Catriona McPherson
“Say No More” by Hank Phillippi Ryan
“Blue Moon” by Wendy Corsi Staub
“The Shattered Tree” by Charles Todd

 
Please visit www.theedgars.com for the Edgar Awards-2017 nominations and winners in the Juvenile, Critical/Biographical, and TV Episode Teleplay categories.

 

*Photo credit: Mystery Writers of America

 

 

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Top 10: The First Four Years of Nightstand Book Reviews

 

Book Cover - Cold Dish

The first four years of Nightstand Book Reviews delivered a wide range of books to my doorstep and to my email inbox. Right from the beginning, I have received more than 100 requests a month (once over 400) from writers and publicists and friends of writers and publicists to review the latest book they had to offer.

 

It has been a fun problem to have. The strategy was (and remains) to choose great reads to chat about and share with the thousands of Nightstand Book Reviews followers around the world. The books on the site are by and large fiction, and tell a well-plotted story involving nicely developed characters. The authors are a mix of bestselling writers of longstanding, and newbies to the field when I first met them. Traditionally published or ebook only? Both happily co-exist on NBR. Occasionally I highlight biographies, great cookbooks, and helpful gardening books. A new feature in 2016 was Author Profiles. You’ll see more of those in 2017.

 

Below is the list of Top 10 books reviewed on Nightstand Book Reviews over the last four years, listed in ABC order by author. These were the books that garnered the most interest on NBR from the worldwide audience during the four years. Six books on the list were the debut novels from those authors. Some powerhouse writers (long, successful careers with great popularity) mixed in with newbies? A good book is a good book.

 

All of these authors now have multiple books out. Click on the book title to read the review.

 

Lee Child – “The Killing Floor”

 

Robert Dugoni – “My Sister’s Grave”

 

Robert Dugoni – “The Conviction”

 

Sherry Harris – “Tagged for Death”

 

Sue Harrison – “Mother Earth, Father Sky”

 

Erin Hart – “Haunted Ground”

 

Tami Hoag – “Alibi Man”

 

Craig Johnson – “The Cold Dish”

 

Leigh Perry – “A Skeleton in the Family”

 

Andy Weir – “The Martian”

 

 

Have you read any of the titles on the list? Wildly different books to be sure, with thrillers, sci-fi, traditional mysteries, and cozies in the group. 

 

And soooo much fun to read.  🙂

 

Thank you all, kind readers, for being part of the Nightstand Book Reviews community during the first four years. Your comments and participation make me smile as I search for the next great read to share with you.

 

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