The nominees for this year’s Anthony Awards have been announced, including Naomi Hirahara’s “Clark and Division.”
The awards will be presented during Boucheron 2022 Minneapolis: Land of 10,000 Crimes, to be held Sept. 8 to 11.
The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. They are named for Anthony Boucher (1911-1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.
Hirahara’s Edgar Award-winning book, nominated in the Best Novel category, is set in Chicago in 1944. Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the U.S. government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans.
The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled 2,000 miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.
Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.
Hirahara is the author of novels about gardener-turned-sleuth Mas Arai, Officer Ellie Rush, and Leilani Santiago, who is featured in “Iced in Paradise” and “An Eternal Lei.”
Also nominated are “Runner” by T. Clark, “Razorblade Tears” by S.A. Cosby, “The Collective” by Alison Gaylin, and “These Toxic Things” by Rachel Howzell Hall.
In the category of Best Paperback/Ebook/Audiobook, nominees include “The Ninja Betrayed” by Tori Eldridge, in which things get personal for Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja Lily Wong in Hong Kong when she dives into the dangerous world of triads, romance, and corporate disaster during the height of the pro-democracy protests.
This is part of the Lily Wong mystery series, which also includes “The Ninja Daughter” and “The Ninja’s Blade.” An actress, singer, dancer on Broadway, television, and film, Eldridge earned a 5th-degree black belt in To-Shin Do martial arts. She is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Norwegian descent and was born and raised in Honolulu, where she graduated from Punahou School with classmate Barack Obama.
Also nominated are “Warn Me When It’s Time” by Cheryl A. Head, “Bury Me in Shadows” by Greg Herren, “The Mother Next Door” by Tara Laskowski, and “Bloodline” by Jess Lourey.
In the Best Children’s/Young Adult category, nominees include “The Forest of Stolen Girls” by June Hur, which is set in Korea in 1426. Hwani’s family has never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest near a gruesome crime scene. Years later, Detective Min, Hwani’s father, learns that 13 girls have disappeared from the same forest. He travels to their hometown on the island of Jeju to investigate, only to vanish as well. Determined to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart, Hwani returns home to pick up the trail.
Hur is the bestselling author of YA historical mysteries “The Silence of Bones” and “The Red Palace.” She has been nominated twice for the Edgar Award. Her fourth novel, “A Crane Among Wolves,” comes out 2024. Born in South Korea and raised in Canada, she studied history and literature at the University of Toronto.
In the Best Anthology or Collection category, nominees include “Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color,” edited by Abby L. Vandiver. Among the stories are “Midnight Escapade” by Jennifer Chow and “Murderers’ Feast” by H.C. Chan.
Also nominated: “Under the Thumb” by S.A. Cosby, “Trouble No More: Crime Fiction Inspired by Southern Rock and Blues” by Mark Westmoreland, “This Time for Sure: Bouchercon Anthology 2021” by Hank Phillippi Ryan, and “When a Stranger Comes to Town” by Michael Koryta.
For a complete list of categories and nominees: https://www.novelsuspects.com/book-list/anthony-award-nominees-bouchercon-2022/