Quarterly crime-fiction and mystery magazine The Strand has announced its 2023 list of nominees for the annual Strand Magazine Critics Awards.
Authors S.A Cosby, Laura Lippman, and Dennis Lehane headline this year’s nominees for the Best Novel Award, while Jonathan Karp of Simon & Schuster receives the Publisher of the Year Award. Kathy Reichs and Max Allan Collins are both honored with Strand Lifetime Achievement awards.
Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction and publishing, The Strand Critics Awards are judged by an ever-changing group of book critics and journalists. This year’s judges were chosen from Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, USA Today and The Associated Press.
The 2023 Strand Critics Awards nominees for Best Mystery Novel and Best Debut Mystery are …
BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper (Mulholland Books)
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (Harper)
Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
Time’s Undoing by Cheryl A. Head (Dutton)
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
BEST DEBUT MYSTERY
Fadeaway Joe by Hugh Lessig (Crooked Lane Books)
Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (William Morrow)
The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes (Dutton)
Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna (Sourcebooks Landmark)
Adrift by Lisa Brideau (Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Atria Books)
Past recipients of Strand Critics Awards include Jane Harper, Attica Locke, Angie Kim, Alex Michaelides, Megan Abbott, Michael Connelly, and Laura Lippman.
Strand Lifetime Achievement and Publisher of the Year Awards
“It’s always the highlight of the year when the nominees are announced, and I can’t think of a more deserving group than the writers on this year’s list,” said Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand Magazine. “Jonathan Karp, who receives this year’s Publisher of the Year Award, has created a culture at Simon & Schuster that is so supportive of authors and their works, and throughout his career has had an amazing knack for knowing just what to publish. I also have to say that both Kathy Reichs and Max Allan Collins have contributed so much to the genre. They are among the nicest and most professional people I have worked with, and they are so deserving of the Strand Lifetime Achievement awards.”
Kathy Reichs and Max Allan Collins Take Home Strand Lifetime Achievement Awards
“I am honored and delighted that Strand Mystery Magazine has selected me as a recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Reichs. “And I am humbled. To have my name included in the gallery of literary masters who have previously been recognized is astonishing and rewarding. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
“This is a lovely honor from the last magazine of its kind, much as I am part of a passing pulp breed,” said Collins. “My heroes included Chester Gould, Mickey Spillane, and Donald E. Westlake, later my mentors and friends. My love of movies culminated in the filming of my Road to Perdition. Nathan Heller, Quarry, and Ms. Tree are evidence of my love for detective fiction, much as the Antiques books written with my wife Barbara are of my love for her. I am lucky and blessed to make my living telling elaborate lies about humans at their best and worst.”
Jonathan Karp of Simon and Schuster Wins Strand Publisher of the Year Award
This year’s recipient of the Strand Magazine’s Publisher of the Year Award is Jonathan Karp, CEO, publisher, and president of Simon & Schuster. Throughout his time at Simon & Schuster, Karp has overseen an amazing boost in revenue, consolidated several imprints, and managed to navigate the world of digital publishing while ensuring that print books are still at the forefront of so much that S&S does. During his career he has frequently taken chances on books he believes in — that other editors might have passed up — and, more often than not, those chances have paid off in the form of critically acclaimed books that are also commercially successful.
“I’m grateful to the Strand for this honor, and to all of the great publishers who have taught me through the years, especially Kate Medina, Ann Godoff, Harry Evans, Jamie Raab, and Carolyn Reidy, as well as the authors who have made this work so satisfying, for so long,” says Karp.
Past recipients of the Strand Publisher of the Year Award include Dan Smetanka, Tom Doherty, Morgan Entrekin, Josh Stanton, and Bronwen Hruska.