The Strand Critics Award Nominees

The Strand Magazine announces its 2009 slate of nominees for Best Novel and Best First Novel:

Best Novel:
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown and Company)
Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown and Company)

Best First Novel:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
City of the Sun by David Levien (Doubleday)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Harper)

The winner will be announced on July 8 at a private cocktail ceremony in New York. This year's judges were chaired by Otto Penzler (Best Novel) and Andrew Gulli (Best First Novel) and also included Dennis Drabelle of The Washington Post, David Ulin of the LA Times, Lev Grossman of Time Magazine, Carol Memmott of USA Today, Maureen Corrigan of NPR, and Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press.

Comments

[R. T. Davis]

There is something darkly ironic about Stieg Larsson being nominated for the "Best First Novel" award, especially when you think about the fact that Larsson died before experiencing any of his success as a novelist (and only two more novels remain to be published). In my humble opinion, though, Larsson's novel should have been nominated and become winner in both categories (Best Novel and Best First Novel).

[David J. Montgomery]

Why is it ironic?

A surprisingly strong list. Kudos to the judges. (A little baffled by the inclusion of HOLLYWOOD CROWS, though.)

[Reg]

Stieg did the work, wrote the books, he deserves it, dead or alive. Originally planned to do a series of 10, like Sjöwall & Wahlöö.