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Hotlists 2008

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Crime Fiction | Zoho DB

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Crime Fiction Award Nominees & Winners 2000

 

Page Modified: April 2, 2008

 

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Agatha, Anthony, Barry, Mary Higgins Clark, Dilys, Edgars, Arthur Ellis Awards, Hammett, Lambda, Macavity Awards, Nero Wolfe & Shamus Nominees - and assorted others when possible

The Anthony Awards are determined at Bouchercon each year. Malice Domestic Agatha Awards are for the best cozy books per category. The Barry Awards are nominated by the staff of Deadly Pleasure mystery magazine. The Mary Higgins Clark Award is given for the book written most closely in the Mary Higgins Clark tradition. The Chester Himes Award is given to a black mystery writer for a body of work. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association presents the Dilys Winn Awards for the books most fun to sell. The Mystery Writers of America presents the Edgar Awards for achievement for the best work in the mystery field. The Arthur Ellis Awards are presented at the Canadian Crime Writers meeting. The International Association of Crime Writers' presents the Hammett Award to works of excellence by and American or Canadian writer. The Lamda Mystery awards are part of literary awards given in a a variety of areas to recognize gay/lesbian writers. The Mystery Readers International Award for Excellence is the Macavity, named in honor of T.S. Eliot's "Curious Cat". The Shamus Awards are presented by the Private Eye Writers of America to honor writers of P.I. novels.

Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine unless otherwise noted.

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Listings are arranged alphabetically by author.

• The Blazing Tree
  Author: Adamson, Mary Jo
  Publisher: Signet PubDate: 2000-06 $5.99 ISBN: 0451200349
  Shamus Nominee Best Paperback Original Novel
  In the first book in this gripping historical mystery series, Boston police reporter Michael Merrick investigates a series of fires--one of which led to murder--within a local Shaker community. "An engaging detective story peopled with striking characters".--Publishers Weekly.
  
• Dive Deep and Deadly
  Author: Alam, Glynis Marsh
  Publisher: Avocet PubDate: 2000-04 $ 12.95 ISBN: 0966107292
  Barry Nominee Best Paperback Original
  
• Blind Assassin
  Author: Atwood, Margaret
  Publisher: Bantam $ 26 ISBN: 0385475721
  Booklist Kirkus PW Library Journal
  Hammett Winner
  Containing a novel within a novel, The Blind Assassin is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms of the 1930s and 1940s, it unfolds layer by astonishing layer and concludes in a brilliant and wonderfully satisfying twist.
• Deep South
  Author: Barr, Nevada
  Publisher: Putnam PubDate: 2000-03 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399145869
  Booklist PW
  Anthony Nominee Best Novel
  Barry Winner Best Novel
  The handwritten sign on the tree said it all: Repent. For Anna Pigeon, this should have been reason enough to turn back for her beloved Mesa Verde. Instead she heads for the Natchez Trace Parkway and stumbles upon a gruesome murder with frightening racial overtones.
  
• Black Dog
  Author: Booth, Steven
  Publisher: Scribner PubDate: 2000-10 $ 24 ISBN: 068487301x
  Anthony Nominee Best First Novel
  Barry Winner Best British Crime Novel
  Every once in a while a new writer comes along with the voice, the passion, the originality, and the humanity to become a star. Such a writer is Stephen Booth, whose debut suspense novel Black Dog is already a bestseller in Britain. - Publisher marketing.
  
• Forty Words for Sorrow
  Author: Blunt, Giles
  Publisher: Marion Wood PubDate: 2001-06 (US) $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399147527
  LJ PW
  Arthur Ellis Nominee Best Novel
  A riveting portrait of two monstrous sociopaths and the cops who track them, Forty Words for Sorrow is tense and terrifying as it crosscuts between the cops in pursuit and the killers toying with their latest victim.
• The Sporting Club
  Author: Browning, Sinclair
  Publisher: Bantam PubDate: 2000-03 $ 5.50 ISBN: 0553579436
  Shamus Nominee Best Paperback Original Novel
  In this novel, a bestselling romance author hires Trade Ellis to solve a murder that happened 25 years ago. The only evidence is the author's own childhood memories. Trade isn't sure if her client is playing with a full deck, but the deeper she digs, the more pieces fall into place and the closer she comes to danger.
• Guns and Roses
  Author: Cannon, Taffy
  Publisher: Perservance Press PubDate: 2000-06 $12.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 1880284340
  Agatha Nominee Best Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best Novel
  
• The Sibyl in Her Grave
  Author: Caudwell, Sarah
  Publisher: Delacorte PubDate: 2000-08 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385299346
  Booklist Library Journal
  Dilys Nominee
  Aunt Regina and her friends seem to be connected to capital fraud--and capital crime. And when someone connected with Aunt Regina's equity investments turns up dead, things look even more dire. But Regina couldn't have a better champion than the erudite supersleuth Professor Hilary Tamar, who is determined to solve this murderous muddle before someone else is killed.
  
