Overbooked

Page Modified: December 10, 2009

Crime Fiction Award Nominees & Winners Novels published in 1997

 

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 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.

Listings are arranged alphabetically by author.

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• Free Reign
  Author: Aubert, Rosemary
  Publisher: Bridge Works Pub Co Pub 1997-03 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 1882593189
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  PW
  Ellis Portal, once an esteemed judge, now lives as a homeless vagrant in Toronto. He finds a severed hand wearing a ring he recognizes, and his search to identify the victim and killer takes him back into the world that has cast him out. As he comes face to face with his own past, Ellis solves the mystery and regains his dignity - and more.
• Death at Sandringham House (Her Majesty Investigates)
  Author: Benison, C. C.
  Publisher: Bantam Books (Mm) Pub 1997-01 List Price: $ 5.50 ISBN: 0553574779
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  Murder in the palaces of England gives sleuth Jane Bee, housemaid to Her Majesty the Queen, a puzzle fit for a monarch in the second novel of this charmingly irresistible series.
• A Crime in the Neighborhood: A Novel
  Author: Berne, Suzanne
  Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 17.95 ISBN: 1565121651
  EDGAR BEST FIRST NOVEL
  BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR NOMINEE
  In 1973, it seems to 10-year-old Marsha that everyone she knows is committing crimes; her father and Aunt Ada are having an affair; her teenage brother and sister are smoking and shoplifting; even the President of the United States is acting like a crook. But when a body of a neighbor boy - someone Marsha knows - is found in the woods behind the shopping mall, she focuses her sights more sharply than ever on the neighborhood comings and goings.
• Gossip
  Author: Bram, Christopher
  Publisher: E P Dutton Pub 1997-04 List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0525939148
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST GAY MYSTERY
  
