Awards
NOVELS
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Deadly Dance a Semifinalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards
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Steal Away chosen as 2020 winner of the Virginia Indie Author Project, Adult Fiction
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The Suicide Sonata named finalist for the 2019 Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year​, Best Mystery
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​​Elegy in Scarlet named a finalist for 2017 Library Journal Indie Ebook Awards, Best Mystery
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Elegy in Scarlet named a finalist for the 2017 Daphne Award, Mainstream Mystery/Suspense
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Dies Irae named a finalist for 2016 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Peer Choice Award
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Dies Irae named 2016 Library Journal Self-E Finalist
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Requiem for Innocence longlisted for the 2019 Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize, Mystery/Thriller
Requiem for Innocence a 2018 finalist in the Kindle Book Awards, Mystery/Thriller
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Played to Death a finalist in the 2015 Shamus Awards for Best Indie P.I. Novel
Played to Death named Best Mystery in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Played to Death chosen as a 2015 Featured Self-E Selection by Library Journal
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Played to Death longlisted for Southwest Writers Novel MS Contest, 2010
Played to Death, 2nd Place, Mystery Novel Category, Maryland Writers Association Awards, 2009
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SHORT STORIES
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“Clean House,” Iron Horse Review Photo Finish Contest Anthology, December 2024
“Arborist Anthem,“ Porter House Review Editor's Prize Anthology, November 2024
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“Ice Cream, You Scream,” Bath Flash Fiction Contest Longlist, January 2024
“Arborist Anthem," Fractured Lit Elsewhere Contest Longlist, January 2024
“Chrysalis,” WOW! Women On Writing Flash Contest Finalist, January 2024
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“And We Bloom,” Arlington Moving Words Competition Finalist, January 2024
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“Once Upon a Crime,” shortlisted for Hammond Review International Literary Prize, Nov 2023
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“Ode to Joy,” Anthology Magazine Story Prize Shortlist, “Highly Commended,” Nov 2023
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“Here's to You, Neil” finalist and published in To Hull and Back, Nov 2023
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“Passport to Nowhere” longlisted for New Writers Fiction Competition, 2023
“Life in Caged Jungle” longlisted for the Fish Story Prize, 2023
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“Life’s a Scream, ” 3rd place Pulp Fictional Flash; pubbed in anthology Fictional Reality, 2023
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“Hollow Holler” shortlisted for the quarterly “Flash 500” contest, 2023
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“Here’s to You, Neil” longlisted for Tucson Book Festival Literary Awards, 2023
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"Chrysalis" named winner of the Dillydoun Flash Fiction Prize, 2022
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"Snake in the Grass" fifth place, Writer's Digest genre fiction story award, 2022
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“Have a Nice Day” a finalist in the Writer's Digest annual short-short fiction award, 2022
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"Trouble in Spades" chosen for 2022 Bouchercon Anthology, Land of 10,000 Thrills
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“No Greater Love” a finalist in the Writer's Digest annual short fiction competition, 2021
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Pushcart Prize nominee, Gemini Magazine, “Surrectus,” 2021
Pushcart Prize nominee, “Quaking in My Boots,” All Due Respect, December 2020
The Best Small Fictions nominee, “Surrectus,” 2020
Named a Golden Fedora winner from Noir Nation for short fiction with “Alien Nation”
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Winner, Gemini Magazine 2019 Flash Fiction Contest, for “Surrectus”
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Blood on the Bayou won the 2017 Anthony Award for Best Anthology (contains my story “And Down We Go”)
Finalist for Derringer Story Mystery Fiction Award, 2015 for Scott Drayco story, “The Least of These”
Winner, Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society, 2012, for “Touch of Death”
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“Violin Karma” chosen as one of the StorySouth Million Writers Award notable stories of 2010
Honorable Mention, American Independent Writers Short fiction Prize, 2010, for the Scott Drayco story, “FM is for Murder”
Finalist for Derringer Short Mystery Fiction Award, 2009, for the Scott Drayco story, “The Devil to Play”
Finalist for Derringer Short Mystery Fiction Award, 2008, for “Dreaming of a Spite X-Mas”
Finalist, Press 53 Open Fiction Awards, Genre Category, October 2008
1st Place, Armchair Interviews Summertime Blues Contest, “This Bird Has Flown,” September 2008
Finalist, Homecoming Contest, “Danse Macabre,” Crime & Suspense, January 2008
Finalist in the 2007 Deadly Ink Contest
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Mysterical-E Honorable Mention, “Elementary, My Dear Abraham,” 2007
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Center Press Masters Literary Awards Finalist, “Una Furtiva Lagrima,” 1998