Silver Falchion Award Nominees: Killer Nashville

Founder Clay Stafford of the Killer Nashville International Writers' Conference  announced this year's Silver Falchion Award Finalists. The Silver Falchion Award is given for the Best Book in each category for the previous year (2024). Winners in each category will be announced at the annual Killer Nashville Awards Dinner taking place on August 23rd in Franklin, TN. 

For the complete category and nominee lists, go Here.

Best Action Adventure 
 
JERICHO BURNING  by T.G. Brown
 
THE GENERAL’S GOLD by Bruce Robert Coffin and LynDee Walker
 
DESPERATE MEASURES by Ley Esses
 
WHERE LOVE MEANS NOTHING by Howard Gimple 
 
THE NORTH LINE  by Matt Riordan 
 
Best Comedy

THE PRINCESS SHOPPE 
Kerry Blaisdell
 
SWIPED by L.M. Chilton
 
GET GRIBNITZ by Howard Gimple 
 
MODEL GHOST  by TK Sheffield 
 
SORRY, KNOT SORRY by Lois Winston 
 
Best Cozy

BEESWAX BEWITCHMENT  by S.E. Babin 
 
ELIZABETH SAILS by Kristin Owens 
 
STUDY GUIDE FOR MURDER by Lori Robbins 
 
FRAMED FOR MURDER  by Marla White 
 
WHEELING AND DEALING  by Becki Willis 
 
Best Historical 
 
EMPOWERED BY THE DREAM: A JOURNEY OF RESILIENCE
Gladys A. Barrio 
 
THE PARIS MISTRESSb y Mally Becker 
 
A KILLING ON THE HILL  by Robert Dugoni 
 
FIND YOUR WAY TO MY GRAVE by Chris Keefer 
 
WHAT ONCE WAS PROMISED by Louis Trubiano 
 
Best Investigator
 
THE THINGS THAT CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN  by Peter W.J. Hayes
 
LAST DOG OUT  by Candace Irving 
 
BLACK & WHITE  by Justin M. Kiska 
 
TIGER CLAW by Michael Allan Mallory 
 
MURDER OUTSIDE THE BOX by Saralyn Richard 
 
Best Juvenile / Y.A.
 
BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE: THE SECRET KEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Valerie Biel 
 
DEAD GIRL  by Kerrie Faye 
 
STEALING TIME  by Norman Birnbach and Tilia Klebenov Jacobs 
 
SNOWED by Twist Phelan 
 
STAR BROTHER by Maxine Rose Schur 
 
 
Best Mystery 
 
DROP DEAD SISTERS by Amelia Diane Coombs 
 
OBEY ALL LAWS by Cindy Goyette 
 
AT FIRST I WAS AFRAID  by Marty Ludlum 
 
A WORLD OF HURT  by Mindy Mejia 
 
SCORCHED: BURN ME ONCE…by Cam Torrens 
 
 
Best Short Story Collection / Anthology

NEVER TELL COLLECTION, edited by Kjiersti Egerdahl
 
DAY, edited by Patrick Kitson (author)
 
DEEDS OF DARKNESS, William Burton McCormick (author)
 
6-LANE HIGHWAY, Sean Mitchell (author)
 
LARCENY & LAST CHANCES: 22 STORIES OF MYSTERY & SUSPENSE, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk
 
Best Suspense
 
A FRIEND IN THE DARK by Samantha M. Bailey
 
IF YOU TELL A LIE by Lucinda Berry
 
THE NEXT MRS. PARRISH  by Liv Constantine
 
LOST TO DUNE ROAD by Kara Thomas
 
THE LAST PARTY by AR Torre
 
Best Thriller
 
RICH JUSTICE by Robert Bailey
 
THE DREDGE by Brendan Flaherty
 
THE MECHANICS OF MEMORY  by Audrey Lee
 
A FORGOTTEN KILL by Isabella Maldonado
 
THE ASCENT  by Adam Plantinga
 

 

SILVER FALCHION AWARD NOMINEES 2023

The Full List of Silver Falchion Award Nominations in Multiple Categories was just announced. Wowza! So many great nominations!Congratulations to all! 

Winners will be announced on Saturday, August 19, 2023 at Killer Nashville. 

2020 KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD FINALISTS

2020 KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD FINALISTS

A Dream of Death Connie Berry The White Heron Carl and Jane Bock The Mammoth Murders Iris Chacon Blood Moon Rising Richard Conrath Fake John DeDakis   Lovely Digits Jeanine Englert The Marsh Mallows Henry Hack Murder at the Candlelight Vigil Karen McCarthy Murder Creek Jane Suen The Deadliest Thief June Trop

Thriller

Red Specter Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson All Hollow Simeon Courtie Deadly Obsession Shirley B. Garrett The Gryphon Heist James R. Hannibal Low Country Blood Sue Hinkin  Hyperion's Fracture Thomas Kelso Rise Leslie McCauley The Secret Child Caroline Mitchell The Silent Victim Dana Perry Downhill Fast Dana J. Summers

