2023 Killer Nashville Claymore Award Finalists

2023 Killer Nashville Claymore Award Finalists

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE

 Greg Baldwin / The Napoleon Document
Sharon Barnes / Shanghai Sunset
Nordean Baxter / Black Power
David Darling / Signs of Anubis
Les Edgerton / Francois Roberge – The Fixer
Dennis Meredith / The Czar Bomb
Richard Meredith / The Double Cross of Brigid
Ryan Pote / False Horizon
John Righten / The Englander
Patrick Weill / The Mazatlan Showdown

BEST COMEDY

Lawrence Allan / Big F@!king Deal
Marie Bouvier / The Closer to God
Sarah Bresniker / Ask Me Anything
Corwin Bruce / Naked Lies
Elizabeth Crowens / Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles
Christy Tillery French / The Bodyguard and the Bridezilla
Megan Gerig / Double, Double Murder and Trouble
Elaine K. Marsh / King of the Buckaroo Boys
Axel Milens / 10,000 Girls and One Ice Pick
Erica Obey / The Last Riddle of Ransome Peake

BEST COZY

 Abby Abrams / Dying to Open - A Mailbox Mystery
Traci Anderson / A Rosé by Any Other Name
Jennifer K. Breedlove /More Than Blood: A North Islands Historical Society Mystery
Lucinda Gerlitz / The Chess Player
Susan Jacobs / Public Comment: A Debra Wolfson Mystery
Anne-Marie Lacy / Followed by Murder
Sharon Marchisello / Trap, Neuter, Die
Sallie Barr Palmer / A Dinner To Die For
Mark Zeid / The Age Old Crime of Murder
Kelly Zimmer / The North End Murders

BEST HISTORICAL

 Cathy Berry / Reckoned by the Light of Stars
Lisanne Davidson / Grave Promise
Julie Dorsey / The Peacemaker's Wife
Bradley Harper / Maiden Voyage: Love and Larceny Aboard the Titanic
C. C. Harrison / The Women of Bandit Bend
Kate Hohl / The Studio Girl
James Holland / The Wolf Rises: Alice Roosevelt and the White House Gunfighters
Heather Miller / Yellow Bird's Song
Johnathon Parham / The Forgotten Men of Trench and Camp
Catherine Siemann / Death Uptown and Downtown

BEST INVESTIGATOR

 Kayla Elise Brown / Chase Harlem
Michael A Durney / Crimes of a Secret Nature
C. B. Hicks / The Hounds are Gone
Kate Johnston / Burning Curiosity
Brian Kaufman / Rat Town Blues
Mark Edward Langley / Bloodlines
Bonnie Moore / Buried Bones
Ryan Pote / Remember the Names
Jennifer Slee and Jessica Slee / Still Life
Mark Daniel Taylor / Pale & Strain

BEST JUVENILE / YA

 Angie Andriot / The Stonecrafters
Mark Brutsché / Family Secrets
Ted Duke / Sophia
Avram Lavinsky / Close Cousins
Brenda McQueen Neil / Out of the Woods
Shizuka Otake / Murder in Tokyo
Lynn Slaughter / Missing Mom
Angela Thorne / The Sistren
Elisabeth Wathen / This Present Darkness
Melissa Yi / Edan Sze vs. The Red Rock Serial Killer

BEST LITERARY

 Ian Becattelli / The Truth is Neither Here Nor There
Sylvia Bluck / Ministry of Time
Sam Gaynor / Chelsea Avenue
Thaer Husien / Beside the Sickle Moon
Rhonda Lane / Fatal Image
Drew Louis / Drainpipe Dreams
Jo Morey / Lime Juice Money
Hallie Pritts / The Island
Jennifer Slee and Jessica Slee / Perfect Fifth
Bud Tower / Avulsion

BEST MAINSTREAM / COMMERCIAL

 L.H. Dillman / Ragged Run
M.J. Downing / Starling's Call
Kay Elam / Call of the Crickets
Debra H. Goldstein / The Night for Sinners
Minette Lauren / Beauty Secrets
M Leigh / Stitches
William Parolini / Hiding from the Flying Man
Tracey Phillips / Forewarned
Ellen Morris Prewitt / In the Name of Mississippi
Rodney Walther / Glory of the Leopard

