PARANORMAL (FANTASY/TIME TRAVEL/FUTURISTIC) ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Lauren Willig for The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla Karen McCullough for The Detective's Dilemmaīrenda Novak for A Matter of Grave Concern

Natalie Charles for When No One is Watching –Published Division Finalists for 2015 are:ĬATEGORY (SERIES) ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE The DAPHNE DU MAURIER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Just knowing that Limoncello Yellow is on the finalist list is already a win in my book (pun intended). The winners will be announced on July 23 at the Death by Chocolate party in New York City (what a way to go!), but I couldn't care less about the outcome. To this day, whenever I see a big gathering of birds overhead, I fly the freakin' coop.Īnyway, be sure to check out all the finalists for the Daphne du Maurier Award below (summer reading list?). I haven’t seen the first two, but The Birds has haunted me ever since I watched it as a teenager. If, like me, you haven't read du Maurier's work, you may know her from the movies. Alfred Hitchcock adapted three of her novels into films: Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and The Birds. ( Yeah, no.) Rebecca, her masterpiece, features some of the same gothic elements as Jane Eyre: the brooding hero and the shadowy first wife. This novel has also been described as “the original Gone Girl” and is considered the precursor to contemporary romantic suspense, which is why KOD named the contest after du Maurier. Frenchman's Creek is the closest du Maurier came to writing romance-that is, if you consider a cross-dressing heroine and no happy ending a romance. She wrote approximately forty novels, plays, short story collections, and biographies, an achievement that earned her the title of Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire.Īlthough du Maurier is often described as a romantic novelist, her work is more consistent with the tradition of the 19th century Gothic novel.

Daphne du Maurier (1907–1981) was the granddaughter of English artist and writer George du Maurier and the daughter of actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier.

Now that I'm a Daphne finalist, I decided that it was time to learn about the contest's namesake. And somehow that dream came true: Limoncello Yellow is one of five finalists in the “mainstream mystery” category! If you’re unfamiliar with this award, it’s presented by the Kiss of Death (KOD) chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Ever since I first heard about the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, I've dreamed of having one of my books final in the contest.

Pure Death by Liah Penn