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And the Nominees are...

Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, from news venues such as The Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Sun Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, The Guardian, and several other daily papers.

This will mark the third best novel nomination for Tana French (Broken Harbor) and the second nomination for Dennis Lehane (Live by Night). This will also be the first time a past best first novel nominee has been nominated for the best novel award (William Landay for Defending Jacob).

Best Novel
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (Putnam)
Broken Harbor by Tana French (Viking)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
Defending Jacob by William Landay (Delacorte Press)
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow)

Best Debut Novel
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (William Morrow)
The Yard by Alex Grecian (Putnam)
The Expats by Chris Pavone (Crown)
Disappeared by Anthony Quinn (Mysterious Press/Open Road)
The 500 by Matthew Quirk (Reagan Arthur Books)

Faye Kellerman will be given The Strand’s Lifetime Achievement award for excellence in crime writing. The author of scores of bestsellers including most recently Gun Games (2012) said, “I am thrilled and honored to be given this title and distinction especially from such a treasured magazine like Strand. In the current days of fast-food reading of tweets and posts, Strand has remained a stalwart publication that features the best in new and traditional mystery short stories.” Kellerman has been writing for almost thirty years and is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s finest mystery novelists.

"I wasn’t surprised that Gillian Flynn was nominated for Gone Girl," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. “But there were some surprises this year and that’s what makes these awards so unique.”

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 9, 2013

An Unpublished story by James M. Cain in the Strand, as reported by the Associated Press...More info

English author Rosamund Lupton won the Best First Novel award for Sister (Crown).

“I'm deeply honored to receive the Strand Critics Award, not least because of the extraordinarily talented writers who were nominated,” Finder said. “The Strand is the preeminent mystery magazine, with a long and illustrious history of publishing, discovering, reviewing, and celebrating the best in a great literary tradition. I am particularly delighted to be sharing this award with one of my favorite writers (and people) in my line of work, George Pelecanos.”

Finder’s novel Paranoia is being adapted for the big screen with an all-star cast including Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Richard Dreyfuss.

George Pelecanos—who in addition to earning a reputation as one of the finest crime novelists of the past ten years, was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO series, The Wire—was equally content with the verdict of the critics: “I was honored to share the prestigious Strand Award with Joe Finder and to be amongst friends and colleagues at the reception. Thanks a million for a great night in New York.”

Unable to travel for the event, Best First Novel-winner Lupton was nonetheless elated by the news: “I am absolutely over the moon about winning the award. Thank you. Toasting the Strand Magazine up a mountain in Scotland this evening. A really wonderful thing to happen and I'm very grateful.”

In addition to the Critics Awards, Joseph Wambaugh and John Sandford were both recognized for their contributions to the field of crime fiction with the Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Otto Penzler was on hand to accept the award on Wambaugh’s behalf and John Sandford gave a warm thanks to the judges during his acceptance speech.

The Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, including Carol Memmott (USA Today), Lev Grossman (Time), Ron Charles (Washington Post), Chuck Leddy (Boston Globe), and David Ulin (LA Times).

“At the end of the day, nothing separated George Pelecanos from Joseph Finder—both of their books were terrific,” said Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand. “And it was great to see John Sandford on hand to collect the award. For the past three decades, his contribution to the thriller genre has been incredible.”

Best First Novel Nominees:

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (Sarah Crichton Books)

Sister by Rosamund Lupton (Crown)

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (Harper)

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis (Soho Crime)

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly (Pamela Dorman Books)

Best Novel Nominees:

The Affair by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)

The Drop by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co.)

Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder (St Martin’s Press)

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James (Knopf)

The Cut by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur Books)

Lifetime Achievement Awards:
Joseph Wambaugh

John Sandford

And the Nominees are...

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 07, 2012

The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2011 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, from news venues such as USA Today, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and several other daily papers.

For the fourth time in as many years bestselling author Michael Connelly was nominated for best novel (The Drop). The rest of the nominees Lee Child, Joseph Finder, P.D. James, and George Pelecanos are making their debut as best novel finalists.

Also, Joseph Wambaugh and John Sandford will be given The Strand’s Lifetime Achievement award for excellence in crime and thriller writing. Wambaugh has achieved worldwide fame for bestselling novels such as The New Centurions (1971), Blue Knight (1972), and is credited with transforming the police drama genre into serious literature. John Sandford with scores of novels in the space of nearly a quarter of a century, he stands out as one of the most successful thriller writers in the world. His novels have been translated into more than thirty languages and consistently hit the bestseller’s lists.

