My Weblog: Anthony Awards Quiz!

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

The mystery world is buzzing over the Anthony Nominees! (And the Macavitys! And the Barrys!) And many authors, including a couple of Femmes! are very, very happy. The awards will be presented at Bouchercon in October in San Francisco.

But how well do you know your nominees?

For instance, these two opening lines:

I’m back.

I dropped my suitcase, slipped off my shoes, and listened to familiar Chinatown sounds spill in the windows.

Which of the Anthony Nominees for Best Novel is that from? Choose one. Easy, right?

* THE LAST CHILD - John Hart [Minotaur Books]

*THE MYSTIC ARTS OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH - Charlie Huston [Ballantine Books]

*THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE - Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland [Quercus/Knopf]

*THE BRUTAL TELLING - Louise Penny [Minotaur Books]

*THE SHANGHAI MOON - S.J. Rozan [Minotaur Books]

It’s The Shanghai Moon, of course. How about this one:

She lay on her bed fastened by narrow straps to a steel frame.

Hmm. Okay, that’s Stieg Larsson. You knew that, too

Let’s try a more difficult one. Here are the nominees for Paperback Original:

BURY ME DEEP - Megan Abbott [Simon & Schuster]

TOWER - Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman [Busted Flush Press]

QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE - Max Allan Collins [Hard Case Crime]

STARVATION LAKE - Bryan Gruley [Touchstone]

DEATH AND THE LIT CHICK - G.M. Malliet [Midnight Ink]

AIR TIME - Hank Phillippi Ryan [Mira]

Which one begins like this?

I had a body in the trunk of my car.

Okay, too hard? It’s QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE.

Try this one:

Griffin coughed blood into my face when I made to slip the chains under his shoulders.

That’s TOWER!

Okay, here’s an easy one. I hope. Which paperback original begins with this line?

It’s never a good thing when the flight attendant is crying.

Yup, AIR TIME. (And this Femme is pretty thrilled!)

Now a much higher degree of difficulty. The short stories! And the nominees are:

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" - Ace Atkins, CROSSROAD BLUES [Busted Flush Press]

"Femme Sole" - Dana Cameron, BOSTON NOIR [Akashic Books]

"Animal Rescue" - Dennis Lehane, BOSTON NOIR [Akashic Books]

"On the House" - Hank Phillippi Ryan, QUARRY: Crime Stories by New EnglandWriters [Level Best Books]

"Amapola" - Luis Alberto Urrea, PHOENIX NOIR [Akashic Books]

Lots of these are on line...and we’ve posted the links below. But—without looking--can you match the first five lines with the nominees?

***Here’s the thing—I never took drugs in my life. Yes, all right, I was the champion of my share of keggers. Me and the Pope. We were like, Bring on the Corona and the Jäger! Who wasn’t?

*** “Do you think he's dangerous?"

"Ron, you mean? Or Cooper? Down, Cooper."

I pushed the Lab's massive yellow paw from my bare leg. With a big-eyed look that meant "just this once," he curled up under my bar stool, nose on my sandal. I love Cooper.

***Bob found the dog in the trash.

It was just after Thanksgiving, the neighborhood gone quiet, hungover. After bartending at Cousin Marv’s, Bob sometimes walked the streets. He was big and lumpy and hair had been growing in unlikely places all over his body since his teens. In his twenties, he’d fought against the hair, carrying small clippers in his coat pocket and shaving twice a day.

***A moment of your time, Anna Hoyt.”

Anna slowed and cursed to herself. She’d seen Adam Seaver as she crossed Prince Street, and for a terrible moment thought he was following her. She’d hoped to lose him amid the peddlers and shoppers at the busy market near Dock Square, but she couldn’t ignore him after he called out. His brogue was no more than a low growl, but conversations around him tended to fade and die.

**(one we don't have permission to use...)

Good luck with the quiz! And good luck to all the nominees! We hope to see you in San Francisco!

****************************************

(Check these links for the short stories!)

“Amapola”

by Luis Alberto Urrea in Phoenix Noir

http://www.akashicbooks.com/phoenixnoir.htm

http://www.luisurrea.com/home.php

“Animal Rescue”

by Dennis Lehane in Boston Noir

http://www.akashicbooks.com/bostonnoir.htm

http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/