BEST MYSTERY

 Craig H. Bowlsby / Requiem for a Lotus
Elizabeth Coffey / Eighteen Floors
Rich Ehisen / High Heat
Earl Fisher / Spin
N.D. Haupt / The Cottage
Stacy Lucas / Informed Consent
Dan McKeon / We Buried It
C.L. Pauwels / Fatal Errors
Ruth Knafo Setton / Zigzag Girl
Lynn Tavernier / Long Way Home

BEST NONFICTION

 John Lamb / Service with a Sneer: A Street Cop’s Memoir
Dennis Meredith / Earthbound: Why Humans Will Never Conquer Space

BEST SCI-FI / FANTASY

 Cheryl Arko / Touch of the Elegrian
Arnie Benn / The Intrepid: Dawn Of The Interstellar Age
Michele Brady Boom / A Nest at Four O'Clock
Mary Butler / Death of a Druid
Anthony Catalano / Once We Were Perfect
Savannah Jackson / Scars of Fire
JS Morrison / The Pieces of My Self
Colleen Story / The Untold Story of King Midas
Troy A. Thompson, M.D. / Crumble's End: Flame and Scar
Kane Williams / Perils of the Past

BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION / ANTHOLOGY

 Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier / Naomi Sinclair Spills the (Bush) Tea
Henry Hack / Shades of Blue
Bonnie Hearn Hill / Part Light, Part Memory: Stories
Robert Mangeot / Parts of the Problem
Anna Scotti / They Look Like Angels
Anthony Seed / Somewhat Difficult to Put into Words
Jennifer Slee / Eternal Return and Other Stories
Braun Tueller / Tales from Neverland
Vincent Valkier / Digital Soul
Tom Wood / Doomstone and Other Thrilling Tales

BEST SOUTHERN GOTHIC

 Staci Andrea / Thrive: Ghosts in the Glades
Michael Amos Cody / Avalon Moon
Linda Fisher / Life in a Basement
Leigh M. Hall / The Chambermaids
Minette Lauren / Hush Little Birdie
Vicki Moreland / Duck Hill
Jacy Sellers / Little Unfortunates
Ashley Thomas Sheikh / Kentucky Blood (Book I of the Kentucky Blood Series)
Timothy Stecker / The Moth
C.S. Torres / Of Mortals and Mayhem

BEST SUPERNATURAL

 Christine Birchwood / Stand in My Grave
Mary Lynn Cloghesy / Claire O'Connor, The Chain Link Murder
Jason Foster / Contours of my Soul
Patricia Galiotos / Greek Girls Never Say Die
R.M. Kinder / My Name is Anna: A Ghost Story
Heather Leonard / Bless Your Heart and Other Southern Curses
Michelle Maryk / The Overgrown
Maria Ostrowski / The Bones of Hope
Darin Werkmeister / Volk
J. Morgyn White / Plague House

BEST SUSPENSE

 Joachim Blunck / Tattoo'd: A Tall Tale
Leigh Bravo / A Child's Eye
Melissa Collings / Consumed
Bonnie Hearn Hill / The Liar's Number
Susan McCormick / The Room at the End of the Hall
MJ O'Neill / The Promises We Keep
Elle Andrews Patt / Blind Mice Bite
Mike Rembis / Eternity's Grasp
Cynthia Rice / The Last Broken Girl
Cheryl Rieger / The Summerhouse

BEST THRILLER

 Barbara Clark / The Fracturing Ice
Ray Collins / Setup
George DeVault / Revenge of the Botanist
Millie Hast / The Edge of Nowhere
Ryan Pote / Burning Water
Christopher Reilly / El Chancho
Joel Shulkin / Spontaneous Remission
Brenda Clark Thomas / EMP
David Wickenden / The Home Front
Becki Willis / One Number Away

BEST WESTERN

 Mary Bendickson / A Brilliantly Scathing Life
Travis Burkett / An American Band
Mary Flodin / The Last Transit of Venus in our Lifetimes
Theresa Handrahan / Wrangling the Moon
Jack Polo / A Man Called Bible
Ryan Pote / Break Glass