Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards

The 2024 Killer Nashville Conference announced the Silver Falchion Award Finalists, representing the best books published in 2023. The winners in each category and the top 3 winners overall will be announced at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 23, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. Congrats to all!

Best Action Adventure

• A New Game by A.M. Adair
• Siphon by Ley Esses
• A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston
• Hanging the Devil by Tim Maleeny
• Splinter by Paul McHugh
• The Warmaker: A Black Spear Novel by Benjamin Spada

Best Comedy

• Downsized or Dead by S.E. Greco
• Shocked by Champagne by Lucy Lakestone
• Cultured by DP Lyle
• Citizen Orlov by Jonathan Payne
• Model Suspect by TK Sheffield
• A Crafty Collage of Crime by Lois Winston

Best Cozy

• Under the Cocoon Moon by Kathleen Bailey
• Dumpster Dying by Michelle Bennington
• Puppy Love by Mike Faricy
• Naked Came the Detective by Glendall Jackson
• Karma Comes in Red, A Beyond Mystery by Morgan James
• Trust the Terrier: A Coral Shores Veterinary Mystery by DL Mitchell

Best Historical

• Revenge at the Galliano Club by Carmen Amato
• Red Flags: A Novel by Rebecca McQueen
• Arsenic at Ascot, A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery by Kelly Oliver
• The Sorrowful Girl by Keenan Powell
• The Last Drop of Hemlock by Katharine Schellman
• A Courtesan’s Secret by Nina Wachsman

Best Investigator

• When Things Fall Apart by Alan Brenham
• Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye by Bradley Harper MD
• Vessels of Wrath by Thomas Holland
• These Still Black Waters by Christina McDonald
• Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima
• Splintered Loyalty by Mark Troy

Best Juvenile or YA

• Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould
• The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary by K.B. Jackson
• A Place of Vengeance by David Lafferty 
• A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban
• Immortality: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
• Stateless by Elizabeth Wein

Best Literary

• Brush: A Novel by Penn Anderson
• The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton
• Multo by Cindy Fazzi
• Nemesis Rising by Adam Golob
• The Salt Cutter by CJ Howell

Best Mainstream / Commercial

• Stolen Diary by Kathryn Lane
• Beverly Bonnefinche is Dead by Kristen Seeley
• Prom Queen by Laura Wolfe

Best Mystery

• Mouse in the Box by Lewis Allan
• Indigo Road by Reed Bunzel
• Beautiful Death by John Deal
• Secrets Don’t Sink by Kate B. Jackson
• BeatNikki’s Café by Renee James
• The Empty Kayak by Jode Millman

Best Nonfiction

• Forget It, Jake, It’s Schenectady: The True Story Behind ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ by David Bushman
• Monster on the Loose by Richard Carrico
• Here, Where Death Delights by Mary Jumbelic
• The Climate Pandemic: How Climate Disruption Threatens Human Survival by Dennis Meredith
• Saint Bloodbath by Frederick Reynolds
• Finding YOUR Path to Publication: A Step-by-Step Guide by Judy Penz Sheluk

Best Sci-Fi or Fantasy

• The Pilgrim – Part I by A. Keith Carreiro
• The Confession of Hemingway Jones by Kathleen Hannon
• Interface: Book One: Connection by R.K. Hillhouse
• The Zone: A Cyberpunk Thriller by Stu Jones
• Do You Believe in Magic? by Jim Melvin
• Darwin’s Dilemma by Don Stuart

Best Anthology/Collection

• The Black Hole Pastrami by Jeffrey Feingold
• There is No Death in Finding Nemo by Jeffrey Feingold
• Paper Walls by Glass Houses by Richard Helms
• Blues City Clues edited by Carolyn McSparren, Angelyn Sherrod, and James Paavola
• Obsession (editor unknown)
• Hook, Line, and Sinker: The Seventh Guppy Anthology edited by Emily Murphy

Best Southern Gothic

• Inescapable, A Novel by WB Henley

Best Supernatural

• Monstera by EL Block
• Personal Demons by L.R. Braden
• The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas
• Downpour by Christopher Hawkins
• A Mother’s Torment by Xavier Poe Kane
• Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons

Best Suspense

• Don’t Close Your Eyes by Mary Alford
• Deep Fake Double Down by Debbie Burke
• Deadly Tides by Mary Keliikoa
• Perspectives by Matthew Minson
• Dead West by Linda L. Richards
• The Rule of Thirds by Jeannee Sacken

Best Thriller

• Checkout Time by John Bukowski
• The Followers by Bradeigh Godfrey
• The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
• Implied Consent by Keenan Powell
• Breaking Apart by Wanda Venters, MD and Mary Rae, MD
• Kyd’s Game by Marc Rosenberg

Best Western

• Reckoning by Baron Birtcher
• Bladestay by Jackie Johnson