I See What You Did There

After several days' worth of posts on awards for literature, now we finally get to the good stuff - the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards, celebrating the best in mystery/thriller writing for books and for television. I note that they are sponsored by Specsavers, a chain of eyeglass shops across the UK, which is appropriate because this is the award program most likely to ruin my eyesight.

I usually find myself in a frenzy of reading/watching to catch up with all of the nominees before the awards are announced, which leaves me a scant 10 days at this point. Good thing I just got my own new pair of specs. So let's get started with the lists of nominees!

Crime Thriller Book Club Nominees

Before We Met, by Lucie Whitehouse

Entry Island, by Peter May (love him!)

Letters to My Daughter's Killer, by Cath Staincliffe

Treachery, by SJ Parris

The Tilted World, by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly (fabulous book)

Watch Me, by James Carroll

Living Legends Nominees

Best living writer of crime/thrillers.

Michael Connolly

Robert Harris

Dean Koontz

Lynda La Plante

Val McDermid

Denise Mina

Wow - tough category!

CWA Gold Dagger Nominees

Crime Novel of the Year from the Crime Writers Association.

This Dark Road to Mercy, by Wiley Cash

Keep Your Friends Close, by Paula Daly

The First Rule of Survival, by Paul Mendelson

How the Light Gets In, by Louise Penny

CWA Steel Dagger Nominees

For the CWA's Ian Fleming-esque thriller.

Apple Tree Yard, by Louise Doughty

An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris

I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes

Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles

CWA New Blood Dagger Nominees

CWA's nominees for the best crime novel by a first-time author. 

The Strangler Vine, by MJ Carter

The Axeman's Jazz, by Ray Celestin

The Devil in the Marshalsea, by Antonia Hodgson

The Silent Wife, by ASA Harrison

Best Film Dagger Nominees

Cold in July

Dom Hemingway

Filth

Prisoners

Starred Up

Best Television Dagger Nominees

Happy Valley (a must-see on Netflix)

Line of Duty, series 2

Sherlock, series 3 (so amazing)

The Bletchley Circle, series 2

The Honourable Woman

Luckily for my eyes, I've seen many of the film and television nominees. But now it's time to buckle down to those books. Let me know which of the nominees you've read or seen! The winners will be announced on Oct. 24.

CWA Dagger Award Winners

The latest news out of London from the Crime Writers Association's Dagger Awards:

• Winner of the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award for best new author is S.J. Watson for Before I Go to Sleep.
• Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller is Steve Hamilton for The Lock Artist (see my review by clicking here).
• And finally....the winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award is Tom Franklin for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Absolutely the right choice in my opinion! See my review by clicking here.

CWA Nominee - End of the Wasp Season

How in the world have I not heard about Denise Mina?

Her book, The End of the Wasp Season is the final nominee on the CWA Gold Dagger shortlist that I'm reviewing this week, and it also happens to end a male-dominated list since it offers both a female writer and a female protagonist.
And what a protagonist ― Detective Inspector Alex Morrow is based in Glasgow and is five months pregnant with twins. She's battling an overbearing boss, a resentful staff, her crook of a brother, and her past.
Oh, and there's also the crime at the heart of the book.
A young woman is beaten beyond recognition at her home, and there are plenty of clues left behind for Morrow and her team to investigate, meaning that the job probably wasn't a professional one. When the squad finds stacks of money under the kitchen table as well, things don't seem quite as clear-cut as they first did.
This isn't one of those mysteries where you are kept guessing about "whodunnit," however; it's more of a why-did-they-do-it. Morrow's hunt is intertwined with the story of the killers, wealthy teens who have their own battle scars.
The End of the Wasp Season was just published last week here in the U.S., and I plan to search out Denise Mina's previous books as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, I'll wish her and the other CWA Gold Dagger nominees the best of luck! The winner will be announced tomorrow in London, so stay tuned. (2011 - Little Brown & Company)

Scottish Scones
Given the setting, these easy scones are a perfect combination with The End of the Wasp Season, preferably served with butter and jam.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
8 Tablespoons cold butter, chopped into bits
1/2 Tablespoon orange zest
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Work butter into the flour with your fingers until the dough looks like coarse pellets. Stir in cranberries and zest. In a small bowl, thoroughly mix together the sour cream and egg, then pour into the flour mixture. Mix with a fork until the dough starts to clump together. Then use your hands to press the dough into a sticky ball. Place into a round cake pan that has been lined with parchment paper and sprayed lightly with baking spray. Press the dough to the edges of the pan so that it forms an even height and shape. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and cut into triangles to serve.

CWA Nominee - Crooked Letter

The third shortlisted book for the CWA Gold Dagger Awards is Tom Franklin's Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, which was also an Edgar Award nominee.