• Running Blind
  Author: Child, Lee
  Publisher: Putnam PubDate: 2000-07 $ 18.95 ISBN: 0399146237
  Barry Nominee Best Novel
  Women who once worked for the military and who knew Jack Reacher are dying. How and why these women are in danger completely baffles the elite FBI team working the case. There is only one certainty: there is a new kind of killer out there, one so calm, cautious, and careful that even the brilliant Reacher is left running blind.
• The Hearse You Came In On
  Author: Cockey, Tim
  Publisher: Hyperion PubDate: 2000-03 $22.95 ISBN: 0786865709
  Dilys Nominee
  Hitchcock Sewell, Baltimore's most eligible undertaker, is bemused by an alluring mystery woman who arrives at his funeral home in a tennis dress and wants to talk about her own arrangements. Hitch's growing obsession soon draws him into a string of increasingly life-threatening circumstances -- including murder. And if he's not careful, Hitch will find himself six feet under.
• The Hindenburg Murders
  Author: Collins, Max Allan
  Publisher: Berkley PubDate: 2000-06 $ 6.50 ISBN: 0425174093
  Shamus Nominee Best Paperback Original Novel
  From the author of Saving Private Ryan and The Titanic Murders comes a gripping new mystery based on history's most terrifying air disaster. An author aboard the "Hindenburg" on its doomed flight investigates the Nazi control of the blimp and uncovers disturbing events leading to the final explosion.
• Dark Hollow
  Author: Connolly, John
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster PubDate: 2000-07 $ 25 ISBN: 0743203321
  Barry Nominee Best British Crime Novel
  Dark Hollow is a masterful second novel from a young Irish writer whose storytelling skills were established with Every Dead Thing. Now his fiery, ingenious detective, Charlie "Bird" Parker, returns to uncover a legacy of evil that has haunted Maine citizens for decades.
• Places in the Dark
  Author: Cook, Thomas
  Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell PubDate: 2000-06 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553105639
  Booklist
  Barry Nominee Best Novel
  From the Edgar Award-winning author of The Chatham School Affair comes an unforgettable novel about two brothers and the woman they both love--a tale of brotherly bonds and damning betrayal, a story of the terrible deeds done in the name of love.
• Name Games
  Author: Craft, Michael
  Publisher: St Martins PubDate: 2000-06 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312245521
  Lambda Finalist Gay Men's Mystery
  The Mark Manning series continues when a miniatures expert is viciously murdered and Manning must uncover many closely held town secrets to discover the truth.
• Demolition Angel
  Author: Crais, Robert
  Publisher: Doubleday PubDate: 2000-06 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385495846
  Kirkus PW Library Journal
  Dilys Nominee
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  On the heels of the bestselling and critically acclaimed L.A. Requiem, Crais returns to the City of Angels with the most ambitious novel of his career, a stand-alone thriller featuring a complex and engaging female protagonist. When Carol Starkey, a bomb squad technician, survives an explosion designed to kill her, she is pitted against a frighteningly brilliant mastermind for the modern age.
• Authorized Personal Only
  Author: D'Amato, Barbara
  Publisher: Forge PubDate: 2000-12 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312865643
  PW
  Mary Higgins Clark Winner
  While Chicago cop Suze Figueroa spends her work day tracking down an elusive serial killer, she has no idea that a much more personal danger lives under her own roof, eating her food, handling her gun, and watching her loved ones. Strips of yellow tape may keep curious bystanders away from crime scenes, but nothing so simple can protect Suze and her family from the menace that has invaded the safety of their home.
• The Beach Road
  Author: Diamond, Sarah
  Publisher: Orion (UK)
  Barry Nominee Best British Crime Novel
  
• A Smile on the Face of the Tiger
  Author: Estleman, Loren
  Publisher: Mysterious PubDate: 2000-08 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892967064
  PW
  Shamus Nominee Best Hardcover Private Eye Novel
  
• Hot Six
  Author: Evanovich, Janet
  Publisher: St Martins PubDate: 2000-07 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312205406
  Kirkus PW Booklist
  Dilys Nominee
  In this sixth Stephanie Plum adventure, Ranger the super bounty hunter is on the lam and Stephanie has to team up with vice-cop Joe Morelli to find him. But has Ranger really broken the law? Is he a psychotically dangerous criminal? "(Evanovich) is in a class by herself when it comes to plot and humor".--Liz Smith, syndicated columnist.
  
