This week the finalists for 2020 Anthony Awards were announced. The winners will be announced Oct. 17 at a digital ceremony capping Bouchercon’s digital conference.
Bouchercon, the world mystery convention, was scheduled to have been in Sacramento this year, but with the covid-19 pandemic will now be virtual. It is named after writer and book critic Anthony Boucher.
Anthony Award book nominations are submitted by people registered for Bouchercon 2020 or who attended Bouchercon 2019, or both. Winners were announced Oct. 17, 2020, and are noted in red.
The nominees in each category are:
Best Novel
- YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY by Steph Cha (Ecco)
- THEY ALL FALL DOWN by Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge)
- LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
- THE MURDER LIST by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
- MIAMI MIDNIGHT by Alex Segura (Polis Books)
Best First Novel
- THE NINJA DAUGHTER by Tori Eldridge (Agora Books)
- MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton Books)
- ONE NIGHT GONE by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)
- THREE-FIFTHS by John Vercher (Agora Books)
- AMERICAN SPY by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)
Best Paperback Original
- THE UNREPENTANT by E.A. Aymar (Down & Out Books)
- MURDER KNOCKS TWICE by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur)
- THE PEARL DAGGER by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington)
- SCOT & SODA by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
- THE ALCHEMIST’S ILLUSION by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)
- DROWNED UNDER by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press)
- THE NAMING GAME by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Press)
Best Critical Non-Fiction Work
- HITCHCOCK AND THE CENSORS by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky)
- THE HOODED GUNMAN: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE COLLINS CRIME Club by John Curran (Collins Crime Club)
- THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY: HOW DOROTHY L. SAYERS AND HER OXFORD CIRCLE REMADE THE WORLD FOR WOMEN by Mo Moulton (Basic Books)
- THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN: A TRUE STORY by Cara Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
- THE FIVE: THE UNTOLD STORIES OF THE WOMEN KILLED BY JACK THE RIPPER by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Best Short Story
- “Turistas” by Hector Acosta (appearing in ¡PA’QUE TU LO SEPAS!: STORIES TO BENEFIT THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO)
- “Unforgiven” by Hilary Davidson (appearing in MURDER A-GO-GOS: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF THE GO-GOS)
- “The Red Zone” by Alex Segura (appearing in ¡PA’QUE TU LO SEPAS!: STORIES TO BENEFIT THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO)
- “Better Days” by Art Taylor (appearing in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE, May/June 2019)
- “Hard Return” by Art Taylor (appearing in CRIME TRAVEL)
Best Anthology or Collection
- THE EYES OF TEXAS: PRIVATE EYES FROM THE PANHANDLE TO THE PINEY WOODS, edited by Michael Bracken (Down & Out Books)
- ¡PA’QUE TU LO SEPAS!: STORIES TO BENEFIT THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO, edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out Books)
- CRIME TRAVEL, edited by Barb Goffman (Wildside Press)
- MALICE DOMESTIC 14: MYSTERY MOST EDIBLE, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press)
- MURDER A-GO-GO’S: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF THE GO-GOS, edited by Holly West (Down & Out Books)
Best Young Adult
- SEVEN WAYS TO GET RID OF HARRY by Jen Conley (Down & Out Books)
- CATFISHING ON CATNET by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
- KILLING NOVEMBER by Adriana Mather (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
- PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING by Randy Ribay (Kokila)
- THE DECEIVERS by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen)
- WILD AND CROOKED by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury YA)
If you, like I, use nominations and awards lists as fuel for your reading list, you might be interested in these posts:
- The long list of nominees for the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) of the United Kingdom 2020 Dagger Awards.
- The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) 2020 Edgar Award winners and nominees.
