Why am I smiling? Because I've been nominated for both an Anthony Award and a Macavity Award! My impossible crime story "The Locked Room Library" was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award earlier this year, and now it's up for both an Anthony and Macavity, two awards that are given out at Bouchercon, the world mystery convention. Wow!!
I've always been a big fan of locked room mysteries, a style of puzzle plot mystery fell out of fashion in the mid-1900s, but I've been so happy to see it gaining popularity once more, and it's such a thrill to be receiving so much recognition for one of my impossible crime stories. Being shortlisted for four awards is rather mind boggling. I'm so pleased that readers are enjoying the story.
"The Locked Room Library" was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine last year. (For a little while longer, you can read the short story for FREE here on my website.)
Here's a teaser for the story:
The owner of San Francisco’s Locked Room Library—a new private library established to celebrate classic mysteries—has discovered a secret about John Dickson Carr’s controversial novel The Burning Court.
When a newly discovered letter Carr wrote to Frederic Dannay disappears under circumstances identical to one of the eerie impossible crimes in The Burning Court, it’s up to librarian Tamarind Ortega and stage magician Sanjay Rai (The Hindi Houdini) to prove the letter wasn’t stolen by a ghost who vanished through a bricked-up door.
The Locked Room Library setting was too good to abandon, so it's also a large part of my Secret Staircase Mystery Series, starting with Under Lock & Skeleton Key. And yes, Sanjay is in both!