• Devil's Food
  Author: Bruno, Anthony
  Publisher: Forge Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0312859902
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  Booklist
  In the tradition of Get Shorty and Strip Tease, a gritty suspense novel from the bestselling author of the novelization of Seven. "Mr. Bruno keeps us entertained with a razzle-dazzle style..." - The New York Times.
• Cimarron Rose
  Author: Burke, James Lee
  Publisher: Hyperion Pub 1997-08 List Price: $24.95 ISBN: 0786862580
  HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINEE
  EDGAR BEST NOVEL WINNER
  PW BL Kirkus
  NYTBR Notable
  The acclaimed author of the Dave Robicheaux novels presents a new work that explodes with the violence, beauty, and history of the American West. To defend his illegitimate son, who has been wrongly accused of murder, Billy Bob Holland takes on the powerful class interests controlling the small town of Deaf Smith, Texas. As a result, he ends up facing the demons of his own past.
• Hocus
  Author: Jan Burke
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub 1997-05 List Price: $ 22.00 ISBN: 0684803445
  AGATHA BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  MACAVITY BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  In this thunderously paced heart-stopper by the author of Remember Me, Irene, intrepid sleuth/reporter Irene Kelly's skills are put to the ultimate test when her detective husband Frank is taken hostage.
• Killing Floor
  Author: Child, Lee
  Publisher: Putnam Pub 1997-03 List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399142533
  DILYS NOMINEE
  ANTHONY AWARD WINNER BEST FIRST NOVEL
  MACAVITY BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  A former military cop hunts down his brother's killers in this searing tale of revenge and honor. The sleepy, forgotten town of Margrave, Georgia, hasn't seen a crime in decades, but within three days it witnesses crimes that leave everyone stunned.
• Indigo Slam : An Elvis Cole Novel
  Author: Crais, Robert
  Publisher: Hyperion Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0786862610
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL N0MINEE
  When a 15-year-old girl shows up to plead with Los Angeles P.I. Elvis Cole for help in finding her errant father, his first impulse is to call Social Services. But Elvis is intrigued, and as he investigates, learns that the disappearing dad seems to be a mover in the criminal underworld who is on the verge of some grand scheme.
• Shanghai Alley
  Author: Christy, Jim
  Publisher: Ekstasis Editions Pub 1997 List Price: $ ISBN: ? Binding: ?
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  
• Back Spin (Myron Bolitar Mystery)
  Author: Coben, Harlan
  Publisher: Dell Pub 1997-08 List Price: $5.50 ISBN: 0440222702
  DILYS NOMINEE
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOMINEE
  Veteran golfer Jack Coldren is staging the comeback of a lifetime at the U.S. Open. But when Coldren is found dead in a sand trap, Myron takes on the case, digging through 20 years of secrets to find a killer who's closer to him that he ever imagined.
• Trunk Music
  Author: Connelly, Michael
  Publisher: Little Brown Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316152447
  HAMMETT NOMINEE
  MACAVITY BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Upping the ante after his breakthrough success with The Poet, Michael Connelly returns with his most compelling thriller yet. After the dead body of a Hollywood producer is found in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch follows the man's gambling debts to Vegas, where the case suddenly gest more complex - and much more personal.
• Home Again, Home Again
  Author: Cooper, Susan Rogers
  Publisher: Avon Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 5.50 ISBN: 0380781565
  EDGAR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL NOMINEE
