2022
The Claymore Award
2022 Killer Nashville Claymore Award – Shaking / Jeffrey James Higgins
2022 Killer Nashville Claymore Award 1st Runner Up – A Chain of Pearls / Raemi Wood
2022 Killer Nashville Claymore Award 2nd Runner Up – Big Fat F@!k Up / Lawrence Allan
Best Action Adventure – Song of the Starlings / TM Clark
Best Comedy – Big Fat F@!K Up / Lawrence Allan
Best Cozy – A Chain of Pearls / Raemi Wood
Best Historical – The Surrealist Circle / Nina Wachsman
Best Investigator – The Bleeding / Chris Berg & Paul James Smith
Best Juvenile / YA – Powerless / Jacqueline Pretty
Best Mystery – Shaking / Jeffrey James Higgins
Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy – The Sleepers / Sydney Raeburn-Power
Best Southern Gothic – Under the Meadow / William Parolini
Best Supernatural – My Sister’s Shadow / M.S. Bryson
Best Suspense – The Windy City Stalker / Kat Shehata
Best Thriller – The General’s Briefcase / Ray Collins
The Claymore Award Finalists
2022 Best Action Adventure Finalists
Kidnapped at Koh Ker / C.A. Benadum
Killing Friends / Nancy Bruett
Song of the Starlings / TM Clark
Dreaming of Jerusalem / Susie Helme
The Gibbous / Hutch Hill
The Czar Bomb / Dennis Meredith
The Delta Convergence / William Peacock
Patrons of Mcmurdo / S.I. Rowell
The Shadow Kingdom / Michael Tunison
2022 Best Comedy Finalists
Big Fat F@!K Up / Lawrence Allan
King of the Private Dicks / Elaine Marsh
The Bump Key / Carrie Voorhis
The Gypsy Project / Becki Willis
2022 Best Cozy Finalists
Facets of Murder / Rae Aviani
Murder By Morel / Joanna Carns
A Very Proper Murder / Lucinda Gerlitz
Bear Attack / Sheryl Ickes
Murder Under the Sun / Anne-Marie Lacy
Blue, Blue Christmas / Audrea Martin
Dishonored / Timothy Stecker
Deliver Us from Evil / Jane Stevenor
The Coffee Murders / Jane Vasarhelyi
A Chain of Pearls / Raemi Wood
Tabitha Cairn and the North End Murders / Kelly Zimmer
2022 Best Historical Finalists
Harvest of a Down / Vladislav Avditskiy
Murdered and Missing / Ardis Eckel
Pontiac Rising / Iris Frank
The Genizah Codex / Susie Helme
I Paint the Sky / Laura Kemp
Nell: Marshal of Bodie / John Edward Mullen
A Preposterous Excuse / Cherie O’Boyle
Searching for Iphigenia / Carol Orange
The Surrealist Circle / Nina Wachsman
2022 Best Investigator Finalists
The Bleeding / Chris Berg & Paul James Smith
The Redhead at Café Du Monde / Evelyn Donahoe
Lights and Shadows / Joseph Doria
Great American Homicide / C. Kenneth Foit
Broken Windows / Henry Hack
Dunleavy / Mark Hannon
The Hustle / Laurence Klavan
Truth is Always Changing / Paul Paradise
Mother of Secrets / Tracey Phillips
Where the Devil Turns / Michelle Pretorius
Passion for Port / Jane Robbins
A Season for Murder / Jane Robbins
The Devil You Know / Alex Ruby
Blood Caste / Shylashri Shankar
No Sympathy for the Devil / Michael Siverling
The Social Worker / H.K. Slade
Still Life / Jennifer Slee & Jessica Slee
Worse than Death / Brooke Terpening
The Dieppe Letters / Liz Rachel Walker
