The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911-1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.

The Anthony Awards are among the most prestigious awards in the world of mystery writers and have helped boost the careers of numerous recipients.

According to Bouchercon rules, the awards are given in the following categories:

* Best Novel
* Best First Novel
* Best Paperback Original
* Best Short Story
* Best Critical Nonfiction Work
* Special Service Award
* Up to three wild card awards

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2008 Winners | 2008 Shorts | Winners 1986 to present

2008 Anthony Award Winners

2008 Best Novel: What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (left)

Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you what_the_dead_know_cover kidnap two girls? Who'or what'could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness?

Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been, why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead-end'a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household.

In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?

2008 Best First Novel: In the Woods by Tana French

in_the_woods A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox — his partner and closest friend — find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones.

2008 Best Paperback Original: A Thousand Bones by P. J. Parrish

A woman cop.

A haunting memory....

The only female detective in the Miami PD's Homicide division, Joe Fryehas memories that haunt her, and a past that not even her lover, detective Louis Kincaid, truly knows. It began when Joe was an ambitious rookie cop in a small Michigan town called Echo Bay....

The bones found in the woods were the first clue in a string of unimaginably brutal murders of young women. Plunged into a heated investigation -- and caught between the dictates of a reluctant local sheriff and the state police -- Joe soon uncovers the chilling truth: In the dead ofwinter in the Michigan woods, she must face down a predator who has chosen her as a worthy opponent -- or become his next victim.

2008 Anthony Award Nominees/ Shortlist

Best Novel
TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster)
BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE by Lee Child (Delcacorte Press)
THE WATCHMAN by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
THUNDER BAY by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)- Winner

Best First Novel
BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
IN THE WOODS by Tana French (VIking Adult)- Winner
THE SPELLMAN FILES by Lisa Lutz (Simon and Schuster)
HEAD GAMES by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
THE BLADE ITSELF by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original
QUEENPIN by Megan Abbott (Simon and Schuster)
SLIDE by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr (Hard Case Crime)
BLOOD OF PARADISE by David Corbett (Ballantine Books)
BABY SHARK'S BEAUMONT BLUES by Robert Fate (Capital Crime Press)
A THOUSAND BONES by P. J. Parrish (Pocket)- Winner

Best Short Story
"Please Watch Your Step" by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine - Spring 07)
"Dear Dr. Watson" by Steve Hockensmith (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"How Stella Got Her Grave Back" by Toni L. P. Kelner in MANY BLOODY RETURNS edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner (Ace Hardcover)
"Hardly Knew Her" by Laura Lippman, in DEAD MAN'S HAND edited by Otto Penzler (Harcourt)
"Uncle" by Daniel Woodrell, in A HELL OF A WOMAN: An Anthology of Female Noir edited by Megan Abbott (Busted Flush Press)

Best Critical Nonfiction
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley (Penguin)
THE ESSENTIAL MYSTERY LISTS compiled by Roger Sobin (Poisoned Pen Press)
THE TRIUMPH OF THE THRILLER: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)
DEVIANCE IN CONTEMPORARY CRIME FICTION by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave MacMillan)

Special Services Award
Jon and Ruth Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine
Ali Karim - Shotz Magazine
Maddy Van Hertbruggen - 4MA
Sarah Weinman - Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
Judy Bobalik - for being one of the best friends and supporters of mystery writers anywhere

Web Site
Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind - Sarah Weinman
Rap sheet/January Magazine - J Kingston Pierce
Murderati - A Writer's Blog
Stop You're Killing Me - Stan Ulrich & Lucinda Surber
Crime Fiction Dossier - David Montgomery

Past Anthony Award Winners 1986 to 2007

Best novel | Best First Novel | Best Paperback Original |

Best Novel
2000s

* 2007 Laura Lippman, No Good Deeds
* 2006 William Kent Krueger, Mercy Falls
* 2005 William Kent Krueger, Blood Hollow
* 2004 Laura Lippman, Every Secret Thing
* 2003 Michael Connelly, City of Bones
* 2002 Dennis Lehane, Mystic River
* 2001 Val McDermid, A Place of Execution
* 2000 Peter Robinson, In a Dry Season

1990s

* 1999 Michael Connelly, Blood Work
* 1998 S. J. Rozan, No Colder Place
* 1997 Michael Connelly, The Poet
* 1996 Mary Willis Walker, Under the Beetle's Cellar
* 1995 Sharyn McCrumb, She Walks These Hills
* 1994 Marcia Muller, Wolf in the Shadows
* 1993 Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter
* 1992 Peter Lovesey, The Last Detective
* 1991 Sue Grafton, "G" Is for Gumshoe
* 1990 Sarah Caudwell, The Sirens Song of Murder

1980s

* 1989 Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs
* 1988 Tony Hillerman, Skinwalkers
* 1987 Sue Grafton, "C" Is for Corpse
* 1986 Sue Grafton, "B" Is for Burglar

Best First Novel

2000s

* 2007 Louise Penny, Still Life
* 2006 Chris Grabenstein, Tilt-a-Whirl
* 2005 Harley Jane Kozak, Dating Dead Man
* 2004 P. J. Tracy, Monkeewrench
* 2003 Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter
* 2002 C. J. Box, Open Season
* 2001 Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine
* 2000 Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks

1990s

* 1999 William Kent Krueger, Iron Lake
* 1998 Lee Child, Killing Floor
* 1997 Dale Furutani, Death in Little Tokyo

and Terris McMahan Grimes, Somebody Else's Child

* 1996 Virginia Lanier, Death in Bloodhound Red
* 1995 Caleb Carr, The Alienist
* 1994 Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat
* 1993 Barbara Neely, Blanche on the Lam
* 1992 Sue Henry, Murder on the Iditarod Trail
* 1991 Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem
* 1990 Karen Kijewski, Katwalk

1980s

* 1989 Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance
* 1988 Gillian Roberts, Caught Dead in Philadelphia
* 1987 Bill Crider, Too Late to Die
* 1986 Jonathan Kellerman, When the Bough Breaks

2000s

* 2007 Dana Cameron, Ashes and Bones
* 2006 Reed Farrel Coleman, The James Deans
* 2005 Jason Starr, Twisted City
* 2004 Robin Burcell, Deadly Legacy
* 2003 Robin Burcell, Fatal Truth
* 2002 Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark
* 2001 Kate Grilley, Death Dances to a Reggae Beat
* 2000 Laura Lippman, In Big Trouble

1990s

* 1999 Laura Lippman, Butcher's Hill
* 1998 Rick Riordan, Big Red Tequila
* 1997 Terris McMahan Grimes, Somebody Else's Child
* 1996 Harlan Coben, Deal Breaker
* 1995 no award given
* 1994 no award given
* 1993 no award given
* 1992 no award given
* 1991 James McCahery, Grave Undertaking

and Rochelle Krich, Where's Mommy Now?

* 1990 Carolyn Hart, Honeymoon with Murder

1980s

* 1989 Carolyn Hart, Something Wicked
* 1988 Robert Crais, The Monkey's Raincoat
* 1987 Robert Campbell, The Junkyard Dog
* 1986 Nancy Pickard, Say No To Murder