  E.J.'s latest murder investigation strikes a little to close to home when her couch potato husband, Willis, vanishes. Following Willis's tracks leads E.J. to the corpse of a lovelorn redneck turkey trucker and a very nasty mess of family secrets.
• Dreaming of the Bones
  Author: Deborah Crombie
  Publisher: Scribner Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 22.00 ISBN: 0684801418
  EDGAR BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  AGATHA BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  MACAVITY BEST NOVEL WINNER
  PW
  NYTBR Notable
  When talented and tormented poet Lydia Brook dies, it is assumed that she has taken her own life. Uneasy about the manner of Lydia's death, feminist biographer Victoria McClellan calls her ex-husband, Duncan Kincaid, for help. But before he can take action, Vic herself is dead - and there's no question that this one is murder.
• Trial of Passion
  Author: Deverell, William
  Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (Canada) Pub 1997 List Price: $ 30 ISBN: 0771026730
  HAMMETT WINNER
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD WINNER BEST NOVEL
  Summary from the cover: "Set in Vancover and in the Gulf Islands, Deverell's new novel blends the idylls and eccentricities of island life with the drama of the courtroom - when a respected law professor, charged with raping a female student is brought to trial."
• Quieter Than Sleep
  Author: Dobson, Joanne
  Publisher: Doubleday Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0385486928
  AGATHA BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  The groves of academe prove fertile ground for murder when Emily Dickenson scholars discover that "publish or perish" can sometimes be more than a literary metaphor. When an English professor and a student are both found dead, Dickenson expert Karen Pelletier is asked to retrace the professor's research in hopes of finding a clue.
• If I Should Die
  Author: Edwards, Grace
  Publisher: Doubleday Pub 1997-05 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0385485239
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  School Library Journal Best Adult Books for Young Adults
  PW Kirkus
  A mystery with all the right elements - a fabulous sleuth, smooth writing, a great plot, and just the right amount of humor - If I Should Die takes readers into the heart of Harlem: its stylish townhouses on Strivers Row, its clubs where jazz immortals jam the night away, as well as its vicious crack houses.
• Deception Pass : A Thomas Black Mystery
  Author: Emerson, Earl
  Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 2.00 ISBN: 0345400682
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL NOMINEE
  Deception is the name of the game in Deception Pass, where private eye Thomas Black crosses paths with a wealthy philanthropist right out of a Frank Capra movie - with a hidden past that's more like a Quentin Tarantino flick.
• Three to Get Deadly
  Author: Janet Evanovich
  Publisher: Scribner Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 24.00 ISBN: 0684822652
  DILYS WINNER
  Stephanie Plum wowed readers and critics in Evanovich's One for the Money and Two for the Dough. Now she's back in a suspense-filled third foray that takes her into the mean streets and murderous byways of Trenton, New Jersey.
• Come Back Dead : A Scott Elliott Mystery
  Author: Faherty, Terence
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 22.00 ISBN: 0684830841
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL WINNER
  Back after his rousing debut in Kill Me Again, Tinsel Town sleuth Scott Elliot scurries to thwart a film saboteur - who may be desperate enough to kill.
• Apparition Alley : A Kate Delafield Mystery
  Author: Forrest, Katherine V.
  Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub 1997-09 List Price: 21.95 ISBN: 0425159663
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST LESBIAN MYSTERY
  
