What's New - 2004 Archive

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12/31/04

Happy New Year from all of us at Black Raven Press!

The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) announces the nominees for the Dilys Winn award, given to the book the members most enjoyed selling during the past year. The winner will be announced at Left Coast Crime in February.

The Enemy by Lee Child (Delacorte)
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde (Viking)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Doubleday)
The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert (Atria)
Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho)
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin)

IMBA also started a new program several months ago called Killer Books, which is based on the premise "Who better to pick the best mystery books of the month than the people who run mystery bookstores?"

Each month, the 60 quirky stores that make up IMBA submit their favorite recent reads to a rotating editor who then trims the list to five. The general rule is that the book must be published within a three month period. However, since mystery booksellers don’t really like rules, they created a category called “the one that nearly got away” to include books that fall outside that period. Every selection is a gem that otherwise might have gotten lost among the more than 100 mysteries published each month.

The December Killer Books recommendations are listed below, but you probably want to go to the web site to read the reviews by the booksellers.

Queer Street by Curt Colbert (Uglytown)
Recommended by Bill Farley, Seattle Mystery Bookshop (Seattle, WA)

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill (Soho)
Recommended by Dean James, Murder by the Book (Houston, TX)

Last Seen in Aberdeen by M.G. Kincaid (Pocket)
Recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's (Ann Arbor, MI)

The Surrogate Thief by Archer Mayor (Mysterious Press)
Recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery (Mission, KS)

Death by Discount by Mary Vermillion (Alyson Books)
Recommended by Terri Bischoff, Booked for Murder (Madison, WI)