2024 Silver Falchion Award Top Picks

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE

A New Game / A.M. Adair

Sea of Red / James Bultema

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: Ten Steps from Baker Street / Thomas Burns

Siphon / Ley Esses

Mirov / David Hoke

The Moonshine Messiah / Russel Johnson

A Blanket of Steel / Timothy S. Johnston

Splinter / Paul McHugh

The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel / Jim Nesbitt

The Warmaker: A Black Spear Novel / Benjamin Spada

Shadow Sanction / Steve Stratton

BEST COMEDY

Big F@!king Deal / Lawrence Allan

Sly Fox Hollow / Brett Allen

King Me / J. A. Crawford

Ralph & Murray / Rick Glaze

Downsized or Dead / S.E. Greco

Shocked by Champagne / Lucy Lakestone

Cultured / DP Lyle

Hanging the Devil / Tim Maleeny

Citizen Orlov / Jonathan Payne

Dying for a Decoration / Cindy Sample

Model Suspect / TK Sheffield

Murderous Means / Lida Sideris

In$ured to the Hilt (A John Smith Mystery) / Charlotte Stuart

Over the Top Secret / Alexa Tuttle

A Crafty Collage of Crime / Lois Winston

BEST COZY

In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery / Zaida Alfaro

Under the Cocoon Moon / Kathleen Bailey

Dumpster Dying / Michelle Bennington

Lacey’s Star / Kay DiBianca

Puppy Love / Mike Faricy

Murder at the Summit: A Blake Sisters Travel Mystery / Carter Fielding

The Nest / Hal Glatzer

Notorious in Nashville / Phyllis Gobbell

Negative Reaction / Lori Roberts Herbst

Naked Came the Detective / Glendall Jackson

Karma Comes in Red, A Beyond Mystery / Morgan James

Final Cut / Marjorie McCown

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

Peril in the Pool House – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery / Judy L Murray

Dead Men Don’t Retire (A Spirit of the Law Mystery) / Lolli Powell

Flip or Flop, Murder House / Lynda Rees

Fresh Starts, Dirty Money / Lynda Rees

Playing Dead / Peggy Rothschild

Fishing, Festivities & Fatalities / Mary Seifert

Aussied to Death / C.B. Wilson

BEST HISTORICAL

Worlds Collide / Traci Abramson

Whiskey Secrets / Joy Allyson

Revenge at the Galliano Club / Carmen Amato

A Tryst in Paris, A Time Travel Romance / Anne Armistead

Rise to Rebellion / Julie Bates

Poster Girl: A Jane Benjamin Novel / Shelley Blanton-Stroud

The Resurrectionists / Stephanie M. Braun

Angel Falls / Kathryn Casey

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord / Celeste Connally

Vicar Brekonridge / Richard Helms

The Darkness Surrounds Us / Gail Lukasik

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

The Art of Misdirection / Jessica Sly

A Deadly Game / Laraine Stephens

A Courtesan’s Secret / Nina Wachsman

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

When Things Fall Apart / Alan Brenham

Undercover Lies / Donna Del Oro

Scorched Grace / Margot Douaihy

Hunting Fitz / Debra Gaskill

Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye / Bradley Harper MD

Vessels of Wrath / Thomas Holland

Beneath the Bones / Candace Irving

Invisible Wounds / Candace Irving

Fact & Fiction / Justin M. Kiska

These Still Black Waters / Christina McDonald

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

When the House Burns Down / Priscilla Paton

The Family Tree / William Skeehan

Missed Cue / Lynn Slaughter

Secrets in the Squalor / Drew Strickland

Splintered Loyalty / Mark Troy

Lethal Blues / Randy Weir

Suddenly Deadly / Virginia Welker

Blood Relations / Joyce Woollcott

BEST JUVENILE / Y.A.

Artifacts of An Ex / Jennifer Chen

Rain Falling on Embers / Liana Gardner

Where Echoes Die / Courtney Gould

Where Darkness Blooms / Andrea Hannah

Summer People / Sara Hosey

The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary / K.B. Jackson

A Place of Vengeance / David Lafferty 

A Tall Dark Trouble / Vanessa Montalban

Alphas and Auras: A Sonny and Breanne Mystery #5 / James Paavola

Awaken the Dawn / Ellis K. Popa

Immortality: A Love Story / Dana Schwartz

Always the Almost / Edward Underhill

Assassins Are Us / Kimberly Van Sickle

Stateless / Elizabeth Wein

Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake / Michael Witwer

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

Three Strides Out: A Horse Show Novel of Suspense / V.S. Anderson

Parallel Secrets / ML Barrs

Indigo Road / Reed Bunzel

Play the Fool / Lina Chern

Kaleidoscope of Secrets / Sandy Clements

Beautiful Death / John Deal

Murder at the Royal Albert / Gerald Elias

Black Cordite, White Snow / Nate Granzow

The Smoking Gun in Music City / Gerry Hyder

Secrets Don’t Sink / Kate B. Jackson

BeatNikki’s Café / Renee James

Mourning Bay / Kay Jennings

Missing Clarissa / Ripley Jones

The School of Homer / Alexander Marriott

The Empty Kayak / Jode Millman

Hollywood / Howard Owen

Backstabbed on Broadway / Carolyn Quinn

The Last Thing Claire Wanted / Karin Fitz Sanford

Vendetta in the Valley / Drew Strickland

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

In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America’s Child / Kim Cross