• Goose in the Pond
  Author: Fowler, Earlene
  Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub 1997-05 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0425157822
  AGATHA BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  From the acclaimed author of Fool's Puzzle, Irish Chain and Kansas Troubles comes this delightful new mystery in the successful series featuring Benni Harper, the ex-cowgirl and quilter of San Celina. " Brilliantly crafted romantic suspense." - The Mystery Zone.
• The Prioress' Tale
  Author: Frazer, Margaret
  Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub 1997-08 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0425159442
  EDGAR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL NOMINEE
  After Domina Alys was made prioress, St. Frideswide become nothing more than a guest house for her relatives. But when a long-standing family rivalry ends in murder, it is up to Frevisse to rid the nunnery of its unwelcome - and deadly - guests.
• Author: Robert O. Greer
  WINNER CHESTER HIMES AWARD
  
• The Xibalba Murders : An Archeological Mystery
  Author: Lyn Hamilton
  Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub 1997-04 List Price: $ 3.99 ISBN: 0425157229
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL HARLEQUIN WORLDWIDE LIBRARY AWARD 3RD PLACE TIE
  The murder of a renowned expert in Mayan history lures Lara into the jungles surrounding Merida, Mexico. For in this lush paradise are the temples of the Mayan gods - and the camps of modern-day rebels fighting to save their Mayan heritage. As the body count escalates, Lara must uncover the secrets of the Mayan underworld known as Xibalba- and the journey into the very heart of darkness.
• Off the Face of the Earth
  Author: Harmetz, Aljean
  Publisher: Scribner Pub 1997-08 List Price: $22 ISBN: 0684836173
  MACAVITY BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  
• A Whisper of Rage
  Author: Hemlin, Tim
  Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub 1997-03 List Price: $ 5.50 ISBN: 0345403193
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOMINEE
  
• Ghirlandaio's Daughter
  Author: John Spencer Hill
  Pub 1997-03 List Price: $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312151330
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  In the newest mystery by the author of The Last Castrato, winner of the San Francisco Chronicle Review of Books' Critics Choice Award for 1995-1996, policeman/poet Carlo Arbati returns to investigate a murder at a poetry awards ceremony.
• The Magician's Tale
  Author: Hunt, David
  Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399142606
  LAMBDA AWARD WINNER BEST GAY MYSTERY
  Set in San Francisco's dark, sexually charged netherworld, The Magician's Tale introduces Kay Farrow, a photographer who suffers from an extreme color blindness. When Tim Lovsey, a male prostitute and one of Kay's many subjects for her black-and-white portraits is brutally slain, Kay makes it her mission to find the killer.
• Except the Dying
  Author: Jennings, Maureen
  Publisher: St Martins Pr (T) Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312168292
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  HARLEQUIN WORLDWIDE LIBRARY AWARD 3RD PLACE TIE
  From Maureen Jennings website:
  The Time is mid-winter, 1895; the place, Victorian Toronto and the naked corpse of a young girl is discovered in a laneway. It is up to acting-detective William Murdoch to determine the girl's identity and why she died in such miserable circumstances. His investigation takes him across the class lines of a society still deeply British in character and into the real lives hidden behind the chenille curtains. There is another death on the frozen lake and when Murdoch comes face to face with the murderer, his own life is in jeopardy.
• Tarnished Icons : An Inspector Porfiry Posntnikov Novel
  Author: Kaminsky, Stuart M.
  Publisher: Ivy Books Pub 1997-07 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0804112894
  EDGAR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL NOMINEE
  Edgar Award-winning author Stuart Kaminksy continues his exciting and acclaimed series starring Inspector Rostnikov of Russia, in this sequel to Blood and Rubles. Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov's work is never done. Now Jews are being gunned down and women are stalked by a knife-wielding rapist.
• Los Alamos
  Author: Kanon, Joseph
  Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub Pub 1997-06 List Price: $25.00 ISBN: 0553062247
  EDGAR BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR WINNER
  PW Booklist Kirkus
  PW Best Book of '97
  Kanon recreates the most compelling real-life drama of this century - an audacious flight of the imagination which interweaves real and fictional figures to create a "what- if" novel of historical intrigue. Spring 1945: As work on the first atom bomb nears completion in New Mexico, Manhattan Project security officer Karl Bruner is found murdered. Is Bruner's killing a result of a violent sexual encounter, or part of a plot that threatens to jeopardize the project itself?
• Evil Dead Center : A Mystery
  Author: Lafavor, Carole
  Publisher: Firebrand Books Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 11.95 ISBN: 1563410885
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST LESBIAN MYSTERY
  
