So, last Friday I’m in Florida with my family, getting ready to hit the beach, when I get a text message from my buddy Jeff S. that said…CONGRATS!! Puzzling, right? I hadn’t been online for a couple days, I tend to pick the sun and sand over the computer when I’m on vacation. I texted him back and said…Congrats on what? That’s when he told me that the first book in my Mercy Gunderson series, NO MERCY, was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Hardcover Fiction, by the Private Eye Writers of America.

 

I was stunned. I’m still stunned. Excited. Humbled because WOW, look at the list of other nominees in this category:

Best Hardcover Novel

No Mercy by Lori Armstrong (Touchstone / Simon & Schuster)

The First Rule by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Voyeur by Daniel Judson (Minotaur/St. Martin’s)

If the Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr (Putnam)

Naked Moon by Domenic Stansberry (Minotaur/St. Martin’s)

Luckily, I’ll be at Bouchercon in St. Louis for the award ceremony. Although this is my 4th Shamus nomination, I’ve only been to the banquet once. When I won the Shamus in 2009 for SNOW BLIND, I was under heavy deadline and couldn’t attend the award ceremony, but I sort of accepted via cell phone. In my sweats. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to wear something a little more formal to this gig this time. Yeah, it’s given me an excuse to buy a new pair of boots :)

To share in my excitement, I’m giving away a signed copy of NO MERCY to some lucky commenter!