• The Certainty of Doing Evil
  Author: Falconer, Colin
  Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (UK)
  Barry Nominee Best British Crime Novel
  
• Killer Wedding
  Author: Farmer, Jerrilyn
  Publisher: Twilight PubDate: 2000-03 $5.99 (paper) ISBN: 0380795981
  Agatha Nominee Best Novel
  Never expecting to be the guest of the West Coast's grande dame of wedding consultants, Maddie finds herself at a lavish affair in the Nature Museum's Hall of Dinosaurs. The groom is on time, the bride is beautiful, but something's wrong. A corpse is dangling from a dinosaur skeleton.
• Cross Dressing
  Author: Fitzhugh, Bill
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-06 $ 24 ISBN: 0380977567
  Kirkus
  Barry Nominee Best Novel
  An advertising man is forced to impersonate his twin brother, a Catholic priest, in this audacious satire from the acclaimed author of Pest Control. Soon, Dan finds himself admiring the good-looking, gun-toting Sister Peg, who gives him impure thoughts about renouncing his vow--not that he ever took one.
• The Deader the Better
  Author: Ford, G. M.
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-02 $ 22 ISBN: 0380977230
  Shamus Nominee Best Hardcover Private Eye Novel
  An old friend of Leo Waterman's has purchased some choice property in North America's only rain forest and has become the victim of irksome harassment by the offended locals. Waterman figures it's time for him to get involved.
• Havana Heat
  Author: Garcia-Aguilera, Carolina
  Publisher: Morrow PubDate: 2000-10 $ 24 ISBN: 038097780x
  Shamus Winner Best Hardcover Private Eye Novel
  A remark at a large Cuban-American wedding sets Lupe Solano on a dangerous hunt for the legendary Unicorn Tapestry. Someone else believes the Tapestry is real, and believes strongly enough to kill for it.
• Brigham's Day
  Author: Gates, John
  Publisher: Walker PubDate: 2000-06 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0802733441
  Shamus Nominee Best First Private Eye Novel
  Brigham Bybee is assigned to assist in the defense of a young man accused of murder in the town of Kanab, Utah. To mount even a basic defense requires some investigation. Brig quickly realizes that not only is the accused being set up, but so is he. To save himself and his client, the attorney must ask questions people have avoided answering for more than 100 years.
• The Black Maria
  Author: Graham, Mark
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-03 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380800683
  Edgar Winner Best Original Paperback
  Across the street from the spectacular Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 is a strip of gambling halls, shooting galleries, and dance halls. When detective Wilton McCleary agrees to guide a tour group through America's first "midway, " he stumbles across a mutilated body and gets drawn into a 20-year-old mystery that involves the city's power brokers.
• Ellipsis
  Author: Greenleaf, Stephen
  Publisher: Scribner PubDate: 2000-07 $ 24 ISBN: 0684849550
  Shamus Nominee Best Hardcover Private Eye Novel
  A riveting new John Marshall Tanner thriller features murder and intrigue in the glamorous world of a mega-bestselling novelist. It's the kind of case the San Francisco P.I. doesn't usually accept: bodyguard to a world-famous writer, Chandelier Wells. But as he negotiates the complex turns of Chandelier's life, he is unaware that his own life is about to take a dramatic turn.
• Death Dances to a Reggae Beat
  Author: Grilley, Kate
  Publisher: Berkley PubDate: 2000-06 $ 5.99 (paper) ISBN: 0425175065
  Agatha Nominee Best First Novel
  Anthony Winner Best Paperback Original
  Barry Nominee Best Paperback Original
  Macavity Nominee Best First Novel
  Kelly Ryan has just moved to the Caribbean island of St. Chris to run a top-rated radio station. She knew her new life would be full of adventure--but she never expected to find a tourist's body impaled with a spear on the beach.
• Winter of the Wolf Moon
  Author: Hamilton, Steve
  Publisher: Minotaur PubDate: 2000-02 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312252951
  PW
  Barry Nominee Best Novel
  In this hardboiled sequel to A Cold Day in Paradise, Alex McKnight has retreated from his private eye business on the frozen shores of Lake Superior. But events have begun to spin out of control, and he'll soon have to deal with drug-crazed hockey goons, mysterious men wearing hunting caps and guns, and a cold-blooded killer from the other side of the world.
• Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death
  Author: Herman, Julie Wray
  Publisher: Silver Dagger PubDate: 2000-04 $ 24.50 ISBN: 1570721106
  Agatha Nominee Best First Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best First Novel
  Three Dirty Women Landscaping, Inc., unearths more than they bargain for when Amilou Whittier finds her philandering husband buried under a client's azaleas.
  
