Shamus Award Nominees Announced

The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) is proud to announce its nominees for the 2003 Shamus Awards. Books and short stories first published in 2002 were eligible for consideration. In each work the main character must be a person paid for investigative work but not employed by a unit of government. Thus books and stories about private investigators (licensed and unlicensed), lawyers and reporters who do their own legwork, and other hired agents are eligible; works centering on law enforcement officers or amateur sleuths are not.

The Shamus Awards will be presented in October at the PWA banquet to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, during Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention.

The nominees are:

Best P.I. Novel
BLACKWATER SOUND by James W. Hall (St. Martin's Press)
NORTH OF NOWHERE by Steve Hamilton (St. Martin's Press)
THE LAST PLACE by Laura Lippman (Harpercollins)
HELL TO PAY by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)
WINTER AND NIGHT by S.J. Rozan (St. Martin's Press)

Best First P.I. Novel
WESTERFIELD'S CHAIN by Jack Clark (St. Martin's Press.)
THE BONE ORCHARD by D. Daniel Judson (Bantam Books)
THE DISTANCE by Eddie Muller (Scribers)
OPEN AND SHUT by David Rosenfelt (Mysterious Press)
PRIVATE HEAT by Robert Bailey (M. Evans and Company)

Best Paperback Original P.I. Novel
CASH OUT by Paul Boray (NAL)
JUICY WATUSI by Richard Helms  (Back Alley Books)
THE LUSITANIA MURDERS by Max Allan Collins (Berkley Prime Crime)
PAINT IT BLACK by P.J. Parish (Kensington Publishing Corp.)
THE POISONED ROSE by D. Daniel Judson (Bantam Books)

Best P.I. Short Story
Setting Up the Kill by J. Michael Blue (Hand Held Crime, Summer 2002)
The Second Coming by Terence Faherty (EQMM, 11/02)
Aftermath by Jeremiah Healy (MOST WANTED, NAL)
Second Story Sunlight by John Lutz (MOST WANTED, NAL)
The Jewels of Atlantis by James Powell  (EQMM, 11/02)