Best First Novel:
The Hypnotist Lars Kepler (Sarah Crichton Books)
Sister by Rosamund Lupton (Crown)
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (Harper)
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis (Soho)
The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly (Pamela Dorman Books)

Best Novel
The Affair by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)
The Drop by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder (St Martin’s Press)
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James (Knopf)
The Cut by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur Books)

Lifetime Achievement awards
Joseph Wambaugh
John Sandford

"This year’s awards are set for a tight finish, many of the judges were nearly unanimous in what they thought were their top ten books," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "The second round of voting should be very interesting."

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 11, 2012, in New York City.

Strand Mag Press Releases

Lippman, Connelly, Larsson, and Lehane Among Nominees for Critics Awards

The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2010 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, including Dennis Drabelle (The Washington Post), Dich Lochte (Los Angeles Times), Jordan Foster (Publishers Weekly), Jack Batten (Toronto Star), Jeff Ayers (Associated Press), Mary Ann Gwinn (Seattle Times), Jeff Johnson (Chicago Sun Times), Sarah Weinman (Los Angeles Times), and Larry Gandle (Tampa Tribune).

Best Novel:
The Reversal by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Faithful Place by Tana French (Viking)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow)
I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)

Best First Novel
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (Simon and Schuster)
Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann (Soho Press)
The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore (Twelve)
Snow Angels by James Thompson (Putnam)

"The panel chose a fantastic list of books this year," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "It's always nice to see some books that you felt were great, but somehow fell under the radar of a lot of people get the recognition they deserve."

The awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 6, 2011, in New York City.

cjones(at)strandmag(dot)com. P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418 PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046 WWW.STRANDMAG.COM

Contest Announced to Complete Graham Greene's Unfinished Novella 

The Strand Magazine has announced that a contest will be held to determine who will complete the unfinished Graham Greene novella The Empty Chair, which for the past year has been serialized in the Strand.

“I think we’re very excited to see what comes our way,” Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of the Strand said, “As an editor, it’s easy to underestimate the ingenuity of aspiring writers.”

The Empty Chair was discovered in a library by French scholar François Gallix while he was going over Graham Greene’s papers for a research project. The first part of the 23,000 word manuscript was published in the 2009 summer issue of The Strand magazine and generated worldwide publicity and interest not only among Greene fans, but among the reading public. “I think what this proves is that despite being dead for almost twenty years, Greene is very much alive in the conscious of the reading public,” said Frank Simon, the associate publisher of the Strand.

Graham Greene was born in 1904 and has a reputation as one of the greatest novelists of the 20^th century for writing novels such as, The Power and the Glory,
The End of the Affair, Our Man in Havana, and The Quiet American.  He died in 1991.

The idea for a contest came from Greene’s son Francis, who thought that The Strand was the ideal venue to publish The Empty Chair since his father published several short stories for the old Strand in the 40s.

The final part of the story will be published in the holiday issue of the Strand Magazine. “In our holiday issue we have a very short chapter five written by Greene,” Gulli said, “Then the novella ends rather abruptly, immediately following chapter five, we’ll publish the concluding chapter penned by winner of the contest.”

Winners of the 2009 Strand Critics Awards announced and Elmore Leonard honored

Michael Connelly took the top prize for Best Novel for Nine Dragons (Little, Brown) and Josh Bazell and Bryan Gruley shared the best first novel award for Beat the Reaper (Little, Brown) and Starvation Lake (Touchstone). The winners were announced at an invitation only cocktail party in Manhattan, by bestselling author Jonathan Santlofer.

Set in Hong Kong, Nine Dragons is Connelly’s 14th Harry Bosch book and has garnered rave reviews for being one of Connelly’s best novels to date. "Considering that it comes from Strand Magazine and the pedigrees of those on the judging panel, I am blown away by receiving this award, it is truly very special to me,” Connelly said after receiving the award.

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, blends humor with a darkly inventive thriller and has been translated into several languages. The Wall Street Journal’s Bryan Gruley, author of Starvation Lake, has earned comparisons to Dennis Lehane and has been hailed by critics as one of the most promising debut novelists of 2009.

Otto Penzler introduced the lifetime achievement award honoree Elmore Leonard. Leonard who has been described as the greatest living American crime writer has authored scores of novels, screenplays and short stories. Leonard thanked the judges and paid tribute to many of the writers who influenced him.

Best Novel:
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
The Renegades by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)

Best First Novel
 Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (Little, Brown and Company)
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press)
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Harper)

"It was great to have many of the nominees in attendance," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "And to have Elmore Leonard who provided the inspiration to so many of these writers at the awards was wonderful."

This year's judges included a panel of reviewers from Time Magazine, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Florida Sun Sentinel, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and The Chicago Tribune.