• Sacred
  Author: Lehane, Dennis
  Publisher: William Morrow & Co Pub 1997-08 List Price: $ 23.00 ISBN: 0688143814
  DILYS NOMINEE
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL NOMINEE
  PW Kirkus
  Nothing is remotely what it seems as two private detectives travel from the wind-blown streets of Boston to the rum-punch sunsets of Florida's Gulf Coast and back again, searching for a woman and a man who could be saints or sinners, victims or victimizers, alive or dead. And the more P.I. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro discover, the more they realize that on this case, any wrong steps will certainly be their last.
• Blood Libel
  Author: Levine, Alan
  Publisher: Great Plains Pub 1997 List Price: ? ISBN: ? Binding: ?
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  
• Baltimore Blues
  Author: Lippman, Laura Publisher: Avon Books Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380788756
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Losing her job as a reporter, Tess Monaghan accepts a friend's request to follow his fiancee. Utilizing her journalist's instincts, Tess learns the woman is a kleptomaniac and may be having an affair with her boss. After revealing her findings, the boss is murdered and Tess's friend is accused. Now it is up to Tess to learn the identity of the real killer.
• Charm City
  Author: Lippman, Laura
  Publisher: Avon Books Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0380788764
  EDGAR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL WINNER
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. PAPERBACK ORIGINAL WINNER
  Former reporter and Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan is hired by the Baltimore Beacon-Light to find the unknown hacker who sneaked a muckraking story about a local business tycoon "Wink" Wynokowski onto the front page, triggering his apparent suicide. But she soon realized the full story deals with murder - and she may be next on the hit list.
• Father Forgive Me
  Author: Lordon, Randye
  Publisher: Avon Books Pub 1997-05 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 038079165X
  LAMBDA AWARD WINNER BEST LESBIAN MYSTERY
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOMINEE
  A young man is found dead of a heroin overdose on a Hudson River pier, while his wealthy father is stumping for political office - and the boy's sister swears he had never used drugs. But the investigation could prove to be a fatal mistake as lesbian P.I. Syndey Sloan delves deeper into a perfect family's darkest secrets.
• The Salaryman's Wife
  Author: Sujata Massey
  Publisher: Harper Mass Market Paperbacks Pub 1997-09 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0061044431
  AGATHA BEST FIRST NOVEL WINNER
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
  MACAVITY BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket. Her independence is shaken, however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by the murder of the beautiful wife of a high-powered business. Rei suspects the police aren't looking in the right places, so she does. And she manages to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle - one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception.
• Legwork : A Casey Jones Mystery
  Author: Munger, Katy
  Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) Pub 1997-07 List Price: $5.50 ISBN: 0380791366
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  She's smart, talented and durable, but Casey Jones has had more than her share of bad luck in life - including doing legwork for a blimp-sized P.I. who exercises few muscles below the jawline. Casey's latest assignment is to guard a politician running for the Senate. When the corpse of a real estate magnate is found in her client's car, Casey must clear the candidate's name before the election.
• The Burning Plain
  Author: Nava, Michael
  Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub 1997-12 List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0399143106
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST GAY MYSTERY
  
