At Bouchercon 2014, held November 14-17, the usual number of award ceremonies took place, including the presentation of both the Macavity and Barry Awards.
Voted on by the members of Mystery Readers International, the Macavity Awards went to William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace (Best Mystery Novel), Terry Shames’s A Killing at Cotton Hill (Best First Mystery Novel), Daniel Stashower’s The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot To Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War (Best Mystery Nonfiction), Art Taylor’s “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants” (Best Mystery Short Story, from Ellery Queen magazine), and David Morrell’s Murder as a Fine Art (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award). The Barry Awards, voted on by readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine, included repeat winner William Kent Krueger, who took home the award for Best Novel for Ordinary Grace. Barry Lancet’s Japantown won Best First Mystery Novel, while Adrian McKinty’s I Hear the Siren in the Street won Best Paperback Original, and the Best Thriller went to The Doll by Taylor Stevens.
The Anthony Awards, voted on by attendees of Bouchercon, were announced Saturday evening, the night after the Silent Auction, with Hank Phillippi Ryan and Toastmaster Simon Wood as co-auctioneers. Krueger completed what would be a total awards sweep over the course of the weekend, with Ordinary Grace winning the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony awards for Best Novel. In his Anthony acceptance speech, he praised the close-knit crime fiction community, noting that, iIf I don’t win, one of my friends will, and I love that.”
Matt Coyle’s Yesterday’s Echo won the Anthony for Best First Novel, while Catriona McPherson’s standalone As She Left It won for Best Paperback Original. John Connolly, 2012’s Toastmaster, won the Anthony for Best Short Story for “The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository,” from Bibliomysteries.
Daniel Stashower picked up another accolade for The Hour of Peril, winning the Anthony for Best Critical/Nonfiction. Joelle Charboneau’s The Testing won for Best Children’s/YA, while the pilot episode of The Blacklist won Best Television Episode Teleplay. The newest Anthony category, Best Audio Book, went to Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling, read by Robert Glenister. Unfortunately, Galbraith (also known as J.K. Rowling) was not on hand to collect the award in person.
The David Thompson Special Services Award, created after Murder by the Book in Houston’s Thompson’s unexpected death in 2010, was also presented during the Anthony Award ceremonies to Judy Bobalik, a tireless advocate for the genre who’s helped run numerous past Bouchercons, including co-chairing the 2008 convention in Baltimore.
This year’s Shamus Awards, presented by the Private Eye Writers of America, were presented during a dinner at a nearby restaurant, after which the winners returned to the hotel bar to share stories of their success and toast with friends. Sue Grafton picked up the Hammer Award for best character, honoring her California-based PI, Kinsey Milhone. Brad Parks’s The Good Cop won for Best P.I. Novel, while Heart of Ice by P.J. Parrish won Best P.I. Paperback Original. Bear is Broken by Lachlan Smith picked up the award for Best First P.I. Novel and Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane’s “So Long, Chief,” from The Strand magazine, won Best P.I. Short Story.
