2021 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists
BEST ACTION ADVENTURE
The Medina Device / T. J. Champitto
Hot Flash Decisions / Shirley B. Garrett
Dead Men’s Silence / James Lindholm
Trojan Horse / S. Lee Manning
The Crow’s Nest / Richard Meredith
BEST COMEDY
Con Me Once / J. L. Delozier
Risky Whiskey / Lucy Lakestone
Once is Never Enough / Haris Orkin
Slightly Murderous Intent / Lida Sideris
Murder by Milk Bottle / Lynne Truss
BEST COZY
Winter Witness / Tina deBellegarde
Dead Man’s Watch / Kay DiBianca
Three Treats Too Many / Debra H. Goldstein
Family Twist / Bonita Y. McCoy
Murder in First Position / Lori Robbins
Larceny at the Library / Colleen J. Shogan
Seas the Day / Maggie Toussaint
Dr. Shine Cracks the Case / Cathy Tully
Rose by Any Other Name / Becki Willis
A Sew Deadly Cruise / Lois Winston
BEST HISTORICAL
Copy Boy / Shelley Blanton-Stroud
Dark Secrets of the Bayou / Kim Carter
A Child Lost / Michelle Cox
The Lost Wisdom of the Magi / Susie Helme
Death on the Homefront / Frances McNamara
BEST INVESTIGATOR
Narco Noir / Carmen Amato
The Last Scoop / R. G. Belsky
Within Plain Sight / Bruce Robert Coffin
The Vultures / Mark Hannon
The Garbage Man / Candace Irving
A Palette for Love and Murder / Saralyn Richard
Stardust Trail / J. R. Sanders
Facets of Death / Michael Stanley
In Twilight’s Hush / Laurie Stevens
All We Buried / Elena Taylor
Dirty Old Town / Gabriel Valjan
BEST JUVENILE / Y.A.
The Crossingway / Lynn H. Elliott
Irish Town / Matthew John Meagher
Kassy O’Roarke Treasure Hunter / Kelly Oliver
Astrobia / James C. Paavola
Someone is Burning My Lord, Kumbaaya / Fiza Pathan and Michaelangelo Zane
BEST MYSTERY
Every Kind of Wicked / Lisa Black
Dark Secrets of the Bayou / Kim Carter
Travels of Quinn / Sasscer Hill
Three Houses on a Hill / Nicholas Holloway
Relative Silence / Carrie Stuart Parks
Calling for the Money / Cathy Perkins
Love Power / Martha Reed
Murder, Forgotten / Deb Richardson-Moore
Code Gray / Benny Sims
Murder at Lolly Beach / Jane Suen
BEST NONFICTION
The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands / Jon Billman
The Five Core Conversations for Couples / David and Julie Bulitt
Words Whispered in Water / Sandy Rosenthal
BEST SCI-FI / FANTASY
Jeremy and the Witches Medallion / Randy Gauthier
Servant of the Crown / Duncan M. Hamilton
In the Shadow of a Valiant Moon / Stu Jones & Gareth Worthington
Otaku / Chris Kluwe
Odyssey Tale / Cody Schlegel
BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION / ANTHOLOGY
Crossing Borders / Lisa Brackmann & Matt Coyle
Judge Lu’s Case Files, Stories of Crime & Mystery in Imperial China / P.A. De Voe
Minnesota Not So Nice: Eighteen Tales of Bad Behavior / Barbara Merritt Deese, Pat Dennis, Michael Allan Mallory, and Timya Owen
Couch Detective Book 2 / James Glass
Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies / John Langan
BEST SUPERNATURAL
Slipping into Darkness / D. M. Bourgeois
Borrowings of the Shan Van Vocht / Catherine Moore
Wonderland / Zoje Stage
Sisters of the Moon / Alexandrea Weis
Borrowed Memories / Christine Mager Wevik
Inn the Spirit of Competition / Becki Willis
BEST SUSPENSE
Inherent Fate / Alicia Anthony
Purgatory, A Progeny’s Quest / T.M. Brown
The Stepdaughter / Georgina Cross
Athena’s Dilemma / Donna Del Oro
A Thousand Miles from Spokane / S. D. Goldman
Ring of Conspiracy / J. Robert Kinney
Trojan Horse / S. Lee Manning
The Golden Girl / Dana Perry
Last Call / Cathi Stoler
Let the Guilty Pay / Rick Treon
BEST THRILLER
Collateral / Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson
Bakersfield Boys Club / Anne Da Vigo
Blind Edge / Candace Irving
The Venezuelan / Bill King
Fall / Leslie McCauley
Percentages of Guilt / Michael Niemann
Ripple in the Sea / Charley Pearson
Hot Ice, Cold Blood / Holly Spofford
The Divine Devils / R. Weir
Scorpion Scheme / Melissa Yi