Hidden: The Unsolved Mystery of Sarah Mumford / Michelle Graff

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

Cinderwild / Coranna Adams

The Price of Rebellion / Michael Bland

Time Agents: Complications / Jodi Bowersox

The Pilgrim – Part I / A. Keith Carreiro

The Confession of Hemingway Jones / Kathleen Hannon

Death Pulls the Strings / Elle Hartford

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

The Zone: A Cyberpunk Thriller / Stu Jones

Create Destruction Phase: I / Ryan Kovacs

Blood Influence – Apostasy / I.C. Lawrance 

Do You Believe in Magic? / Jim Melvin

Darwin’s Dilemma / Don Stuart

Hounds of Gaia / Sean Tirman

Artificial Wisdom / Thomas Weaver

Talisman Gifts of the Shavtal / Toni Yap

ANTHOLOGY (AWARDED TO INDIVIDUAL AUTHOR OR COLLECTION EDITOR)

The Black Hole Pastrami / Jeffrey Feingold

There is No Death in Finding Nemo / Jeffrey Feingold

Father Figure / Dan B. Fierce

Paper Walls / Glass Houses / Richard Helms

Blues City Clues / Carolyn McSparren

Obsession / Multiple Authors

We Could Be Heroes / Multiple Authors

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

Murder You Wrote: An Interactive Mystery / L.J.M. Owen

The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions / Art Taylor

BEST SOUTHERN GOTHIC

Inescapable, A Novel / WB Henley

BEST SUPERNATURAL

Lit – Ascent / Mark Anthony

Monstera / EL Block

Edge of Reality / D.M. Bourgeois 

Personal Demons / L.R. Braden

Monstrilio / Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Came A Creature / David Dalessandro

The Paleontologist / Luke Dumas

Downpour / Christopher Hawkins

The Woodkin / Alexander Jones

A Mother’s Torment / Xavier Poe Kane

Ghost Tamer / Meredith R. Lyons

Wraith: An Andrea Kelley Mystery / Elle Andrews Patt

First Casualty / A.W. Powers

Danje / Gitte Tamar

Between Night and Fog / Mike Tucker

Girl Among Crows / Brendon Vayo

BEST SUSPENSE

From an Unknown Sender / Traci Abramson & Sian Bessey

Don’t Close Your Eyes / Mary Alford

Deep Fake Double Down / Debbie Burke

Watermelon Tattoo / Tony Burnett

One Night / Georgina Cross

Cross Roads / Tracey Devlyn

Hunting the Truth / Kathleen Donnelly

This Side of Dark / Caren Hahn

The Broken Sister / Leigh M. Hall

Deadly Tides / Mary Keliikoa

A Killer App, An HOA Mystery / Linda Lovely

Perspectives / Matthew Minson

When You Read This I’ll Be Gone / Anne Moose

Dead West / Linda L. Richards

The Rule of Thirds / Jeannee Sacken

The Centre / Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

We’re All Lying / Marie Still

Last Minute Guest / Drew Strickland

Beautiful in Death / Caroline Taylor

The Offer / D.L. Wood

BEST THRILLER

Second Term / J.M. Adams

Living Secrets: A Thriller / S.F. Baumgartner

Checkout Time / John Bukowski

With a Twist: A Murder on the Rocks Mystery / Cathi Stoler

The Followers / Bradeigh Godfrey

The Trap / Catherine Ryan Howard

Broker of Lies / Steven James

The Salty Iguana / Bill King

Bloodbank / Chris Knopf

The Unexpected Hostage / Allison McKenzie

Claw Heart Mountain / David Oppegaard

Pierce the Darkness / Nannette Potter

Implied Consent / Keenan Powell

Phantom / Helen Power

Breaking Apart / Mary Rae

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here / Jeneva Rose

Kyd’s Game / Marc Rosenberg

A Change in Destiny, Dark Choices / Janet K. Shawgo

Titanium Web / LM Whitaker

The Corpse Bloom / Bryan Wiggins

BEST WESTERN

Reckoning / Baron Birtcher

Bladestay / Jackie Johnson

Sting of Lies / Carol Potenza