Homicidal Holidays Launch—Rounding Out Three New Stories

This Saturday, October 11, the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime hosts a launch party for the new anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA. The fun begins at noon in the party room just next door to the bookstore, and it’ll be a true party with snacks and treats provided for all to enjoy. I’m very pleased to be among that last group with a new story, “Premonition,” set on Halloween night—and pleased too with the great advance review of the anthology by Lynn Farris in the Examiner, who wrote, “The anthology offers a mystery for everyone, there are stories that are funny, sad, terrifying and thought provoking…. This is a great book to give for any holiday.” (The review called my own tale “a master class in how to create tension.” Thanks much, Lynn!) Other contributors include Donna Andrews, Tim Bentler-Jungr, Shaun Taylor Bevins, Carla Kaessinger Coupe, Elaine Davis, Barb Goffman, Clyde T Linsley Jr., Linda Lombardi, Debbi Mack, Rosemary and Larry Mild, Meg Opperman, Shari Randall, and Cathy Wiley, who’s promised to dress like a pirate in honor of the holiday at the heart of her story. Arrr! The stories were selected by Christina Freeburn, John Gilstrap, and Alan Orloff; the anthology was edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; and Rhys Bowen provided an introduction.

I’ve also had two more stories appear just recently—both available now:

• Gargoyle 61 features “Precision,” about a safecracker who has tried to put his criminal ways behind him but gets pulled into one more job—possibly his last one. Told from two perspectives, the story delves into the troubled past, tense present, and uncertain futures of two characters with radically different plans for themselves.
• Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine has published “The Odds Are Against Us” in its November 2014 issue. In this story, an easy chat about old times feeds into fresh conflicts at neighborhood bar. This is one of the shortest stories I’ve contributed to Ellery Queen, but I hope it still packs a punch.

Happy reading—and look forward to seeing folks on Saturday! — Art Taylor

Agatha Award Nomination: “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants”

“The Care and Feeding of Houseplants”—which originally appeared in the March/April 2013 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and is available online here—has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Short Story of 2013. The other finalists include Barb Goffman (two stories nominated!), Gigi Pandian, and Barbara Ross, and the winner will be announced at Malice Domestic on Saturday, May 3.

Here’s the full slate of this year’s nominees, with all the other nominated stories linked as well:

Best Contemporary Novel:
Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur Books)
Pagan Spring by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur Books)
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Clammed Up by Barbara Ross (Kensington Books)
The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)

Best Historical Novel:
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
Death in the Time of Ice by Kaye George (Untreed Reads Publishing)
A Friendly Game of Murder by JJ Murphy (Signet)
Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)
A Question of Honor by Charles Todd (William Morrow)

Best First Novel:
Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz (Berkley)
You Cannoli Die Once by Shelley Costa (Pocket Books)
Board Stiff by Kendel Lynn (Henery Press)
Kneading to Die by Liz Mugavero (Kensington)
Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker (Henery Press)

Best Short Story:
“Evil Little Girl” by Barb Goffman, Don’t Get Mad, Get Even (Wildside Press)
“Nightmare” by Barb Goffman, Don’t Get Mad, Get Even (Wildside Press)
“The Hindi Houdini” (PDF) by Gigi Pandian, Fish Nets (Wildside Press)
“Bread Baby” (PDF) by Barbara Ross, Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold (Level Best Books)
“The Care and Feeding of House Plants” (PDF) by Art Taylor, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013

Best Nonfiction:
Georgette Heyer by Jennifer Kloester (Source Books Inc.)
Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova (Viking Penguin)
Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea: An Interesting & Entertaining History of Malice Domestic’s First 25 Years by Verena Rose and Rita Owen, Editors (Wildside Press)
The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur Books)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel:
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau (HMH Books for Young Readers)
Traitor in the Shipyard: A Caroline Mystery by Kathleen Ernst (American Girl Mysteries)
Andi Unexpected by Amanda Flower (Zonderkidz)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Books)
Code Busters Club: Mystery of the Pirate’s Treasure by Penny Warner (Edgmont USA)

—Art Taylor

Macavity Award Nomination: “When Duty Calls”

My story “When Duty Calls” has been very good to me—as have the members and supporters of Mystery Readers International and the subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, who have just named the story a finalist for this year’s Macavity Award for Best Short Story. I’m stunned, thrilled, and humbled by the honor—and by the generous response overall to this story, which earlier this year won a Derringer Award and was a finalist for the Agatha. And so nice to see fellow Agatha nominees Barb Goffman and B.K. Stevens joining me on the same ballot again, along with Jeffrey Deaver, Jim Fusilli, and Karin Slaughter. Good luck to all!

Here’s the complete list of this year’s nominees:

Best Mystery Novel: 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
The Black House by Peter May (Silver Oak)
The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Other Woman by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge)
The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro (Algonquin Books)
The Twenty Year Death by Ariel S. Winter (Hard Case Crime)

Best Mystery First Novel: 

Low Country Boil by Susan M. Boyer (Henery Press)
Don’t Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman (Minotaur Books-Thomas Dunn) 
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal (Random House -Bantam)
The Expats by Chris Pavone (Crown)
The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books)

Best Mystery Non-Fiction: 

Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Simon & Schuster – Atria/Emily Bestler)
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French (Penguin)
In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero, edited by Otto Penzler (BenBella/Smart Pop)

Best Mystery Short Story: 

“The Lord Is My Shamus” by Barb Goffman in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder (Wildside)
“The Unremarkable Heart” by Karin Slaughter in Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance (Little, Brown – Mulholland Books)
“Thea’s First Husband” by B.K. Stevens in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2012
“When Duty Calls” by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder (Wildside Press)
“Blind Justice” by Jim Fusilli in Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance (Little, Brown – Mulholland Books)
“The Sequel” (a novella) by Jeffrey Deaver in The Strand Magazine, November-February 2012-2013

Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award: 

A City of Broken Glass by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge)
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal (Random House-Bantam)
The Confession by Charles Todd (HarperCollins)
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd (HarperCollins)
Elegy For Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins) – See more at: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2013/07/macavity-award-nominees-2013.html#sthash.UijDskcU.dpuf

And the awards will be presented during the opening ceremonies of this year’s Bouchercon in Albany, NY. — Art Taylor

Derringer Award Win (Long Story) & Spinetingler Award Nomination

I’m honored, awed, and humbled to have won a third Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society—this year in the Long Story category for the story “When Duty Calls,” originally published in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder and also recently nominated for an Agatha Award. Other winners this year included “The Cable Job” by Randy DeWitt (Best Flash Story), “Getting Out of the Box” by Michael Bracken (Best Short Story), and “Wood-Smoke Boys” by Doug Allyn (Best Novelette). Congratulations to all!

And on top of that news, I also learned that “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” originally published in PANK Magazine and winner in the flash fiction category of the 2012 Press 53 Open Awards Anthology, has been nominated for this year’s Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story on the Web. A thrill and an honor there as well! — Art Taylor

Derringer Award Finalist: “When Duty Calls” from Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder

I’m so pleased that my story “When Duty Calls,” recently nominated for an Agatha Award, has also been named a finalist for the 2013 Derringer Awards! My story falls in the Long Story category, and there’s a a great slate of finalists in all areas this year (including good friends David Dean, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Doug Allyn in the Novellette category). As always, I’m simply honored to be included in such distinguished company. And for those interested in reading the story itself, it’s temporarily available on my website here. — Art Taylor