Gumshoe Awards 2005

The 4th Annual Gumshoe Awards are given by Mystery Ink to recognize the best achievements in crime fiction. This year’s nominees were chosen from books published in 2004.

Best Mystery:

Jim Fusilli – Hard, Hard City

The Nominees:

Laura Lippman – By a Spider’s Thread (William Morrow)
T. Jefferson Parker – California Girl (William Morrow)
Denise Hamilton – Last Lullaby (Scribner)
S.J. Rozan – Absent Friends (Delacorte)

Best Thriller:

Barry Eisler – Rain Storm

The Nominees:

Dean Koontz – Life Expectancy (Bantam)
Alan Furst – Dark Voyage (Random House)
Daniel Silva – A Death in Vienna (Putnam)
Robert Ferrigno – The Wake-Up (Pantheon)

Best European Crime Novel:

Henning Mankell – The Return of the Dancing Master

The Nominees:

Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow of the Wind (Penguin)
Donna Leon – Doctored Evidence (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Boris Akunin – Murder on the Leviathan (Random House)
Ian Rankin – A Question of Blood (Little Brown)

Best First Novel:

Dylan Schaffer – Misdemeanor Man

The Nominees:

J.A. Konrath – Whiskey Sour (Hyperion)
Raelynn Hillhouse – Rift Zone (Forge)
Harley Jane Kozak – Dating Dead Men (Doubleday)
Charles Huston – Caught Stealing (Ballantine)

Best Crime Fiction Website:

January Magazine, a literary journal on the web, consistently offers some of the best book reviews and author interviews to be found anywhere. Their commitment to covering the crime fiction genre is unmatched in literary circles, as is their standard for fine writing.

Lifetime Achievement:

Lawrence Block

With over 50 published novels and numerous ongoing series, Lawrence Block is not only among the most prolific, but also the most talented writers of crime fiction. He is one of the finest craftsmen that literature has to offer and Mystery Ink can think of no author who deserves it more.