The Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards honor the best books published in the previous year. The Mystery and Suspense Novel nominees were selected by Romantic Times reviewers Toby Bromberg, Jill Smith, and Mystery editor Laurie Davie. The winners will be announced in the November issue of Romantic Times magazine. Awards will be presented at the Awards Luncheon held November 16th in Orlando, FL during the Booklovers' Convention.
Best Contemporary Mystery
- Pawing through the Past by Rita Mae Brown - "You'll never get old." Each member of the class of 1980 has received the letter. Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, who is on the organizing committee for Crozet High's twentieth reunion, decides to take it as a compliment. Others think it's a joke. But Mrs. Murphy senses trouble. And the sly tiger cat is soon proven right when the class womanizer turns up dead with a bullet between his eyes. Then another note followed by another murder makes it clear that someone has waited twenty years to take revenge. While Harry tries to piece together the puzzle, it's up to Mrs. Murphy and her animal pals to sniff out the truth. And there isn't much time. Mrs. Murphy is the first to realize that Harry has been chosen Most Likely to Die, and if she doesn't hurry, Crozet High's twentieth reunion could be Harry's last.
- Drumsticks by Charlotte Carter (Nanette Hayes series) - After a disastrous April in Paris she'd rather forget, Nanette hit serious rock bottom--and even in the Big Apple, planned to stay there. So she truly can't believe it when a gift "mojo doll" from mysterious Harlem folk artist Ida Williams starts turning her luck around for the real good. When Ida is suddenly shot to death in the middle of Nanette's new uptown gig, the guilt--stricken saxophonist plunges into Ida's rather checkered past and, to her surprise, the unsolved murder of a rising young rap star.
- Airtight Case by Beverly Connor (Lindsay Chamberlain series) - In a seemingly random event, forensic anthropolgist Lindsay Chamberlain is attacked and left for dead. Buried in a shallow grave in the woods, she manages to escape, although she suffers from amnesia as a result of the ordeal. When Lindsay's memory returns, it is incomplete. She tries to ignore the trauma and leave the matter to the authorities, but their investigation quickly comes to a dead end. The assault looms over her peace of mind like a dark cloud when Lindsay joins an excavation at an 1830s farm site on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Unlike previous digs where she has worked, this site is not a happy one. Crew members are on edge and argumentative, and the site director exhibits an instant dislike toward Lindsay. Complicating matters even more, the principal investigator is under suspicion of murdering a local resident and stealing valuable papers from her. Meanwhile, lodging for the crew is in a haunted house, and even though Lindsay is the only one who doesn't believe in ghosts, she is the only one who sees them. When very old sealed lead coffins dating from the 1700s are discovered, Lindsay focuses so intently on the discovery that she is distracted momentarily from her own troubles. Her excitement, however, is short-lived, for inside one of the caskets are the disturbing remains of a woman who has something frighteningly in common with Lindsay. When one of the crew disappears no one seems to worry or care. If she fails to figure out what's happening around her, she might lose her sanity, or worse, her life.
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