Bouchercon announces 2010 Anthony Award nominations

The excitement surrounding the October 14-17, 2010 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention reached a peak last Friday with the announcement of the 2010 Anthony Award nominations. Those attending "Bouchercon by the Bay" in San Francisco will select Anthony Award winners in the Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best Short Story and Best Paperback Original categories.

Best Novel Anthony Award Nominees 

• The Last Child by John Hart 
• The Mystic Arts of Erasing all Signs of Death by Charlie Huston 
• The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium Trilogy series #2)  by Stieg Larsson 
• The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache series #5) by Louise Penny  
• The Shanghai Moon (Lydia Chin and Bill Smith series #9) by S.J. Rozan 

Best First Novel Anthony Award Nominees 

• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce series #1) by Alan Bradley 
• Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley 
• A Bad Day for Sorry (Stella Hardesty series #1) by Sophie Littlefield 
• The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville 
• In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff 

Best Paperback Original Anthony Award Nominees 

• Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott 
• Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman 
• Quarry in the Middle by Max Allan Collins 
• Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley 
• Death and the Lit Chick (St. Just Mystery #2) by G.M. Malliet 
• Air Time (Charlotte McNally Mystery #3) by Hank Phillippi Ryan 

Best Short Story Anthony Award Nominees 

• "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" by Ace Atkins, Crossroad Blues 
• "Femme Sole" by Dana Cameron, Boston Noir 
• "Animal Rescue" by Dennis Lehane,  Boston Noir
• "On the House" by Hank Phillippi Ryan, Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers 
• "Amapola" by Luis Alberto Urrea, Phoenix Noir

 Best Critical Non-Fiction Work Anthony Award Nominees 

• Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James 
• The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives by Otto Penzler, ed. 
• Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak 
• Dame Agatha's Shorts: An Agatha Christie Short Story Companion by Elena Santangelo 
• The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

Only a few days before the Anthony Award nominees were revealed, the Nero Wolfe Society published its 2010 Nero Award shortlist. The Nero Award winner will be named at the society's Black Orchid Banquet on Dec.4, 2010.

2010 Nero Award Nominees

• The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries #3) by Charles Finch
• The Crack in the Lens (Holmes On the Range Mystery #4) by Steve Hockensmith
• Faces of the Gone (Carter Ross Mystery #1) by Brad Parks