International Thriller Writers Nominees

Best Novel :
False Impression, Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin's Press)
Killer Instinct, Joseph Finder (St. Martin's Press)
Cold Kill, Stephen Leather (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Messenger, Daniel Silva (Putnam)
Beautiful Lies, Lisa Unger (Shaye Areheart Books/Bantam)

Best First Novel :
Shadow of Death, Patricia Gussin (Oceanview Publishing)
Switchback, Matthew Klein (Orion)
A Thousand Suns, Alex Scarrow (Orion)
18 Seconds, George D. Shuman (Simon & Schuster)
Mr. Clarinet, Nick Stone (Michael Joseph Ltd/Penguin)

Best Paperback Original:
Skeleton Coast, Clive Cussler with Jack DuBrul (Berkley Trade)
The Deep Blue Alibi, Paul Levine (Bantam)
An Unquiet Grave, P.J. Parrish (Pinnacle)
Headstone City, Tom Piccirilli (Spectra Books/Crown)
Mortal Faults, Michael Prescott (Onyx Books)

I'm rooting for PJ Parrish, Joseph Finder and Patricia Gussin. Gussin is published by a small local press. It's always good when a new writer and a new press are nominated for a serious award.

By the way, Patterson, who I dissed yesterday, will be the first (?) Grand Master for the Thriller Writers this year. He has indeed published lots of books and is always on the best seller list. The man is a master of covering all bases. He wrote romantic suspense as well as thrillers, has adopted a bunch of co-authors, and even wrote a book set in California when he found out he wasn't as popular in that state as he wanted to be. Ah, the old advertising genes can't help but kick in. I still don't want to read about people being hacked to death by machetes. I can read that in the news.

Working on my synopsis of Promiscuous Mode, which has strong romantic elements along with business, computer crime and much monkey business.

Aloha,

Grapeshot