The Hungry Detective

The final awards of the 2007 Bouchercon have been handed out, the Shamus', the Anthony's. I've short listed the awards below. THD thanks Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet for the gentle reminder on the Shamus Awards ! Also thanks to Confessions for the original post. The big winners would appear to be Louise Penny and Ken Bruen. Ms. Penny was able to grab the Barry for Best First Novel as well. Ken Bruen's prolific writing also meant that he walked away with two awards from two separate novels. The Hungry Detective congratulates all of this year's winners, as well as the deserving nominees. Shamus Awards Best Novel - Ken Bruen - The Dramatist Best First Novel - Declan Hughes - The Wrong Kind of Blood Best Paperback Original - P.J. Parrish - An Unquiet Grave Anthony Awards Best Novel - Laura Lippman - No Good Deed Best First Novel - Louise Penny - Still Life Best Paperback Original - Dana Cameron - Ashes and Bones

.... that they are going to the next Bouchercon ! With the Anchorage edition coming to an end tomorrow we can finally look forward to Baltimore. We would have loved to have gone to the Alaska. However, THD is financial cash strapped, and we must marshal our funds in other arenas. It is with a bit of irony that THD was in Anchorage last year, in fact the conference that has occupied our time this week was at the very same convention center as this year's B'Con. As for this year's B'con, Barry and Macavity awards have been handed out. A complete list of winners can be found here and here . The short list for those to lazy to click the above links. Barry's Best Novel - The Night Gardener - George Pelecanos Best First Novel - Still Life - Louise Penny Best British Mystery Novel - Priest - Ken Bruen Macavity's Best Novel: The Virgin of Small Plains - Nancy Pickard Best First Novel: Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone (More awesomeness for this book!) The Anthony'...

I do apologize for the general lack of anything here as of late. My real life is intruding on my ability to get my act together in regards to this blog. And unfortunately that will continue for at least another week. There is a conference in my chosen field, and it is not only on the horizon, the conference is taking place here in Rochester. Indeed a portion of the events are to take place at my work. Oh dear! Privately, things have been slow for THD in regards to all things Crime Fiction. I won't be attending B'Con '07, and the books I have read as of late of been a bit underwhelming. Enough of the complaining! I should be able to get off a real post at least once next week, so see you then!

While endlessly watching Britney's train wreck of a performance at the MTV VMA's, THD did manage to discover a new refuge for Crime Fiction discussion. Certainly this was not a discovery I made alone, but rather THD was helped along by the Secret Dead Blog and the unspellable Duane Swierczynski (bless the Control-C and Control-V option). The Big Adios is a Crime Fiction discussion board. In the 21st century tell me what is more American than the ridiculous hyperbole or the quickly bruised ego of today's discussion boards? Any how THD signed up as quick as it could. At present it seem to be a bit of sausage-fest in there. Not that women readers don't enjoy lots of male on male discussion.... I'm just saying.

Well, put away your white shoes and get ready for the onslaught of Fall books. Once you have finished here you can head over to The Rap Sheet to check out their Fall Preview . Noble Lies - Charles Benoit Think globally, act locally is an axiom THD tries follows as often as it can. Charles is a local author who has two previous globe trotting mystery novels to his credit. We have read his first , and enjoyed it greatly, his second is mired in our to be read pile. Voices - Arnaldur Indridason Already released in the UK, this is the third book in a long series that is just now seeing release in the English language. Moody and dank. The first US release, Jar City also has been made into a film . You can check out a trailer here . Sorry no English subtitles. The Lighthouse War - Adrian McKinty Second in the Lighthouse Trilogy, this is a series of young adult fiction by the writer of Hidden River and Dead I May Well Be . I think this guy is the real deal. Epic writing that proves that y...

Continuing with the Cinema angle here at THD, is the DVD release of the adaptation of Don Winslow's novel, The Death and Life of Bobby Z. Yet another Crime Novel adaptation that snuck up on THD. Didn't know it was in production, didn't know it was being released. A bit worrisome is the fact that the film seems to already have made its debut in Greece and Russia. Yikes! Also the film appears to be lousy with Mixed Martial Arts 'fighters.' Whoa! Still, I dig Laurence Fishburne and Paul Walker is an interesting young actor. Although I am not sure what is up Larry Fishburne in that Cowboy hat in the poster. This is what Netflix was made for. I'll get one of the THD interns to put it in my queue.