• The Debt Collector
  Author: Hightower, Lynn
  Publisher: Delacorte PubDate: 2000-11 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385323603
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  In The Debt Collector, Hightower chillingly captures the collision of a horrific crime with the ordinary lives of its victims. And while one family has been wiped out by savage killers, the life of a good cop is at risk now. Because as Sonora Blair moves down a trail full of shocking surprises and unpaid debts, she now knows one thing for sure: how close she is getting to the edge.
• In Her Defense
  Author: Horn, Stephen
  Publisher: HarperCollins PubDate: 2000-05 $ 25 ISBN: 0060194405
  PW
  Barry Nominee Best First Novel
  Attorney Frank O'Connell's need to live on the edge cost him his family and a partnership in his father-in-law's D.C. firm. Now, he combs the cell blocks for clients. Then Ashley Bronson walks into his life, accused of the murder of a former cabinet official that has propelled her from the society column to the front page. And she wants Frank to defend her.
• Hot Springs
  Author: Hunter, Stephen
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 068486360x
  Kirkus Booklist PW
  Hammett Nominee
  The undisputed master of the tough thriller delivers a masterpiece of crime fiction. In the summer of 1946 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a lawman is called upon by the district attorney to help bring down the mob. As casino raids erupt into nerve-shattering combat, the body count mounts - along with the suspense.
• Little Mexico
  Author: John, Cathie
  Publisher: CC Publishing PubDate: 2000-10 $ 12.95 ISBN: 0963148378
  Barry Nominee Best Paperback Original
  
• False Witness
  Author: Kelly, Lelia
  Publisher: Kensington PubDate: 2000-01 $ 23 ISBN: 1575664909
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  While investigating a messy murder, whip-smart attorney Laura Chastain is desperate to find a crucial witness in a trial where the price of justice could mean the difference between life or death.
• Love's Last Chance: Nigel and Nicky
  Author: Kraus, Krandall
  Publisher: Alyson PubDate: 2000-11 $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 1555835058
  Lambda Finalist Gay Men's Mystery
  
• The Bottoms
  Author: Lansdale, Joe R.
  Publisher: Mysterious PubDate: 2000-09 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892967048
  Booklist
  Edgar Winner Best Novel
  Hammett Nominee
  Anthony Nominee Best Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best Novel
  The talented voice of East Texas delivers a riveting, poignant, and suspenseful tale of a Depression-era serial murder seen through the eyes of a young boy.
• Heir Hunter
  Author: Larsgaard, Chris
  Publisher: Delacorte PubDate: 2000-03 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385333633
  Shamus Nominee Best First Private Eye Novel
  Nick Merchant is in the business of finding heirs--when he does, he can claim a percentage of their estate. So when Gerald Jacobs is found dead in upstate New York, Nick thinks he's about to score the payday of a lifetime--but first he must discover the guilty secret of the dead man's fortune.
• Death in the Steel City
  Author: Lipinski, Thomas
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-04 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380794322
  Shamus Winner Best Paperback Original Novel
  On his deathbed, Dorsey's father admits to some questionable business dealings in the past. However, he refuses to tell his son everything, so Dorsey embarks on a quest to investigate a murder that occurred many years ago. As Dorsey searches through the past, he discovers that the secrets of yesterday are no match for the test of time.
• A Conspiracy of Paper
  Author: Liss, David
  Publisher: Random PubDate: 2000-03 $ 25 ISBN: 0375502920
  Kirkus PW Booklist Library Journal
  Edgar Winner Best First Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best First Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best First Novel
  Barry Nominee Best First Novel
  "In A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss has woven a tale of 18th-century finance, murder, and religion that is a remarkable debut and a thoroughly satisfying novel."--Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha.
• The Reaper
  Author: Lovesey, Peter
  Publisher: Soho PubDate: 2001-03 $ 23 ISBN: 1567472270
  PW
  Barry Nominee Best British Crime Novel
  Otis Joy is the handsome young rector of St. Bartholomew's Church in Foxford, England. His bishop has just accused him of embezzling church funds and ordered him to resign. But before that can happen, the bishop commits suicide. How opportune. One sudden death seems to lead to another. But then Otis Joy finds his soul mate.
• Death of an Amiable Child
  Author: Marcuse, Irene
  Publisher: Walker PubDate: 2000-08 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0802733468
  Agatha Nominee Best First Novel
  When the homeless "lady of the landing" is found dead at an apartment building, Anita Servi begins to piece together her story. She finds some papers that not only provide most of the answers, but also lead her to Riverside Park's Memorial to the Amiable child--and threaten to create a need for her own headstone.
• Mommy Deadest: Meg Darcy
  Author: Marcy, Jean
  Publisher: New Victoria PubDate: 2000-10 $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 1892281120
  Lambda Winner Lesbian Mystery
  