Franklin weaves a mesmerising tale of two childhood friends who take very different paths in rural Mississippi (hence the Crooked Letter title ― if you don't know what I mean, Google it).
Silas Jones leaves his impoverished youth behind thanks to his skill at sports, returning to his hometown as the local constable. Larry Ott isn't so lucky. On his one date in high school, the girl he took to the movies disappeared, never to be seen again. Without any proof that he was involved a crime, Larry is never charged, but he becomes an outcast and the person the town loves to hate. Now another girl has disappeared. When Larry is shot by an unknown attacker, Silas finds himself dredging up the past while sifting through the present evidence.
In Crooked Letter, Franklin steeps an intoxicating brew of friendship and menace, capturing the small-town rural South, where a mirage of shimmering heat and the drone of insects lulls you into a a false sense of security so you don't see the snake in the grass (or the mailbox).

The true heart of this fantastic book, though, resides in the characters, who are so vibrant that I find myself thinking about them weeks after finishing the book. (2011 - HarperCollins)

Honey Popcorn
When thinking of a snack to enjoy with Crooked Letter, I kept coming back to something with honey. Franklin's characters are right out of the rural South, where a honeyed drawl can hide the sting of painful words.
3/4 cup popcorn
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 quarts popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups peanuts
Melt butter in large saucepan. Stir in honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and let boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and soda. Place popcorn in a large bowl, then pour syrup over popcorn. Add peanuts and stir thoroughly. Turn onto 2 greased baking sheets. Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes with a spatula. Remove from oven and cool before serving. (Recipe from the National Honey Board)

CWA Nominee - The Lock Artist

The second in my series of CWA Gold Dagger Award reviews is for The Lock Artist, a book that is also shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, which is specifically for thriller/adventure novels. The book also has won The Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year. Accolades like that give a book a lot to live up to, but that isn't a problem for author Steve Hamilton.

Michael Smith is a young man with a past, a very traumatic past. At the age of 8, he became an unwilling celebrity, alternately named in the press as the Miracle Boy, the Boy Wonder, or the Terror Tyke.
The event that gave him those monikers also left him speechless...literally. Though he no longer speaks, Michael has developed his senses of touch and hearing to such a fine point that they provide him with a career path no high school counselor would recommend.
Now a freelance lock picker and safe cracker, he finds love, money, and a group of people that are as close to friends as he's ever had. As Michael's story unfolds, the tumblers begin to tick over on the locks that hold the secrets to his past.

Hamilton gives The Lock Artist a fast pace, heightening the suspense by dropping back a few years to offer clues to Michael's childhood, and then shooting forward again to his nerve-wracking present. It's a wild ride with a damaged young man that wants desperately to escape. (2011 - St. Martin's Press)

Quick Crackers

These aren't necessarily the healthiest snack, but then Michael's life in The Lock Artist isn't all that healthy, either. But the crackers are really good and can be eaten on the run, which fits the book perfectly.

1 12-oz. package of oyster crackers

1 1-oz. package of Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Whisk together the seasonings with the dressing packet and the oil. Add the crackers and then toss until the crackers are evenly coated. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, stir them and then bake another 10 minutes. (Recipe from Hidden Valley dressing packet)

CWA Nominee - Snowdrops

This week I'm reviewing the four nominees for the Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger Award, which will be announced on Oct. 7. First up is a book that is also nominated for the Man Booker Prize, the UK's award for the best novel of the year. That award will be announced on Oct. 18.
And don't think I've forgotten the food...a suggested recipe for Snowdrops is listed below.

Nominee: Snowdrops

by A.D. Miller
We all have times in our lives when we convince ourselves that things are exactly as they appear, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. When Nick Platt meets two gorgeous young women in the Moscow metro, he finds himself in just that situation.
A British lawyer trying to untangle the strange Russian mix of corporate law and disorder, Nick is drawn into the lives of the two sisters. Masha and Katya are vulnerable, lovely, and almost naive...or so they seem. Nick begins to fall hard for Masha and believes that she loves him, too. So when she asks him for a small favor he is quick to oblige.
The true key to this novel (and it's best quality as well) is the evocative description of modern-day Moscow, bringing the city to life on the page. The winter snows deepen the mystery, blanketing the city in velvety pure white, hiding the ugliness of Russian life while covering a few truths. Miller does such a good job of describing the bitter cold of a Moscow winter that I felt the same shiver up the spine that I get when I watch Dr. Zhivago.
As spring approaches, the snows melt and many things are revealed, giving Nick a jolt of reality he doesn't necessarily want. Moscow and the girls begin to give up their secrets, some of which are the "snowdrops" from the title. That's the Russian term for bodies that are uncovered in the spring melt every year.
My only quibble with this book is that I don't like the trick of having the narrator speak to a supposed fiancee. It's distracting and the only false note in Snowdrops. (2011 - Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

Hot Spiced Wine
There are a lot of variations on mulled wine recipes. I received this one years ago from my aunt, and modified it to fit my taste. It is perfect for sipping while reading Snowdrops. When I say this book really captures the feeling of a Moscow winter, I'm not kidding.
2 bottles of red wine
2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
12 cloves
5 whole allspice
3/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
Combine all in a pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to simmer. Strain to serve.