2024 Silver Falchion Award Finalists

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE

A New Game / A.M. Adair

Siphon / Ley Esses

A Blanket of Steel / Timothy S. Johnston

Hanging the Devil / Tim Maleeny

Splinter / Paul McHugh

The Warmaker: A Black Spear Novel / Benjamin Spada

BEST COMEDY

Downsized or Dead / S.E. Greco

Shocked by Champagne / Lucy Lakestone

Cultured / DP Lyle

Citizen Orlov / Jonathan Payne

Model Suspect / TK Sheffield

A Crafty Collage of Crime / Lois Winston

BEST COZY

Under the Cocoon Moon / Kathleen Bailey

Dumpster Dying / Michelle Bennington

Puppy Love / Mike Faricy

Naked Came the Detective / Glendall Jackson

Karma Comes in Red, A Beyond Mystery / Morgan James

Trust the Terrier: A Coral Shores Veterinary Mystery / DL Mitchell

BEST HISTORICAL

Revenge at the Galliano Club / Carmen Amato

Red Flags: A Novel / Rebecca McQueen

Arsenic at Ascot, A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery / Kelly Oliver

The Sorrowful Girl / Keenan Powell

The Last Drop of Hemlock / Katharine Schellman

A Courtesan’s Secret / Nina Wachsman

BEST INVESTIGATOR
(INCLUDES PROCEDURAL, SERIOUS P.I., DETECTIVE, AND NOIR)

When Things Fall Apart / Alan Brenham

Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye / Bradley Harper MD

Vessels of Wrath / Thomas Holland

These Still Black Waters / Christina McDonald

Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery / Margaret Mizushima

Splintered Loyalty / Mark Troy

BEST JUVENILE / Y.A.

Where Echoes Die / Courtney Gould

The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary / K.B. Jackson

A Place of Vengeance / David Lafferty 

A Tall Dark Trouble / Vanessa Montalban

Immortality: A Love Story / Dana Schwartz

Stateless / Elizabeth Wein

BEST LITERARY

Brush: A Novel / Penn Anderson

The Last Beekeeper / Julie Carrick Dalton

Multo / Cindy Fazzi

Nemesis Rising / Adam Golob

The Salt Cutter / CJ Howell

BEST MAINSTREAM / COMMERCIAL

Stolen Diary / Kathryn Lane

Beverly Bonnefinche is Dead / Kristen Seeley

Prom Queen / Laura Wolfe

BEST MYSTERY

Mouse in the Box / Lewis Allan

Indigo Road / Reed Bunzel

Beautiful Death / John Deal

Secrets Don’t Sink / Kate B. Jackson

BeatNikki’s Café / Renee James

The Empty Kayak / Jode Millman

BEST NONFICTION

Forget It, Jake, It’s Schenectady: The True Story Behind ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ / David Bushman

Monster on the Loose / Richard Carrico

Here, Where Death Delights / Mary Jumbelic

The Climate Pandemic: How Climate Disruption Threatens Human Survival / Dennis Meredith

Saint Bloodbath / Frederick Reynolds

Finding YOUR Path to Publication: A Step-by-Step Guide / Judy Penz Sheluk

BEST SCI-FI / FANTASY

The Pilgrim – Part I / A. Keith Carreiro

The Confession of Hemingway Jones / Kathleen Hannon

Interface: Book One: Connection / R.K. Hillhouse

The Zone: A Cyberpunk Thriller / Stu Jones

Do You Believe in Magic? / Jim Melvin

Darwin’s Dilemma / Don Stuart

ANTHOLOGY
(AWARDED TO INDIVIDUAL AUTHOR OR COLLECTION EDITOR)

The Black Hole Pastrami / Jeffrey Feingold

There is No Death in Finding Nemo / Jeffrey Feingold

Paper Walls / Glass Houses / Richard Helms

Blues City Clues / Carolyn McSparren

Obsession / Multiple Authors

Hook, Line, and Sinker: The Seventh Guppy Anthology / Emily Murphy

BEST SOUTHERN GOTHIC

Inescapable, A Novel / WB Henley

BEST SUPERNATURAL

Monstera / EL Block

Personal Demons / L.R. Braden

The Paleontologist / Luke Dumas

Downpour / Christopher Hawkins

A Mother’s Torment / Xavier Poe Kane

Ghost Tamer / Meredith R. Lyons

BEST SUSPENSE

Don’t Close Your Eyes / Mary Alford

Deep Fake Double Down / Debbie Burke

Deadly Tides / Mary Keliikoa

Perspectives / Matthew Minson

Dead West / Linda L. Richards

The Rule of Thirds / Jeannee Sacken

BEST THRILLER

Checkout Time / John Bukowski

The Followers / Bradeigh Godfrey

The Trap / Catherine Ryan Howard

Implied Consent / Keenan Powell

Breaking Apart / Wanda Venters, MD and Mary Rae, MD

Kyd’s Game / Marc Rosenberg

BEST WESTERN

Reckoning / Baron Birtcher

Bladestay / Jackie Johnson

Sting of Lies / Carol Potenza