• Storm Track
  Author: Maron, Margaret
  Publisher: Mysterious PubDate: 2000-04 $ 22.95 ISBN: 0802733468
  Agatha Winner Best Novel
  Judge Deborah Knott blows the lid off a murder investigation with gale force winds in this newest entry in the award-winning series. As Hurricane Fran strikes the North Carolina coast, Judge Knott seeks clues to a motel murder and a determined killer finds a perfect time to strike again.
• The Floating Girl
  Author: Massey, Sujata
  Publisher: HarperCollins PubDate: 2000-05 $ 24 ISBN: 0060192291
  Agatha Nominee Best Novel
  Rei Shimura thinks she'll have the column of a lifetime if she interviews a hot new comic book artist--until the artist and his best friend turn up dead. The situation is anything but comic as Shimura's search for the killer takes her through the sleazy parts of Tokyo.
• A Place of Execution
  Author: McDermid, Val
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 PubDate: 2000-09 ISBN: 0312266324
  PW
  Dilys Winner
  Edgar Nominee Best Novel
  Anthony Winner Best Novel
  Macavity Winner Best Novel
  When a 13-year-old girl vanishes from her insular village in 1963, a newly promoted inspector must face a murder with no body and an investigation filled with dead ends. Decades later, the inspector finds new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence.
  
• Booked for Murder: Lindsey Gordon
  Author: McDermid, Val
  Publisher: Spinsters PubDate: 2000-05 $ 12 (trade paper) ISBN: 1883523370
  Lambda Finalist Lesbian Mystery
  
• Death Understood: Denise Cleever
  Author: McNab, Claire
  Publisher: Naiad PubDate: 2000-10 $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 156280264X
  Lambda Finalist Lesbian Mystery
  
• Resurrection Angel
  Author: Mize, William
  Publisher: Writers Club PubDate: 2000-10 $ 20.95 ISBN: 0595131700
  Shamus Nominee Best First Private Eye Novel
  
• Listen to the Silence
  Author: Muller, Marcia
  Publisher: Mysterious PubDate: 2000-07 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0892966890
  Booklist
  Shamus Nominee Best Hardcover Private Eye Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best Novel
  Upon the death of her father, San Francisco-based PI Sharon McCone discovers she's adopted and is determined to find her biological parents. She journeys to Idaho's Flathead Reservation for answers but discovers some locals who will stop at nothing to keep certain secrets hidden.
• Bad to the Bone
  Author: Munger, Katy
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-06 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380800640
  Shamus Nominee Best Paperback Original Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best Paperback Original
  After Casey is hired by Tawny Bledsoe to find her estranged husband and child, Casey locates the fugitive spouse too easily, and begins to suspect she's been played for a fool. Then Case finds herself embroiled in a murder case with Tawny's name written all over it.
• A Dangerous Road
  Author: Nelscott, Kris
  Publisher: Minotaur PubDate: 2000-07 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312262647
  Edgar Nominee Best Novel
  While Memphis burns, a boyhood friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., learns the truth about the violent death of his parents 20 years ago. This mystery launches a unique and atmospheric series introducing African-American P.I. Smokey Dalton.
• Nothing Gold Can Stay
  Author : Nelson, Casey
  Publisher: Alyson PubDate: 2000-06 $12.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 1555834922
  Lambda Finalist Gay Men's Mystery
  
  
• Red Light
  Author: Parker, T. Jefferson
  Publisher: Hyperion PubDate: 2000-04 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0786866004
  Kirkus
  Edgar Nominee Best Novel
  In this emotionally charged thriller, detective Merci Rayborn faces the challenge of the lifetime--a high-profile murder case that points to her lover as the main suspect.
• Half Moon Street
  Author: Perry, Anne
  Publisher: Ballantine PubDate: 2000-05 $ 25 ISBN: 0345433270
  Macavity Nominee Best Novel
  Perry delivers another stunning novel filled with the darkest of secrets and guiltiest of pleasures in late Victorian London. When Inspector Thomas Pitt is called to a shocking murder scene, his determined search leads him deep into London's bohemia and into studios where masters of light and shadow experiment with the new art of photography.
  