2022 Best Juvenile / YA Finalists
Be My Alibi / Jamie Burns
Wake / Jessica DeLand
The Rainbow’s Shadow / Lynne Ewing
Branded / Joseph Humphrey
Intercludae / Felicia Ketcheson
North of Light / Reanna Pettigrew
The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Las / Neena Phan
Powerless / Jacqueline Pretty
Perfect Little Monsters / Cindy R. X. He
Proms Can Be Murder / Sheila Sobel
2022 Best Mystery Finalists
Potshots / Linda Benson
Death of a Glades Man / Carl and Jane Bock
Sister! / Tom Burns
A Killing, Interrupted / Jim Carls
The Conductor Tickets Death / SM Caruthers
The Fairytale Killer / Leslie Conner
Disclosure / Diane Dickinson
The Queen of Persia Heist / Roxanne Dunn
After Pearl / Stephen Eoannou
Not Today / David E. Feldman
That Which is Lost / Alice Fitzpatrick
Ghosted / Helen Currie Foster
Inside the Echo / Cyndi Goddard
A Climate to Die For / J. Reid Graham
Shaking / Jeffrey Higgins
That Which Was Golden / Nicholas Holloway
Betwitched, Bothered & Murdered / Erick Holmberg
The Seeker / Ruth Horn
A Patch of Blue / Nancy Hughes
Elrod / Zoltan James
The Cost of a Quiet Life / Mary Keenan
Trouble in Valdez County / Bill King
Everything to Fear / Richard F. McGonegal
Smuggler’s Ridge / Keith Mulford
Desert Heat / Dale Phillips
Through Any Window / Deb Richardson-Moore
The Lies Between Us / Laurie Rockenbeck
9 Days / Jule Selbo
Zigzag Girl / Ruth Knafo Setton
Murder on Mackinac / Emma Staples
The Raptor’s Son / Raymond Steyn
Dirty Hazel and the Cat Woman / Dana Summers
Questions of Loyalty / Mark Troy
Bloodroot / Scott Walter
Found in the Seaweed / Meredith Watson
After We Vanished / Ali Wood
2022 Best Sci-fi / Fantasy Finalists
The Way of Unity / Sarah K. Balstrup
Green Kid One and the Snap / HA Blackman
Coup de Grace / Paul L. Centeno
Worldamesh / Frank Cioffi
Terminus / Proto Dagg
Future Show / Nik Frank-Lehrer
Redux / CL Goddard
The Boulevard / Shawn Goodman
At Utopia’s Core / J Christopher Harman
I Contain Multitudes / Christopher Hawkins
The Sword Punks / Eric Hetzel
Halsey Versus Leo and the Ghosts / Tom Knevitt
The Snake, the Bear, and the Butterfly / Sophia Krich-Brinton
The Alchemist / R.M. Lewis
Tolstoi, Book I / Thomas Mulder
Rage / Semiramis Popova
The Sleepers / Sydney Raeburn-Power
Magic & Malice / Cloe Santamaria
Memory Division / Elizabeth Saul
Echo Six / Jeffrey Shaw
The Return / Laurie Stevens
Ocean: Flame of Nocturne / Braun Tueller
Age of Obsidian / Alex Usher
Malcolm of Earth / Alex Usher
Twenty Eighty-Four / Bill Woods
2022 Best Southern Gothic Finalists
The Fixer / Les Edgerton
Down and Out in Del Laria / Minette Lauren
Under the Meadow / William Parolini
2022 Best Supernatural Finalists
The Street Between the Pines / Joseph Alo
Stand in My Grave / Christine Birchwood
My Sister’s Shadow / M.S. Bryson
The Haunting of Edward Drake / Drew Conry-Murray
Ink and Ashes / Amy Denton
Bone Pendant Girls / Terry Friedman
Marked Memories / Essence Lopez
Ironblood / Mord McGhee
Voodoo Blues on Bayou Lafourche / Zari Reede