• Down for the Count : A Delilah West Novel
  Author: O'Callaghan, Maxine
  Publisher: St Martins Pr (T) Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 20.95 ISBN: 0312168209
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL NOMINEE
  
• The Club Dumas
  Author: Perez-Reverte, Arturo
  Publisher: Harcourt Brace Pub 1997-02 List Price: $ 23.00 ISBN: 0151001820
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  MACAVITY BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Rare-book sleuth Lucas Corso is hired to authenticate a manuscript chapter of Alexander Dumas's The Three Musketeers, discovered after its owners mysterious death. "A swift, meaty read." - New York Daily News.
• Seeing a Large Cat
  Author: Peters, Elizabeth
  Publisher: Warner Books Pub 1997-07 List Price: $ 24.00 ISBN: 0446518344
  AGATHA BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  No villain is safe in 1903 Egypt as feisty archaeologist Amelia Peabody embarks on her ninth adventure. Diabolical forces are at work when an unknown tomb reveals a shocking murder - and the Peabody family dodges bullets from an assassin determined to put an end to their discoveries.
• A Wasteland of Strangers
  Author: Pronzini, Bill
  Publisher: Walker & Co Pub 1997-05 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0802733018
  HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINEE
  EDGAR BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  The author of Blue Lonesome, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, has created another stunning novel of suspense. Set in a small isolated town in Northern California, A Wasteland of Strangers is a fast-paced, memorable story about the arrival of a stranger - and the murder of a beautiful, lonely woman.
• Black & Blue : An Inspector Rebus Mystery
  Author: Rankin, Ian
  Publisher: St Martins Pub 1997-11 List Price:$ 24.95 ISBN: 0312167830
  EDGAR BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  BL Kirkus
  "Bible John" terrorized Glasgow in the sixties and seventies, raping and murdering three women he met in a local ballroom - and was never caught. Now a copycat is at work, nicknamed "Bible Johnny" by the media, a new menace with violent ambitions. Inspector Rebus must proceed with caution, because one mistake could mean an unpleasant and not particularly speedy death.
• Bird Dog
  Author: Reed, Philip
  Publisher: Pocket Books Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 22.00 ISBN: 0671001639
  EDGAR BEST FIRST NOVEL
  BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR NOMINEE
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  With equal parts wit, grit, taut suspense, and more twists than a L.A. freeway, Bird Dog introduces Harold Dodge, a hard-luck case if ever there was one, living in a less than perfect world where good men sometimes have to do bad things. When Harold lands in a scam so rotten that the FBI's in on it, readers get taken on a bumpy, lethal ride through L.A.'s seamy underbelly.
• Deja Dead
  Author: Reichs, Kathy
  Publisher: Scribner Pub 1997-08 List Price:$ 24.00 ISBN: 0684841177
  DILYS NOMINEE
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD WINNER BEST NOVEL
  HARLEQUIN WORLDWIDE LIBRARY AWARD 1ST PLACE
  PW LJ Kirkus
  A dazzling debut, this forensic thriller was the toast of the Frankfurt Book Fair, leading Variety to hail Reichs as " the next Patricia Cornwell". Tempe Brennan had planned a quiet weekend, but duty calls. The chopped-up body parts she is faced with remind Tempe of the unsolved case of the torture and murder of a 16-year-old girl. Tempe suspects a connection between the two and must use all her forensic and investigative skills to convince police.
• The Butter Did It : A Gastronomic Tale of Love and Murder
  Author: Richman, Phyllis
  Publisher: Harpercollins Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 23.00 ISBN: 0060183705
  AGATHA BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  A delicious entree into the increasingly popular culinary mystery genre, this novel is fun, fast-paced whodunit by a true insider of the restaurant and newspaper business - the food writer/restaurant critic for the Washington Post. With numerous menus sprinkled throughout the books, this culinary extravaganza is just the thing for readers hungry for some intrigue with their dinner.
• Big Red Tequila
  Author: Riordan, Rick
  Publisher: Bantam Books Pub 1997-07 List Price: $5.99 ISBN: 0553576445
  ANTHONY AWARD WINNER BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. FIRST NOVEL WINNER
  Ten years ago, Jackson "Tres" Navarre left San Antonio and the memory of his father's murder behind. Now he's back, looking for answers, but all he finds is mob-style corruption and local politicians out to ruin his homecoming. When his girlfriend turns up missing, Tres must act fast to rescue her, nail his Dad's killer - then save his own skin.
• Dead Right
  Author: Peter Robinson
  Viking 1997
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  Published in the U.S. as: Blood at the Root
  Publisher: Avon List Price: $ 22 ISBN: 0380975807
  PW
  Suburban Yorkshire is rocked by the discovery of the body of a young man found stomped to death. Detective Inspector Banks thinks he has an airtight case, especially after he realizes the victim was a member of a secretive neo-Nazi hate group. Haunted by the feeling that there's a darker side to the murder, however, Banks probes further - and ends up suspended from the force.
• The Devil in Music
  Author: Kate Ross
  Publisher: Viking Pr Pub 1997-09 List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670863599
  DILYS NOMINEE
  AGATHA BEST NOVEL WINNER
  Kate Ross throws down the gauntlet to P.D. James with a sweeping 1820's novel, where murder snakes through Italy's sensuous landscapes, grand opera, passionate aristocracy, and turbulent fight for freedom. The ever-popular Julian Kestrel joins a cast of characters, drawn from the best Italian opera tradition in this lush and intricate historical suspense novel.
• No Colder Place
  Author: Rozan, S. J.
  Publisher: St Martins Pr Pub 1997-09 List Price: 23.95 ISBN: 031216811X
  ANTHONY AWARD WINNER BEST NOVEL
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. NOVEL NOMINEE
  PW Kirkus
  PW Best Book of '97
  P.I. Bill Smith goes undercover on a Manhattan construction site plagued by a series of thefts and misfortunes. With his sometimes-partner Lydia Chin, Smith finds himself in the midst of a much more serious case - one of fraud and murder that could reach into the deepest and most secret levels of the underworld.
• Eye of the Cricket : A Lew Griffin Novel
  Author: Sallis, James
  Publisher: Walker & Co Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0802733131
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  
• Illegal Alien
  Author: Sawyer, Robert J.
  Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub 1997-12 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0441004768
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST NOVEL
  
