The Decade in Review: Anthony Award winners (2000-2009)

Well, it turns out I have internet access and time to kill for the first couple of days of my Europe and Egypt Xmas/New Years adventure, so I thought I'd ignore my 'hiatus' post from Saturday temporarily; a hiatus from the hiatus, if you will (although it will kick into gear later this week). I'm off to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" in London tonight, so I'll post about that later, but for now I thought I'd take another decade-long look back at some of the major crime writing award winners of the 2000s.

As I noted on Thursday and Saturday, as we get to the end of the year, we're starting to see more and more 'best of the year' lists and reflections - which can always provide some ammunition for debate and discussion. Given that it's 2009, we're also seeing a fair few 'reviewing the whole decade' type lists. Inspired by that, I thought I'd take a look (in something of a short series) at some of the crime fiction themes, highlights, or otherwise noteworthy happenings of the decade. And I'd be really interested to get your perspective in the comments section as well, on each topic.

For the third in this short series, I'm taking a look at one of the other most prestigious crime writing awards, the Anthony Award for Best Novel, voted on and presented each year at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911-1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.

As I noted back in October, the attendees at this year's Indianapolis event voted Michael Connelly's THE BRASS VERDICT as the 2009 Anthony Award winner for Best Novel. THE BRASS VERDICT is Connelly's second novel to feature defence attorney Mickey Haller (who debuted in THE LINCOLN LAWYER), and also brings Haller and Connelly's most-loved main character, Harry Bosch, together - Bosch is investigating the murder of a Hollywood lawyer, while Haller has taken over that lawyer's most high-profile case, the defense of a prominent Hollwyood executive accused of slaughtering his wife and her lover. You can read an extract of THE BRASS VERDICT here.

The full list of winners this decade is:

• 2009 Michael Connelly, THE BRASS VERDICT
• 2008 Laura Lippman, WHAT THE DEAD KNOW
• 2007 Laura Lippman, NO GOOD DEEDS
• 2006 William Kent Krueger, MERCY FALLS
• 2005 William Kent Krueger, BLOOD HOLLOW
• 2004 Laura Lippman, EVERY SECRET THING
• 2003 Michael Connelly, CITY OF BONES
• 2002 Dennis Lehane, MYSTIC RIVER
• 2001 Val McDermid, A PLACE OF EXECUTION
• 2000 Peter Robinson, IN A DRY SEASON

Unlike the Edgar and Gold Dagger lists from my previous posts, there are plenty of multiple winners with the Anthony Award. In fact there were only 6 different authors sharing the ten Best Novel Awards this decade, with the past seven awards shared by just three authors; Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, and William Kent Krueger. Connelly also won in both 1997 and 1999, meaning three authors have shared 9 of the past 13 awards - so the Bouchercon attendees and voters certainly have their favourites.

Also unlike the Edgar and Gold Dagger Award lists I have read most of these authors - in fact William Kent Krueger is the only author on this list I haven't read.

Have you read any of these titles? Which is your favourite? Which do you think is the best out of all ten Anthony Award winners this decade? Thoughts and comments welcome