Lake Brightside / John Slayton
No Winter Maintenance / T.A. Stevens
The Prodigy / T.A. Stevens
Bad Blood Blues / Dana Summers
Lea’s Poltergeist / Adam Sydney
Sandi’s Dragons / Cathy Tully
Comancheria / Reavis Wortham
2022 Best Suspense Finalists
Lake Laps / Staci Andrea
The Novelist / DJ Backstrom
The Falls / Hayden Barber
Kill Me If You Can / R.G. Belsky
Draw Dead / Mari Clark
The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress / Guy Cote
Bad Blood / Kristine Dulong
Maternal Instincts / Jody Gerbig
Take Care / Jody Gerbig
Missing Woman Found / Bonnie Hearn Hill
Blind Conviction / Amy Ivan
Insidious / Lou Natem
Followers / Cheryl Rieger
Skeleton Prayer / Joshua Rodgers
The Windy City Stalker / Kat Shehata
Foul Play / Chrissy Smithicks
The Moonshiner’s Daughter / Tim Suddeth
Dying is Easy / Roger Toll
It Might Disturb the House / J. Morgyn White
The Secret Under the Stairs / CC Wilson
The Body in the News / Gay Yellen
2022 Best Thriller Finalists
Zero Day / JJ Abbott
Drone Kings / CE Albanese
Her Exquisite Corpse / Laura Baber
Henry’s Bomb / Kevin Bartlett
The Last Lonely Grave / Kim Bonner
The Shield / Charlene Caprio
Beneath the Ice / Barbara Clark
The General’s Briefcase / Ray Collins
The Dead Phone / Jordan Coriza
The Shadow Crocodile / ML Cullen
Pandora’s Pollen / George DeVault
To Free a Panther / L.H. Dillman
I Searched for You / MaryAnn Fitzharris
The Terrorist’s Daughter / MaryAnn Fitzharris
Under Watertown / Bob Gebert
Justice Denied / C.E. Goodrich
The Project / Julia Hatch
Killer with Ice Eyes / J L Hill
Fifth of the Story / Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes
Allocution / Russell Johnson
At All Costs / J. Robert Kinney
Collinwood / Phil Kushner
Doctor Lucifer / Anthony Lee
Unit Three / Stacy Renee Lucas
A Worm in the Tooth / Clayton Luz
A Cold, Cold War / DJ Macdonald
Hidden Depths / JH Mann
The Seven Children of God / Mord McGhee
The Pegasus File / Ian O’Connor
Stealing Oliva / Allie Paige
Dead is Dead / Lafayette Parish
Pierce the Darkness / Nannette Potter
Scream at Center Ring / Michelle Rodenborn
The Devil’s Dilemma / Jessie Seigel
Controlled Burn / Julie Tollefson
When There Are Wolves You Need Lions / Victoria Weisfeld
The Weight of Shadows / Jesse York
2nd Runner Up Best Claymore Award
Big Fat F@!k Up / Lawrence Allan
1st Runner Up Best Claymore Award
A Chain of Pearls / Raemi Wood
Killer Nashville Claymore Award Winner
Shaking / Jeffrey James Higgins
The Silver Falchion Award
2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Best Book of 2021
Girl Missing / Kate Gable
The Reunion / Kiersten Modglin
2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award 1st Runner Up
A Slow Fire Burning / Paula Hawkins
The Next Wife / Kaira Rouda
2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award 2nd Runner Up
An Ambush of Widows / Jeff Abbott
Suitable for Framing / Lori Roberts Herbst
Best Action Adventure
Killers!: A Natalie McMasters Mystery / Thomas A. Burns, Jr.
