"The Locked Room Library" Exciting News

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!

A Edgar Award Nomination

Today is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, so it’s the day Mystery Writers of America announces this year’s Edgar Award nominees. I usually stay offline in the morning until I’ve completed a solid chunk of writing for the day. This morning, my phone started lighting up with text messages from friends congratulating me. 

Congratulating me? What was going on? One text mentioned the Edgar Award, but… that couldn’t possibly be right. Could it? I broke my rule of staying offline to investigate. It turned it’s true! I’m an Edgar Award nominee!

I’ve been short-listed for an Edgar Award for my locked-room mystery short story "The Locked Room Library," published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine last year! Wow. Simply, wow. 

I'm a huge fan of locked room mysteries, aka impossible crime stories, and I love writing them. That particular style of puzzle plot mystery fell out of fashion decades ago, but I've been so happy to see it gaining popularity once more, so I'm thrilled to get this recognition for one of my impossible crime stories. 

The other nominees are Michael Bracken & James A. Hearn, V.M. Burns, Tracy Clark, R.T. Lawton, and a previously undiscovered story by by Cornell Woolrich. What a great group! I’ve read most of the stories, and it’s truly an honor to be a finalist alongside them. 

The Edgars are given out by the Mystery Writers of America, and this year’s Edgar Awards banquet is April 28 in New York City. I had hoped to attend two years ago, when I was nominated for a Sue Grafton Memorial Award, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic. This year, I’ll be there! 

The Best Short Story Nominees

• “Blindsided,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Michael Bracken & James A. Hearn (Dell Magazines)

• 
“The Vermeer Conspiracy,” Midnight Hour by V.M. Burns (Crooked Lane Books)
“Lucky Thirteen,” Midnight Hour by Tracy Clark (Crooked Lane Books)

• 
“The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)


• “The Locked Room Library,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Gigi Pandian (Dell Magazines)


• “The Dark Oblivion,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Cornell Woolrich (Dell Magazines)

The full list of nominees in all the categories can be found at: https://mysterywriters.org/mwa-announce-the-2022-edgar-award-nominations/

Congratulations to all the nominees! I look forward to seeing folks at the Edgars in April. 

Original artwork of “The Locked Room Library”

I loved the original artwork that accompanied my short story “The Locked Room Library” that appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s July/August 2021 issue, and I’m so pleased that the artist, Laurie Harden, was open to selling it to me. Now I need to find a good spot for it!

That’s Sanjay and Tamarind on the right, next to a bricked-up door to nowhere, an important part of the story. “The Locked Room Library” is an impossible story that pays homage to John Dickson Carr and Ellery Queen. 

Here’s the story set-up Laurie was illustrating: 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 (aka The Hindi Houdini) to prove the letter wasn’t stolen by a ghost who vanished through a bricked-up door.

All the characters are shown in library, along with the brick door to nowhere that holds the key to the mystery. 

“The Locked Room Library” Published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

“The Locked Room Library” is my first short story to be published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine! I was thrilled to discover it leads the July/August issue, and also has this super-cool original illustration by artist Laurie Harden accompanying it.

 “The Locked Room Library” is an impossible story that pays homage to John Dickson Carr and Ellery Queen. 

The magazine is out now, and is filled with a lot of great stories: “Fox's Wedding" by Awasaka Tsumao (a Japanese mystery translated into English for the first time), "The Body in the Bee Library" by Jon L. Breen, stories by G.M. Malliet and Joyce Carol Oates, and the always-terrific Blog Bytes column by Kristopher Zgorski.

Intro from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Here's a teaser for “The Locked Room Library”:

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 (aka The Hindi Houdini) to prove the letter wasn’t stolen by a ghost who vanished through a bricked-up door.