“The Odds Are Against Us” has been named a finalist for this year’s Macavity Award for Best Short Story—and it’s in great company with tales by Craig Faustus Buck, Barb Goffman, Paul D. Marks, and Travis Richardson! The nominated stories by each of us are linked below.
Nominated on and voted on by members of of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends and supporters of MRI, the awards will be presented in October at the opening ceremonies of Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention. Here’s the full slate of finalists—and congratulations to all!
Macavity Award Nominations 2015 (for works published in 2014)
Best Mystery Novel
- The Lewis Man, by Peter May (Quercus)
- The Last Death of Jack Harbin, by Terry Shames (Seventh Street)
- The Killer Next Door, by Alex Marwood (Penguin)
- The Day She Died, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
- The Missing Place, by Sophie Littlefield (Gallery)
- The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Best First Mystery Novel
- Invisible City, by Julia Dahl (Minotaur)
- The Black Hour, by Lori Rader-Day (Seventh Street)
- Someone Else’s Skin, by Sarah Hilary (Penguin)
- Dear Daughter, by Elizabeth Little (Viking)
- Blessed Are the Dead, by Kristi Belcamino (Witness Impulse)
- Dry Bones in the Valley, by Tom Bouman (W. W. Norton)
Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction
- Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Henery Press)
- The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis, by Charles Brownson (McFarland)
- Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe, by J. W. Ocker (Countryman)
- 400 Things Cops Know: Street Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman, by Adam Plantinga (Quill Driver)
Best Mystery Short Story
- Craig Faustus Buck: “Honeymoon Sweet” (Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out)
- Barb Goffman: “The Shadow Knows” (Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
- Paul D. Marks: “Howling at the Moon” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)
- Travis Richardson: “The Proxy” (Thuglit #13, Sept./Oct. 2014)
- Art Taylor: “The Odds Are Against Us” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)
Sue Feder Memorial Award: Best Historical Mystery
- Queen of Hearts, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime)
- Present Darkness, by Malla Nunn (Atria)
- A Deadly Measure of Brimstone, by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur)
- An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris (Knopf)
- Hunting Shadows, by Charles Todd (Wm. Morrow)
- Things Half in Shadow, by Alan Finn (Gallery)