The Pilate Scroll / M.B. Lewis
Best Comedy – Saving La Familia / Donna Del Oro
Best Cozy – Suitable for Framing / Lori Roberts Herbst
Murder in the Master – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery / Judy L Murray
Best Historical – After Alice Fell / Kim Taylor Blakemore
Best Investigator – Girl Missing / Kate Gable
10 Days: A Dee Rommel Mystery / Jule Selbo
Best Juvenile / YA – Leisha’s Song / Lynn Slaughter
Best Mystery – An Ambush of Widows / Jeff Abbot
Bye, Buy Baby / Becki Willis
Best Nonfiction – The Home for Friendless Children / C.L. Olsen
Best Sci-fi / Fantasy – Tomb of the Queen / Joss Walker
Best Short Story Collection/Anthology – House of Crows / Lisa Unger
Best Southern Gothic – A Curse of Silver and Blood / Kimberly A Banks
Best Supernatural – Our Trespasses / Michael Cordell
Best Suspense – The Reunion / Kiersten Modglin
The Next Wife / Kaira Rouda
Best Thriller – Point Option / Ian O’Connor
Fallen Star: The Divine Devils Book 2 / R Weir
Silver Falchion Finalists
2022 Best Action Adventure Finalists
Murder at Buckskin Joe / J.v.L. Bell
Killers!: A Natalie McMasters Mystery / Thomas A. Burns, Jr.
Castoffs of the Gods / Sonja Dewing
The Cornmarket Conspiracy / Sharon Hoisager
Fatal Depth / Timothy S. Johnston
Beneath a Wrathful Sun / M. Elliot Lamb
The Pilate Scroll / M.B. Lewis
Came A Horseman / Paul McHugh
Alaskan Christmas Escape / Juno Rushdan
The Last of Her / Brent Spencer
2022 Best Attendee Action Adventure Finalists
Killers!: A Natalie McMasters Mystery / Thomas A. Burns, Jr.
Castoffs of the Gods / Sonja Dewing
The Cornmarket Conspiracy / Sharon Hoisager
2022 Best Comedy Finalists
Jove Brand Is Near Death / J. A. Crawford
Is That Your Final Answer? / Philip Gibbons
Sherlock’s Secretary / Chris Chan
Throwing Shade / Deborah Wilde
Bloodlines & Fencelines / DLS Evatt
How To Murder a Marriage: The Ex-Whisperer Files #1 / Gabrielle St. George
Saving La Familia / Donna Del Oro
Valpolicella Violet / Traci Andrighetti
Who, Me? Fog Bows, Fraud and Aphrodite / Charlotte Stuart
2022 Best Cozy Finalists
Where the Light Shines Through / Kathleen Bailey
Dead on My Feet / Patricia Broderick
An Embarrassment of Itches / M.K. Dean
Time After Tyme / Kay DiBianca
The Evening’s Amethyst / M. K. Graff
Suitable for Framing / Lori Roberts Herbst
The Unkindness of Ravens / M.E. Hilliard
Muffins & Magic / Polly Holmes
Death By Chance / Abigail Keam
The Fog Ladies: In the Soup / Susan McCormick
Gone Missin’ / Peggy O’Neal Peden
Death at the Salon / Louise Rose-Innes
Murder Worth a Thousand Words / Becki Willis
Stitch, Bake, Die! / Lois Winston
2022 Best Attendee Cozy Finalists
In Search Of Sierra / Brenda Donelan
Suitable for Framing / Lori Roberts Herbst
Murder in the Master – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery / Judy L Murray
Playing Possum / Lois Schmitt
Shrimply Dead / Maggie Toussaint
Fixation & Fraud / Cathy Tully
Stitch, Bake, Die! / Lois Winston
2022 Best Historical Finalists
Heirs of Falcon Point / Traci Hunter Abramson, Sian Ann Bessey, Paige Edwards, and A.L. Sowards
Cry of the Innocent / Julie Bates
The Turncoat’s Widow / Mally Becker
After Alice Fell / Kim Taylor Blakemore
The Artist Colony / Joanna FitzPatrick
No One Must Know / Susan Frances