• He Shall Thunder in the Sky
  Author: Peters, Elizabeth
  Publisher: Morrow PubDate: 2000-06 $ 25 ISBN: 0380976595
  Agatha Nominee Best Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best Novel
  The clouds of World War I hang heavy over Cairo as Amelia Peabody and her family return to Egypt for another season of archeological excavation. When an exquisite sculpture is found where it ought not to be, it confirms Amelia's most unsettling suspicion about the reemergence of her villainous arch-nemesis, Sethos, the Master Criminal.
• The Ice Harvest
  Author: Phillips, Scott
  Publisher: Ballantine PubDate: 2000-12 $ 19.95 ISBN: 0345440188
  Edgar Nominee Best First Novel
  Hammett Nominee
  Anthony Nominee Best First Novel
  Barry Nominee Best First Novel
  Lawyer Charlie Arglist is looking to say goodbye to Wichita by revisiting the landscape of his used-up life. Yet before the sun rises, before he can leave town with a suitcase of stolen money, Charlie's ultimate scam explodes, uncovering a world full of twists that offers no mercy and allows few survivors.
• The Whole Truth
  Author: Pickard, Nancy
  Publisher: Pocket PubDate: 2000-03 $ 22.95 ISBN: 0671887955
  PW
  Edgar Nominee Best Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best Novel
  When true-crime author Marie Lightfoot follows a twisted path that leads to a young victim's parents--and ultimately to the dark recesses of her own soul--she becomes a sitting duck for a killer who just might be smart enough to outwit her.
• Plain Truth
  Author: Picoult, Jodi
  Publisher: Pocket PubDate: 2000-05 $ ISBN: 0671776126
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  With her "remarkable ability to make us share her characters' feelings" (People), the celebrated author of Keeping Faith explores the complex choices of the heart faced by a young Amish woman.
• Lost Girls
  Author: Pyper, Andrew
  Publisher: Delacorte PubDate: 2000-06 $ 23.95 ISBN: 038533446x
  Booklist Kirkus PW
  Shamus Nominee Best First Private Eye Novel
  This literary gothic debut, a #1 National Post bestseller in Canada, is a chilling tale in which one mystery fractures into many as a young defense attorney, assigned to his first murder trial, returns to the haunted town of his past.
• Death of a Red Heroine
  Author: Qiu, Xiaolong
  Publisher: Soho PubDate: 2000-06 $ 25 ISBN: 1569471932
  Kirkus Booklist
  Edgar Nominee Best First Novel
  Anthony Winner Best First Novel
  Barry Nominee Best First Novel
  In contemporary China, Inspector Chen Chao is investigating the murder of a National Model Worker, a celebrity of utmost probity. He must rekindle an old flame with the daughter of a Politburo member to keep a murderer from going unpunished.
  
• A Density of Souls
  Author: Rice, Christopher
  Publisher: Talk Miramax PubDate: 2000-08 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0786866462
  Lambda Finalist Gay Men's Mystery
  Dark, compelling, and touching a deep contemporary nerve, "A Density of Souls" is a richly plotted first novel about four high school friends in present-day New Orleans torn apart by envy, passion, and a secret murder. Powerful, with an utterly compelling narrative, it looks hard into the darker side of high school life and the tortured psyche of young teenagers.
  