• Flower Net
  Author: See, Lisa
  Publisher: Harpercollins Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 24.00 ISBN: 0060175273
  EDGAR BEST FIRST NOVEL
  BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR NOMINEE
  PW
  NYTBR Notable
  A Chinese cop and an American DA travel the breadth of modern China - revealing to the reader the country's venerable culture, its teeming economy, its omnipotent mafia, its institutionalized cruelty - as they attempt to uncover the conspiracy behind a series of high-profile murders.
• Undercut
  Author: Simpson, John W. Publisher: Mercury Pub 1997 List Price: $ ? ISBN: ? Binding: ?
  ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  HARLEQUIN WORLDWIDE LIBRARY AWARD 2ND PLACE
  
• Skin Deep, Blood Red
  Author: Skinner, Robert
  Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub 1997-12 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 157566254X
  Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub 1997-01 List Price: $ 19.95 ISBN: 157566092X
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST FIRST NOVEL
  
• Time Release
  Author: Smith, Martin J.
  Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub 1997-03 List Price: $ 5.99 ISBN: 0515120286
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
  
• The Purification Ceremony
  Author: Sullivan, Mark T.
  Publisher: Avon Books Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 24.00 ISBN: 0380974282
  EDGAR BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Kirkus
  A stunning and terrifying story of brutal violence amid a secluded, snowy wilderness by the author of Hard News and The Fall Line. The hunters become the hunted in this tale of suspense set on a remote estate in British Columbia, where an insane and violent force of nature, hiding in the blinding whiteness of the Canadian winter, stalks a party in search of whitetail deer.
• Dead Body Language : A Connor Westphal Mystery
  Author: Penny Warner
  Publisher: Bantam Books Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 5.50 ISBN: 0553575864
  AGATHA BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  MACAVITY BEST FIRST NOVEL WINNER
  Journalist/sleuth Connor Westphal has relocated from San Francisco to a mining-turned-tourist town with the idea of starting up her own weekly paper. But when the First Lady of Flat Skunk turns up dead, Connor must track down a madman whose byline is murder. Being hearing-impaired doesn't stand in her way. In fact, Connor possesses a sixth sense for solving crimes - a skill that will come in handy as she attempts to unravel a very complex mystery.
• No Daughter of the South: A Mystery
  Author: Webb, Cynthia
  Publisher: New Victoria Pub Pub 1997-05 List Price: $10.95 ISBN: 0934678820
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST LESBIAN MYSTERY
  
• The Ax
  Author: Westlake, Donald
  Publisher: Mysterious Pub 1997-06 List Price: $ 23 ISBN: 0892965878
  MACAVITY BEST NOVEL NOMINEE
  PW
  
• Sunset and Santiago
  Author: White, Gloria
  Publisher: Dell Pub Co Pub 1997-02 List Price:$ 5.50 ISBN: 0440223261
  EDGAR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL NOMINEE
  SHAMUS BEST P.I. PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOMINEE
  The turning point of Ronnie Ventura's life came at the corner of Sunset and Santiago, where her parents died in a car crash 20 years ago. Bow, at two a.m. on the same corner, Ronnie witnesses a body being dumped into the shrubs, and suddenly she's hot on a case that leads through shocking corruption and back into the past.
• Death Brims Over
  Author: Wilson, Barbara Jaye
  Publisher: Avon Books Pub 1997-04 List Price: $ 5.50 ISBN: 0380788209
  AGATHA BEST FIRST NOVEL NOMINEE
  Brenda Midnight, a rising young milliner, is asked by her designer friend Carla to create the hats for a society wedding. But things turn strange when, mere days before the ceremony, a lady in pink steals all the hats from Brenda's store at gun point. Then Carla is murdered and the police chalk the case up to drugs and prostitution. Outraged, Brenda takes it upon herself to clear Carla's name by finding the real motive for the murder.
• Revision of Justice : A Benjamin Justice Mystery
  Author: Wilson, John M.
  Publisher: Doubleday Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0385482353
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST GAY MYSTERY
  
• 23 Shades of Black
  Author: Wishnia, K. J.
  Publisher: Imaginary Pr Pub 1997-10 List Price: $ 7.95 ISBN: 0965681416
  EDGAR BEST FIRST NOVEL
  BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR NOMINEE
  ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
  
• Acts of Murder: Karl Alberg with Cassandra Mitchell
  Author: Wright, Laurali R.
  Publisher: Scribner Pub 1997-07 List Price: $ 22 ISBN: 0684813815
  HAMMETT NOMINEE
  
• Hostage
  Author: Zimmerman, R. D.
  Publisher: Delacorte Pr Pub 1997-11 List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0385319835
  LAMBDA AWARD NOMINEE BEST GAY MYSTERY

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