International Thriller Writers Award Nominees 2020

The International Thriller Writers Organization announced the Thriller Award Nominees. Congratulations to all!

2020 ITW Thriller Awards Nominees

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL
David Baldacci — ONE GOOD DEED (Grand Central Publishing)
Joe Clifford — RAG AND BONE (Oceanview Publishing)
Blake Crouch — RECURSION (Crown)
Rachel Howzell Hall — THEY ALL FALL DOWN (Forge Books)
Adrian McKinty — THE CHAIN (Mulholland Books)
Denise Mina — CONVICTION (Mulholland Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Samantha Downing — MY LOVELY WIFE (Berkley)
Angie Kim — MIRACLE CREEK (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
John McMahon — THE GOOD DETECTIVE (G.P. Putnam’s Son)
Alex Michaelides — THE SILENT PATIENT (Celadon Books)
Lauren Wilkinson — AMERICAN SPY (Random House)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL
Max Allan Collins — GIRL MOST LIKELY (Thomas & Mercer)
Alison Gaylin — NEVER LOOK BACK (William Morrow Paperbacks)
Alastair Luft — JIHADI BRIDE (Black Rose Writing)
Dervla McTiernan — THE SCHOLAR (Penguin Books)
Lisa Sandlin — THE BIRD BOYS (Cinco Puntos Press)
Kate White — SUCH A PERFECT WIFE (Harper Paperbacks)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL
Author Brett Battles — NIGHT MAN (Brett Battles)
Sean Black — THE DEEP ABIDING (Sean Black)
Brian Shea — MURDER BOARD (Severn River Publishing)
LynDee Walker — LEAVE NO STONE (Severn River Publishing)
Kerry Wilkinson books — CLOSE TO YOU (Bookouture)

BEST SHORT STORY
Hector Acosta — “Turistas” (Down & Out Books)
Michael Cowgill — “Call Me Chuckles” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Tara Laskowski — “The Long-Term Tenant” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Lia Matera — “Snow Job” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Twist Phelan Author — “Fathers-in-Law” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Jen Conley — SEVEN WAYS TO GET RID OF HARRY (Down & Out Books)
Naomi Kritzer — CATFISHING ON CATNET (Tor Teen)
Natalie Lund — WE SPEAK IN STORMS (Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers)
Randy Ribay — PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING (Kokila/Penguin Young Readers))
Tom Ryan — KEEP THIS TO YOURSELF (Albert Whitman & Company)

Literary Salon 5/20: JENNY MILCHMAN & RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON

Join Mystery Readers NorCal for an evening with Thriller Writers Jenny Milchman & Richard North Patterson, Monday, May 20, 7 p.m.,  Berkeley, CA 

Please RSVP (make a comment w/your email below) for directions.

Jenny Milchman, a suspense writer from New Jersey, is on a 7-month booktour. Certainly one of the longest and most grueling, ever! Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, released in January 2013. Her short story "The Closet" was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in November 2012. Another short story, "The Very Old Man," has been an Amazon bestseller, and the short work Black Sun on Tupper Lake will appear in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II.

Jenny is the Chair of the International Thriller Writers Debut Authors Program, and the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated in all 50 states and four foreign countries in 2011.

Jenny hosts the Made It Moments forum on her blog, which has featured more than 200 international bestsellers, Edgar winners, and independent authors, co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters, which attracts guests coast-to-coast and has received national media attention, and teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop and Arts By The People.

Richard North Patterson is the award winning novelist of over 20 novels. His latest is Fall from Grace. Richard North Patterson was born in 1947 in Berkeley, California. He grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1968. In 1971 he graduated Case Western Reserve Law School and went on to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He was a partner in several of the country’s leading law firms and also served as the liaison for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.

He started writing at the age of 29 when he had completed law school. He began his first book, The Lasko Tangent, as part of a creative writing course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category "Best First Mystery Novel (American)" in 1980.

In 1993, he retired from the practice of law to devote himself to writing. He is currently chairman of the National Governing Board for Common Cause, and has served on boards of several advocacy groups dealing with gun violence, political reform, and reproductive rights.

He lives in San Francisco, Martha's Vineyard with his partner and Cabo San Lucas with his wife Dr Nancy Clair.

In addition to winning the Edgar Allan Poe Award, he is also the recipient of the 1995 International Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France).