Murder Under A Full Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery / Abigail Keam
Murder Under A New Moon / Abigail Keam
High Treason at the Grand Hotel: A Fiona Figg Mystery / Kelly Oliver
The Promise of Deception / Jessica Sly
Zebra: Friends by Fate. Enemies by Destiny / Jill Wallace
2022 Best Investigator Finalists
All That Fall / Kris Calvin
The Blessed Bones / Kathryn Casey
Girl Missing / Kate Gable
Be Mine Forever / D.K. Hood
In the Name Of / Candace Irving
Now & Then / Justin M. Kiska
The Lost Dragon Murder / Michael Allan Mallory
The Disappearance of Trudy Solomon / Marcy McCreary
Striking Range: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery / Margaret Mizushima
Hide in Place / Emilya Naymark
At First Light / Barbara Nickless
The Labyrinth / Owen Parr
The Winter Girls / Roger Stelljes
2022 Best Attendee Investigator Finalists
All That Fall / Kris Calvin
10 Days: A Dee Rommel Mystery / Jule Selbo
2022 Best Juvenile / YA Finalists
A Shadow on the Snow / JPC Allen
Cold-Blooded Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery 3) / Elizabeth Bunce
What Lies Beneath / Marissa Doyle
Rules of Falling / Leslie Tall Manning
A Stranger From the Storm / William Burton McCormick
Wonder Rush / Dan McKeon
Silence Speaks: A Sonny and Breanne Mystery #4 / James Paavola
Leisha’s Song / Lynn Slaughter
2022 Best Attendee Juvenile / YA Finalists
Leisha’s Song / Lynn Slaughter
2022 Best Mystery Finalists
An Ambush of Widows / Jeff Abbot
Red Rabbit On The Run / Jodi Bowersox
Bluff / John DeDakis
A Killer’s Daughter / Jenna Kernan
When Silence Screams / Mark Edward Langley
The Dark Remains / William McIlvanney & Ian Rankin
Spirit: An Andrea Kelley Mystery (The Archivist Book 2) / Elle Andrews Patt
The Archivist / Rex Pickett
The Scorpion’s Tail / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Grave Reservations / Cherie Priest
The Ruthless / David Putnam
Hunted in the Holler / Drew Strickland
Death and Consequences, An Eastern Shore Mystery / Cheril Thomas
The First Day of Spring / Nancy Tucker
Bye, Buy Baby / Becki Willis
2022 Best Attendee Mystery Finalists
The Taker / Robin Acton
Beyond The Headlines / R.G. Belsky
The Art of Betrayal / Connie Berry
Prefer Death (A Matthew Paine Mystery) / Lee Clark
Mainely Money / Matt Cost
Bluff / John DeDakis
Killer With Black Blood / J L Hill
Scarlet at Crystal River / Randy Overbeck
Murder off Route 82 / Jane Suen
Death and Consequences, An Eastern Shore Mystery / Cheril Thomas
Bye, Buy Baby / Becki Willis
The Sacrifice of Lester Yates / Robin Yocum
2022 Best Nonfiction Finalists
Self Help Sucks. The Anti Self Help Guide to Inner Peace and Contentment / Tony Blankenship
Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter / Chris Chan
Chasing bin Laden: My Hunt for the World’s Most Notorious Terrorist / Barbara Janik
The Home for Friendless Children / C.L. Olsen
Defending a Serial Killer: The Right to Counsel / Jim Potts
2022 Best Sci-fi / Fantasy Finalists
Journey to the Past / Esteban Corio
Schrodinger’s Cat / Ronald Crittenden
Hall of Skulls / Jamie Eubanks
The Last Beekeeper / Jared Gulian
House of Bastiion / K.L. Kolarich
Beryl Blue, Time Cop / Janet Raye Stevens
Tomb of the Queen / Joss Walker
Consent, Vol. 1: Erdos / Wilson Whitlow