  
• Cold is the Grave
  Author: Robinson, Peter
  Publisher: Morrow PubDate: 2000-10 $ 24 ISBN: 0380978083
  LJ PW
  Arthur Ellis Winner Best Novel
  After trying to destroy the career of Inspector Alan Banks, Chief Constable Riddle now turns to Banks for help when pictures of Riddle's missing daughter turn up on a pornographic Website. The search for the missing young woman draws Banks deep into London's sordid underbelly of drugs, crime, and sex.
• Distemper
  Author: Saulnier, Beth
  Publisher: Warner PubDate: 2000-06 $ 6.50 ISBN: 0446608610
  PW
  Barry Nominee Best Paperback Original
  Still recovering from the shocking murder of her lover during her first outing in Reliable Sources, journalist Alex Bernier covers the case of a serial killer at Vassar who is eying Alex as a potential victim.
• Unwanted Company
  Author: Seranella, Barbara
  Publisher: HarperCollins PubDate: 2000-02 $ 24 ISBN: 0060192135
  Barry Nominee Best Novel
  The nationally bestselling author of No Offense Intended delivers a another high-octane thriller featuring Munch Mancini, prison parolee turned auto mechanic turned limo chauffeur.
• Crow in Stolen Colors
  Author: Simpson, Marcia
  Publisher: Poisoned Pen PubDate: 2000-05 $ 24.95 ISBN: 1890208361
  Edgar Nominee Best First Novel
  Macavity Nominee Best First Novel
  In this debut novel, the proprietor of a freight service, Liza Romero, has found refuge from her troubled past in Wrangell, a small Alaskan town with a rich history. But after she rescues a young Tlingit boy from certain death, danger begins to plague her every step.
• One-Eyed Jacks
  Author: Smith, Brad
  Publisher: Doubleday (Canada) $ 29.95 (Canadian) ISBN: 0385259204
  Hammett Nominee
  Arthur Ellis Nominee Best Novel
  In the tradition of James Ellroy, Brad Smith has readers instantly embroiled in a quick-paced plot that involves guns and money, good guys and bad guys, double and triple crosses, and an exciting, suspenseful payoff. An unerring tradition of '50s Ontario, rich in local colour and with the kind of crackling dialogue that drives an Elmore Leonard novel, One-Eyed Jacks is a great read that opens up the underbelly of Toronto the Good. - publisher marketing.
• Raveling
  Author: Smith, Peter Moore
  Publisher: Little Brown PubDate: 2000-07 $ 23.95 ISBN: 031644217-8
  Kirkus Library Journal
  Edgar Nominee Best First Novel
  In a stunning debut novel of psychological suspense, a man must uncover the secret of his sister's disappearance 20 years earlier, or lose his mind trying.
• The Floating Lady Murder
  Author: Stashower, Daniel
  Publisher:Avon PubDate: 2000-12 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380800578
  Anthony Nominee Best Paperback Original
  Before achieving his own fame, young Harry Houdini must be content to work for Keller, the "Dean of American Magicians". During the first performance of Keller's most astonishing illusion, his levitating assistant plummets to her death. Further investigation reveals she actually died by drowning. Harry, his wife, Bess, and brother, Dash, must solve this deadly conundrum.
  
• Death on a Silver Tray
  Author: Stevens, Rosemary
  Publisher: Berkely PubDate: 2000-05 $ 21.95 ISBN: 0425174689
  Agatha Winner Best First Novel
  Set in Regency England, this story finds Beau Brummell in the middle of a murder investigation involving a countess who has been poisoned, allegedly by her paid companion. The Duchess of York, who hired the girl, stands to lose her good name. So she calls in Brummell, who uncovers other suspects.
• Murder of a Small Town Honey
  Author: Swanson, Denise
  Publisher: Signet PubDate: 2000-07 $ 5.99 (paper) ISBN: 0451200551
  Agatha Nominee Best First Novel
  First in a new cozy series featuring Skye Denison, who's reluctantly returned to her hometown of Scumble River as the new school psychologist. When the elderly host of a beloved children's TV program is found dead at a festival, Skye is compelled to snoop, especially when her brother is accused of the crime.
• When Evil Changes Face: Brett Higgins
  Author: Szymanski, Therese
  Publisher: Bella PubDate: 2000-10 $ 11.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0967775337
  Lambda Finalist Lesbian Mystery
  
• Murder on St. Mark's Place
  Author: Thompson, Victoria
  Publisher: Berkely PubDate: 2000-03 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0425173615
  Edgar Nominee Best Original Paperback
  Sara Brandt, a midwife in the turn-of-the-century tenements of New York City, teams up with Sergeant Frank Malloy to investigate the death of a glamor girl. As they search for clues amid the bright lights of Coney Island and the stately homes of Fifth Avenue, their shared passion for justice may cost them dearly.
• Legacy of the Dead
  Author: Todd, Charles
  Publisher: Bantam PubDate: 2000-11 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0553801686
  Anthony Nominee Best Novel
  The First World War stays with Inspector Ian Rutledge, who returns to take up his profession at Scotland Yard with a constant "companion"--the ghost of Hamish MacLeod, the young Scot whom he unwillingly executed on the battlefield. Rutledge's next case involves MacLeod's grieving fiancee, who is accused of a callous murder.
  