Suspense

Fade to the Edge Kathryn J. Bain   Below the Fold R.G. Belsky Murder on the Third Try K.P. Gresham Queen’s Gambit Bradley Harper The Strange Disappearance of Rose Stone J.E. Irvin   Revenge in Barcelona Kathryn Lane The Daughter of Death Dianne McCartney VIPER, A Jessica James Mystery Kelly Oliver Downhill Fast Dana J. Summers The Scions of Atlantis Claudia Turner

Action or Adventure Westfarrow Island Paul A. Barra The Measure of Ella Toni Bird Jones Dangerous Conditions Jenna Kernan The Best Lousy Choice Jim Nesbitt Angel in the Fog Tj Turner Cozy   Two Bites Too Many Debra H. Goldstein A Sip Before Dying Gemma Halliday Bad Pick Linda Lovely The Fog Ladies Susan McCormick Twisted Plots Bonita McCoy

Procedural or P.I. Russian Mojito Carmen Amato Apprehension Mark Bergin The Things That Are Different Peter W.J. Hayes Paid in Spades Richard Helms The Dead of Summer Jean Rabe Juvenile or Y.A. Daughter Undisclosed Susan K. Flach Speak No Evil Liana Gardner The Clockwork Dragon James R. Hannibal Kassy O'Roarke, Cub Reporter Kelly Oliver This Dark and Bloody Ground Lori Roberts

Short Story Anthology or Collection Couch Detective James Glass Words on Water Harpeth River Writers A Midnight Clear Lindy Ryan Last Call Manning Wolf & Laura Oles The Muse of Wallace Rose Bill Woods Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror The Line Between Tosca Lee A Single Light Tosca Lee To the Bones Valerie Nieman Moon Deeds Palmer Pickering Dreamed It Maggie Toussaint

2019 KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD FINALISTS

Action Adventure

Baron Birtcher Fistful of Rain

Linda Sands Precious Cargo

Robert Slayton Running to Graceland

Mary Ting ISAN

Jill Wallace War Serenade

Cozy

Traci Andrighetti Campari Crimson

L.A. Chandler The Gold Pawn

Phyllis Gobbell Treachery in Tuscany

Morgan James Quiet Fury

Jill Orr The Bad Break

Juvenile/Y.A.

Allison McMahan Scream & Scream Again

Julianne Lynch Beneath the Lighthouse

Ted Neill Jamhuri, Njambi & Fighting Zombies

Lynn Slaughter It Should Have Been You

Alexandrea Weis Death by the River

Mystery

Delphine Boswell Unholy Secret

Larry Enmon The Burial Place

Allan Eskens The Shadows We Hide

Mike Faricy Star Struck

Alexia Gordon Killing in C Sharp

Bradley Harper A Knife in the Fog

Roger Johns River of Secrets

Ann Parker A Dying Note

Keenan Powell Deadly Solution

Cindy Sample Dying for a Deal

Non-Fiction

Leslie Klinger Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s

Ted Neill Two Years of Wonder

Ted NeillFinding St. Lo: A Memoir of War & Family

Adam Plantinga Police Craft

Gretchen Rose Dancing with the Devil

Procedural

Bruce Robert Coffin Beyond the Truth

James Doherty An Obscure Grave

Amanda Feyerbend Girls of Summer

Margaret Mizushima Burning Ridge: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

Saralyn Richard Murder in the One Percent

Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror

Dana Chamblee Carpenter Book of the Just

Elizabeth Isaacs The Scythian Trials

Julianne Lynch Beneath the Lighthouse

Morgan Smith The Shades of Winter

Maggie Toussaint Confound It

Short Stories

Carmen Amato The Artist

Marianne Donley Untethered: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of the Paranormal

Rhonda Gilliland Cooked to Death III: Hell for the Holidays

Leslie Klinger For the Sake of the Game

Jane Suen Alterations Trilogy

Suspense

Mary Coley Chrysalis: A Race to Death

Rea Frey Not Her Daughter

D.E. Funk Silent Rage

Debra K. Gaskill Toxic Fitz

A.H. Gilbert For Sissy

P.D. HaltWhen Death Imitates Art

Tikiri Herath Abducted

Katherine Johnson Grit & Granite

Kelly Oliver Jackal

Lori Roberts Where the Sweetgrass Grows

Thriller

R.G. Belsky Yesterday's News

Timothy S. JohnstonThe War Beneath

Thomas Kelso Fractured

Michael Niemann Illegal Holdings

T.J. O'Conner The Consultant

Rick Outzen City of Grudges

Eliot Parker A Knife's Edge

Charley Pearson Scourge

Rick Pullen Naked Truth

Dana J. Summers The Dark and the Dead

***

The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award began as a way to recognize Killer Nashville attendees and has since grown worldwide into an industry-coveted prize. The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award continues to have NO ENTRY FEE for conference attendees. Since 2008, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards have recognized the best stories from the previous year told through various media utilizing the elements of mystery, thriller, and/or suspense. Judges are professional writers, book reviewers, librarians, academics, and—in specialized cases—specific industry peers. Focus is on quality, not popularity.

KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD FINALISTS

Killer Nashville announced the finalists for the Silver Fanchion Awards. Congratulations to All!