Like Bouchercon 2010, the 2009 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana closed with the announcement of the winners of its prestigious Anthony Awards. Convention attendees selected winners of the 2009 Anthony Awards in the following categories.
- 2009 Best Novel Anthony Award: The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly. This second novel in Connelly's new Mickey Haller series is also the 14th in his long running Harry Bosch series. The two protagonists meet when attorney Mickey Haller takes on a cased bequeathed by his murdered colleague, Jerry Vincent. While Haller concentrates on a headline-grabbing trial involving Hollywood studio executive Walter Elliott, Harry Bosch searches for Vincent's killer and discovers that Haller himself may be that killer's next target.
- 2009 Best First Novel Anthony Award: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This first novel in the Millennium trilogy that Larsson completed shortly before his death in 2004 introduces Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old goth who is an expert in the art of research. Described by Larsson as "the very quintessence of difficult," Salander pairs with journalist Mikael Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance, forty years earlier, of Harriet Vanger, daughter of a wealthy Swedish family.
- 2009 Best Paperback Original Anthony Award: State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy. The first volume in Hyzy's White House Chef mystery series features Ollie Paras, Assistant Chef at the White House. Ollie tackles threats against the president with the same enthusiasm with which she joins in the competition for the much desired White House position of Executive Chef.
- 2009 Best Short Story Anthony Award: "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" by Sean Chercover. Chercover's short story features Gravedigger Peace, who was a secondary character in Chercover's novels Big City, Bad Blood (2007) and Trigger City (2008). "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" was published in the Hardcore Hardboiled anthology.
- 2009 Special Service Anthony Award: Jon and Ruth Jordan. Jon and Ruth Jordan are the editors and publishers of CrimeSpree Magazine. Ruth Jordon co-chaired Bouchercon 2008; Jon Jordan's 2003 interview book, Interrogations, received an Anthony Award nomination.
- 2009 Best Critical Non-Fiction Anthony Award: Anthony Boucher: A Biography by Jeffrey Marks. Marks' reference work contains both biographical and bibliographical information on Anthony Boucher and all of Boucher's publications. However, Marks focuses on Boucher's science fiction works.
- 2009 Best Young Adult Novel Anthony Award: The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein. Grabenstein's central character, young Zack Jennings, discovers a tree that harbors the spirits of the victims of a 1958 bus crash. A lightning storm releases the vengeful ghost of the man who caused the crash, who is now intent on targeting Zack.
Carol Thomas originally published this article on Suite101 on October 18, 2009 under the title "2009 Anthony Awards Announced: 40th Bouchercon Closes With Voting for Annual Prizes." She has updated it and added links to her current Examiner.com articles.
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