2026 Claymore Award Finalists

Best Action / Adventure

The Veiled Mosaic
Christopher Boswell 

Cleopatra's Tomb
Mark Bruce 

Free Economic Zone
J Reid Graham

Dynamite
James Hamilton

The Peacock Throne
Shaun Singh

The Lost Patrol of Black Virgin Mountain
Rick St John

Best Children's

Leo and the Chess Game of Ashoka
Jaya Agrawl 

The Locker of Legends
Nate Searle

Best Comedy (includes comedic P.I. and crime caper)

The Yellow Willie Incident
Kathleen Kaska

How to Keep a Secret in Alabama
Beth Hamer Miles

Stuck in Stowe
Matthew Minson

Best Cozy

A Truth Most Inconvenient
Elizabeth Abram

Reel Danger in the Dunes
Maggie Cleland

The Doll's House
Lucinda Gerlitz 

Steeped in Gossip
Cathey Rhamy

Alaskan Falls
Lori Sandrock

A Venetian Moonlight Murder
Jacquie Wilvers

Best Historical 

A Proof Against Ghosts
SR Chamberlain

Hollow Whispers of the Wind
Florence Chien

Hero Traitor Spy
Mark Clemens

The Hidebehind: A Folk Hymnal
John Essex 

Winterburn
DJ Mattos

The White Diamond
Howard Sewell

Best Investigator (includes procedural, serious P.I., detective, and noir)

In Plain Sight
Jacquelyn Dohoney

Hunting the Archer
John Foley

Victim’s Voice
Henry James Kaye

Reflections in the Mist
Avram Lavinsky

Centaur Standing
Clare Monteschio

Return to Newstead Hills
CJ Prince

Best Juvenile / Y.A.

The Ravenspur Mystery
Judy Broad

Cinch
Mary Lynn Cloghesy

Mr. Larson's Tooth
Stephanie Duquette

Three Against Time
Alan Elliot

An Evil on Stanton Street
Janelle Gabay 

Early Decision
A.L. Phillips

Best Literary

Ghost of Bosnia
Micheal Blankenship

It's Always the Boyfriend
CJ Howell

The Unbroken Trail
Robert Jones

Boys of Autumn
Robert Jones

This Land Remembers
B Michael Whitis

Sacred Ghosts
Carol Potenza

Best Mainstream / Commercial

Checkpoint
GK Daffu 

The Yeoman of Humboldt County
Brian Heit

Collinwood
Phil Kushner

Hope House/ M Leigh

Parallel Peril
Maria Lynn Barrs 

The Lights of Kirrie
Jennifer Rewick 

Best Mystery

Exit, Wound
Mark Dillman

The Mystery of the Wolf
David Goodlett

Answers Will Come
Henry James Kaye

All the Buried Secrets
Kim Nuesse

The Holiday Slayer
Janet Shawgo

The End of Us
Elissa Thompson

Best Nonfiction

Rebelle
Wendy Cooper

Count Time
Emmett Tatter

Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Origins of the Zodiac: Year of the Dragon
Rebecca Camillo-Amisano

What We Awaken
Peregrine Finn

When the Clock Strikes
Lydia Gullicksen

The Consciousness of Life and Death
WB Henley

The Watcher
Lynn Jerdal

The Castello Della Mente
John Morrison

Best Short Story Collection / Anthology (awarded to individual author or collection editor)

Ten Terrific, Terrifying, and Tantalizing Tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Action
John Bias

Invincible Summer
Andrew Dunn

A Feel for Other People
S Foster Jones

Ain’t Nothin’ Finer- Tales of Appalachia
Venita Lynn Bonds

Between Breath and Bone
Patricia Thorpe

Best Southern Gothic

The Silence We Inherit
Leigh Bravo

Mississippi Gothic
Elise Burke Brown

A Miracle Past Midnight
Aimee Hardy

The Book Conservator
Shelley Marsh

God Don't Live Here Anymore
Patricia Thorpe

Best Supernatural

Blood on the Ground
Stephanie Duquette

Hearts and Minds
Kat Horowitz

Moon Child
Sable Pena

Dark Noise
Christopher Allan Poe

Daughters of the Last Breath
Patricia Thorpe

The Wayfarer
Whitney Weldon

Best Suspense

Fuck, Marry, Kill
LB Blackburne

Colossus Descending
Steven Brody

Needle of Deception
Denise Jendusa

Queenwood
Meredith Pate

The Eleventh Child
Chas Shutt

Aftermath
Deana Willis

Best Thriller

Fifteen Hours to Redondo
Michael Collins

Blood Cache
Jim Doramus

Eagle's Wrath
Kevin Kuhans

Richmond Rising
Stephen Nathanson

The Whisper Book
Jack Sharman

Ties that Bind
Charles A. Stewart

Best True Crime

The Gravity of Millions
NR Gibson

Down at the Balinese
Matthew Minson

Erased: The Sinister Plot behind the Disappearance of Charles Wilding
Mark O'Donnell

Best Western

A Cowboy in Black and Gold
Matthew Gallagher

Windfall
Rebecca Jarnes