Nominees for the 2009 Strand Critics Awards announced and Elmore Leonard honored

The Strand, February 19, 2010 -- The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2009 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, including Ron Charles (The Washington Post), Julia Keller (Chicago Tribune), Tom Nolan (Wall Street Journal) Paul Harris (The Guardian), and Hallie Ephron (The Boston Globe).

Best Novel:

Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)

The Renegades by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)

Best First Novel

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (Little, Brown and Company)

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press)

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books)

Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Harper)

The Strand bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award to Elmore Leonard for his huge body of mystery and crime novels which have been translated into dozens of languages and are regulars on the New York Times best-seller lists. When given news of the award, Leonard said, “It’s an honor to receive this award from The Strand. I’ve been given awards for books that I’ve written, but I’m pleased to be getting an award for all of my work.”

The awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 7, 2010, in New York City.

cjones@strandmag.com. P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418 PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046 WWW.STRANDMAG.COM

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Richard Price and Tom Rob Smith Capture The Top Prizes

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The Verdict Is in...

Michael Connelly, Joseph Wambaugh, Tom Rob Smith, Kate Atkinson, and David Levien, are among the nominees for The Strand Magazine Critics Awards for Best Novel and Best First Novel. The judges are book reviewers from several of the nation's top daily newspapers.

 March 25, 2009 -- The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2008 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards are judged by a select group of book reviewers from the nation's top daily newspapers. Otto Penzler served as the award chair for best novel and Andrew Gulli served as the award chair for best first novel. This year's judges include Dennis Drabelle of The Washington Post, David Ulin of the LA Times, Lev Grossman of Time Magazine, Carol Memmott of USA Today, Maureen Corrigan of NPR, and Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press.

Best Novel:
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown and Company)
Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown and Company)

Best First Novel:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
City of the Sun by David Levien (Doubleday)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Harper)

"All judges sent to me, as committee chairman, a list of their 10 favorite books. I made a list that included all of these books--and a disparate selection it was--and the five with the most votes were to be the finalists," said Otto Penzler, the world famous publisher and proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop. "As it happened, there were three books that made it onto the short list, with five others tied for fourth, so we had a runoff with an extra round of voting to determine the top five nominees. Judges were then asked to list these top five in order of preference, with a first-place vote awarded five points, a second-place vote four points, and so on."

"I couldn't have been more pleased with this selection of nominees," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "When I read several of these books last year, I had a feeling they would be nominated for the Critics Award."

Awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 8, 2009, in New York City. A lifetime achievement award will be given posthumously to English author John Mortimer.

cjones@strandmag.com. P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418 PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046 WWW.STRANDMAG.COM
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Previously-unpublished Mark Twain work to appear in The Strand Magazine:

The spring 2009 issue of The Strand will include Twain’s “The Undertaker’s Tale”

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -- The Strand Magazine announces the forthcoming publication of a previously-unpublished Mark Twain short story in an upcoming issue of The Strand. Adding to a long-running tradition of publishing works by such great writers as Conan Doyle (published in the original Strand -- 1891-1950), Ray Bradbury, Alexander McCall Smith, and Ruth Rendell, The Strand will feature Twain’s “The Undertaker’s Tale” in its spring 2009 issue.

Andrew Gulli, editor of The Strand, said he grew up reading Mark Twain, and calls the opportunity to publish Twain’s work “an editor’s dream.”  While “The Undertaker’s Tale,” will be published nearly 99 years after Twain’s death in 1910, Gulli notes that the work is both timely and timeless.

According to Gulli, “Though the story is called ‘The Undertaker's Tale,’ I would hazard against bracing for something gloomy—Twain uses his razor sharp wit to pen a tongue-in-cheek tale about the funeral industry, which could easily have been written today. After rereading several of Twain’s tales and essays, it became even clearer to me that Twain’s writings can never be dated. He tackles the same problems we're challenged with today, and pokes fun at the same characters that inhabit our present-day world.”

Moreover, added Gulli, “We are especially thrilled because this issue will also feature a P.G. Wodehouse story that has been lost for almost 100 years.”

Marking the first time an unpublished work of fiction by Mark Twain has appeared in years, The Strand will publish “The Undertaker’s Tale” in the spring 2009 issue. The story will also appear in Who is Mark Twain? (HarperStudio) in April.

“The opportunity to publish something by such a literary icon as Mark Twain is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Frank Simon, Associate Publisher of The Strand.  "We publishers just live for the chance to be a part of something like this."