• Street Level
  Author: Truluck, Bob
  Publisher: Minotaur PubDate: 2000-09 $ 22.95 ISBN: 031226626x
  Booklist PW
  Shamus Winner Best First Private Eye Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best First Novel
  Barry Nominee Best FirstNovel
  Duncan Sloan is a private eye who works when he feels like it. Now he's been hired to find an as-yet unborn baby in the grimy pockets of Orlando, Florida. What he discovers instead is the three murdered bodies of the mother's relatives. Now, he must find the bad guys or the killing will continue.
• Killing Kin
  Author: West, Chassie
  Publisher: Avon PubDate: 2000-07 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0061043893
  Edgar Nominee Best Original Paperback
  Anthony Nominee Best Paperback Original
  When her partner and former fiance goes missing, police officer Leigh Ann Warren sets out on a dangerous investigation with only a few seemingly unrelated clues. Her probe leads her deep into the woods of eastern Maryland and into a killer's lair.
• The Case of the Orphaned Bassonist
  Author: Wilson, Barbara
  Publisher: Seal PubDate: 2000-11 $ 12.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 1580050468
  Lambda Finalist Lesbian Mystery
  Reilly arrives in Venice to see why her best friend, a bassoonist extraordinaire, has been accused of stealing a Venetian family heirloom. With an international cast of characters, the luminous backdrop of Venice, and the author's trademark wit, the mystery is as thrilling as a vaporetto ride.
• The Limits of Justice: Benjamin Justice
  Author: Wilson, John Morgan
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 22.95 ISBN: 0385491174
  Booklist
  Lambda Winner Gay Men's Mystery
  Hired by Charlotte Preston to write a rebuttal to a sleazy expos on her late father, journalist Benjamin Justice discovers Charlotte dead in her room with a needle in her arm. Determined to discover the truth, what Justice finds links an unlikely group of men to a history of twisted perversion and crimes almost too horrible to believe.
  Excerpt
  
• A Little Death
  Author: Wilson, Laura
  Publisher: Bantam PubDate: 2000-11 $5.99 ISBN: 055358281x
  Anthony Nominee Best Paperback Original
  This novel, which debuted to great reviews in Britain, takes place in London in 1955, when the bodies of three elderly recluses are found in a house. One of the victims is a society beauty, the prime suspect in the murder of her husband 30 years earlier. The mystery traces back to a beautiful country estate in the 1890s.
  
• Run
  Author: Winter, Douglas E.
  Publisher: Knopf PubDate: 2000-03 $ 23 ISBN: 037540838x
  Anthony Nominee Best First Novel
  Burdon Lane has a run this weekend with his best friend Renny Two Hand and two hardcase killers in tow. What he doesn't know: the government has a man--maybe more than one man--inside the run, and nothing is what it seems.
  
• Dirty Money
  Author: Womack, Steve
  Publisher: Fawcett PubDate: 2000-02 $ 6.50 ISBN: 0345414489
  Shamus Nominee Best Paperback Original Novel
  Private eye Harry James Denton is posing as a handyman in the world-famous Mustang Ranch brothel in Reno to smoke out a money-laundering operation. But when one of the Mustang girls is murdered and Harry becomes the prime suspect, he must save his neck by gambling on cornering a killer who holds all the aces.
• The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn
  Author: Wright, Eric
  Publisher: Perserverance PubDate: 2000-10 $ 12.95 ISBN: 1880284405
  Edgar Nominee Best Original Paperback
  Arthur Ellis Nominee Best Novel
  Anthony Nominee Best Paperback Original
  
• Kidnap
  Author: Wright, L.R.
  Publisher: Doubleday (Cananda) PubDate: 2000
  Arthur Ellis Nominee Best Novel
  
• Pursuit & Persuasion
  Author: Wright, Sally S.
  Publisher: Multnomah PubDate: 2000-03 $ 10.99 ISBN: 1576734161
  Edgar Nominee Best Original Paperback
  Professor Georgina Fletcher died of "natural causes, " but not before writing a letter asking for an investigation into her death. American archivist Ben Reese takes up the dangerous challenge that begins with a 16th-century stabbing and incorporates elements of falconry, microbiology, and book collecting before Georgina's hidden poems eventually help him find the killer.

Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.

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Comments, suggestions, corrections: Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT): ann_overbooked@earthlink.net or ann@overbooked.com

I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents. Special thanks to those folks who regularly help keep me on track - you know who you are....

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"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain" - Louisa May Alcott

"Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind" - Richard Powers