Missing on Orbital 4: A Jake Hemlock Adventure / Cory Wilcox
2022 Best Short Story Collection / Anthology Finalists
Lies Along the Mississippi / Carolyn McSparren
House of Crows / Lisa Unger
2022 Best Southern Gothic Finalists
A Curse of Silver and Blood / Kimberly A Banks
2022 Best Attendee Southern Gothic Finalists
A Curse of Silver and Blood / Kimberly A Banks
2022 Best Supernatural Finalists
You Can’t Candle the Truth / Sarah E. Burr
Whisper Down the Lane / Clay McLeod Chapman
Our Trespasses / Michael Cordell
Dead & Buried / T.K. Eldridge
Swashbucklers / Dan Hanks
Rovers / Richard Lange
Annihilation / Kaylin McFarren
The Ghosts of Thorwald Place / Helen Power
A Moment After Dark / Janet Raye Stevens
Tidepool / Nicole Willson
2022 Best Suspense Finalists
In Harm’s Way / Traci Abramson
Redemption / Traci Abramson
Nanny Needed / Georgina Cross
Waiting for the Night Song / Julie Carrick Dalton
Hostile Intent / Lynette Eason
Furious: Sailing into Terror / Jeffrey James Higgins
Rattlesnake Road / Amanda McKinney
Redemption Road / Amanda McKinney
The Reunion / Kiersten Modglin
Cottonmouth: A Jessica James Mystery / Kelly Oliver
Woman in Shadow / Carrie Stuart Parks
Her Ocean Grave / Dana Perry
The Next Wife / Kaira Rouda
What Comes After / JoAnne Tompkins
Beneath the Marigolds / Emily C. Whitson
2022 Best Attendee Suspense Finalists
Nanny Needed / Georgina Cross
Hostile Intent / Lynette Eason
Snow Kiss Cookies To Die For / Wendy Kendall
DCYE Dangerous Games / Lynessa Layne
Fear the Night / Dianne McCartney
Rattlesnake Road / Amanda McKinney
The Reunion / Kiersten Modglin
Cottonmouth: A Jessica James Mystery / Kelly Oliver
Her Ocean Grave / Dana Perry
Locust Time: A Novel of Suspense / Dale T. Phillips
A Savage Joy Luis E Rosas
The Next Wife / Kaira Rouda
2022 Best Thriller Finalists
Her Name is Knight / Yasmin Angoe
The Ambulance Chaser / Brian Cuban
The Chaos Kind / Barry Eisler
Devil’s Ledger / Lorraine Evanoff
A Slow Fire Burning / Paula Hawkins
Furious: Sailing into Terror / Jeffrey James Higgins
56 Days / Catherine Ryan Howard
Blink of an Eye / Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen
The Missing Piece / John Lescroart
Stone the Dead Crows / Carrie Magillen
The Family Tree / Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry
Point Option / Ian O’Connor
The Kingdoms / Natahsa Pulley
The Siren / Katherine St. John
Impostor Syndrome / Kathy Wang
2022 Best Attendee Thriller Finalists
The Ambulance Chaser / Brian Cuban
The Counsel of the Cunning / Steven Harms
Angel the Assassin / Jane B Lee
Black Label / James L’Etoile
Nerve Attack / S. Lee Manning
Divided States / Rick Treon
Fallen Star: The Divine Devils Book 2 / R Weir
2nd Runner Up Best Silver Falchion Award
An Ambush of Widows / Jeff Abbot
Suitable for Framing / Lori Roberts Herbst
1st Runner Up Best Silver Falchion Award
A Slow Fire Burning / Paula Hawkins
The Next Wife / Kaira Rouda
2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards for Best Book of 2021
Girl Missing / Kate Gable
The Reunion / Kiersten Modglin
2022 Killer Nashville Best Book By Attending Author – Black Label / James L’Etoile
2022 Killer Nashville Readers’ Choice Award – Girl Missing / Kate Gable
2022 Killer Nashville Builder Award – Dan Royse