Bob Miller, Publisher at HarperStudio, which will release Who is Mark Twain, a collection of Twain’s previously unpublished stories and essays later this year, commented, “The idea of publishing never-before-pieces by Mark Twain appealed to me for a number of reasons:  I like the irony of starting something new with something old, as Twain was published from 1895 until 1910 by Harper Brothers, the company within which we are now starting HarperStudio.  Also, the pieces themselves are wonderfully, hilariously contemporary, and deserve as wide an audience as possible.”

The Strand Magazine (www.strandmag.com) is the nation’s leading mystery publication. Published quarterly, The Strand Magazine brings to the forefront the best of today’s mystery fiction, articles, interviews and reviews. From hard-boiled detective stories to cozies, The Strand covers a broad spectrum of the mystery genre. A known and trusted name for fiction by some of today’s best authors, The Strand features in-depth interviews with best-selling writers,  enlightening articles, as well as insightful reviews of the latest mysteries and thrillers, including children’s and young adult mysteries, and audiobooks.

A Lifetime Achievement Award for John Mortimer

The Strand Magazine has announced that the 2009 Strand Critics Lifetime Achievement Award goes to John Mortimer.

Detroit, Mich., Jan 14, 2009 – Famed British writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer has won a lifetime achievement award sponsored by The Strand Magazine and judged by several critics from top daily papers in the U.S.

In addition to once being one of London’s top barristers, Mortimer has written numerous successful plays, screenplays and novels, and is most renown for creating the curmudgeonly defender Horace Rumpole of The Old Bailey.

“I feel honoured to be chosen to receive this Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Horace Rumpole,” said Mortimer, 84, in a statement Wednesday. “He is, of course, a truly British character and I am delighted that he has come to be appreciated so much by his American cousins.”

"I think that John Mortimer has made an excellent contribution to crime writing,” said Andrew Gulli, managing editor of The Strand. "When you think about larger-than-life mystery characters, you think of iconic characters like of Holmes, Poirot, Marlowe and Rumpole "

 
The first pair of Strand Critics awards were given last year to Laura Lippman, for best mystery novel, and Marcus Sakey, for best first mystery novel. This is the first year that a lifetime achievement award will be presented.

 
Mortimer has written 13 short stories that have appeared in The Strand. In 2003, “Rumpole and The Primrose Path” was nominated for an Edgar Award. According to Strand associate publisher Frank Simon, “Mortimer is the new Strand’s equivalent of Conan Doyle — with the years, his work if anything has gotten better.”

Since publishing Rumpole of the Bailey in 1978, Mortimer has authored more than 20 novels and short story collections featuring Rumpole, which have made the character a worldwide success. The books also spawned a television series, starring Leo McKern, which lasted from 1978-1992 and was a successful staple for years in the U.S. on Mobil’s Mystery! Series.

On hearing news of the achievement award, Mortimer’s agent, Carol Macarthur, said, “United Agents are extremely pleased that Sir John Mortimer has been given this award at this time of his life and would like to thank Andrew Gulli from Strand Magazine for helping to promote the Rumpole name in the United States.”

The award will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand in July, in New York City. For more information, please contact Christine Jones at 248 569 3702 or visit

www.strandmag.com

The Strand Magazine


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christine Jones
Phone: 248 569 3702
Email: cjones@strandmag.com

Strand Magazine Announces Nominees for 2007 Critics Award
Award honors excellence in the field of mystery fiction

DETROIT, March 20, 2008—The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2007 Strand Magazine Critics Award. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Award is judged by a select group of book reviewers from the nation’s top daily newspapers, as well as by Andrew F. Gulli, Managing Editor of The Strand Magazine. With Larry Gandle of The Tampa Tribune serving as The Strand Critics Award chairman, this year’s judges include Patrick Anderson of The Washington Post, Dick Lochte of the LA Times, Oline H. Cogdill of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, David Montgomery of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Hallie Ephron of The Boston Globe, and Sarah Weinman of The Baltimore Sun.

Best Novel

Down River by John Hart (St Martin’s Minotaur)
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)
The Strangler by William Landay (Delacorte Press)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon and Schuster)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)

Best First Novel

The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin's Minotaur)
In the Woods by Tana French (Viking)
The Mark by Jason Pinter (Mira Books)
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (William Morrow)
When One Man Dies by Dave White (Crown Publishing)

“We’ve got a great group of experienced book reviewers from all over the country judging these books,” said Frank Simon, Associate Publisher of The Strand. “Add to that the fact that The Strand is putting its name behind it and you can be sure that all the nominees represent some of the best mysteries being published today.”

Awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 9, 2008, in New York City. For more information, please contact Christine Jones at 248 569 3702 or cjones@strandmag.com.
P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418
PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046
WWW.STRANDMAG.COM
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