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Lankford Nabs Second Place in The Ross Thomas Awards for the Best First Line in a Mystery or Thriller
June 11, 2005: Crime novelist Jennifer Apodaca was the winner of the inaugural Ross Thomas Award, given to the best first line of a mystery or thriller novel published in 2004. In second place was Terrill Lee Lankford, with the opening lines from Earthquake Weather.
Apodaca’s winning opening sentence is:
“The thing about revenge is that it takes a woman who is well and truly pissed to get it right.”
The line begins her novel, Ninja Soccer Moms, first published by Kensington Books in 2004.
The award was announced today during a ceremony at “Of Dark and Stormy Nights,” the annual writing conference sponsored by the Midwest chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. Nine other authors were also recognized in a “Top Ten” countdown.
The Ross Thomas Award is named after the late Ross Thomas, with the permission of his widow, Rosalie, of Malibu, California. Described by The New York Times Book Review as “America’s best storyteller,” Thomas was a master at creating opening paragraphs that grab readers’ attention. The two-time Edgar Award winning author of 25 novels, Thomas died in 1995.
The Top Ten finalists are:
10) Ten Big Ones
By Janet Evanovich
"The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You donâ't really know what it's about until you bite into it. And then, just when you decide it's good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt."
9) The Murder Exchange
By Simon Kernick
"There is no feeling in the world more hopeless, more desperate, more frightening, than when you are standing at the end of a gun that's held steadily and calmly by someone you know is going to kill you."
8) I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason
By Susan Kandel
"What a pity my vintage Maud Frizon pumps didn't come with steel-reinforced toes.
7) The Gleemaiden
By Sylvian Hamilton
"Countess Judith kept her husband's head in a box. At night it perched on the pillow by her side, at meals it sat on the board by her plate, and her household feared it almost as much as they feared her. She talked to it, they whispered among themselves, and who was to say it didn't answer?"
6) By a Spider's Thread
By Laura Lippman
"They were in one of the "I" states when Zeke told Isaac he had to ride in the trunk for a little while."
5) Unforced Error
By Michael Bowen
"First degree murder is punishable by death in Missouri, even if the victim is an editor of romance novels."
4) Till the End of Tom
By Gillian Roberts
"My mind was on Steinbeck; my foot was on a hand."
3) Killer Heels
By Sheryl J. Anderson
"I always knew I'd make my mark on the world. I just didn't expect it to be one of those chalk outlines they draw around dead bodies. Of course, the chalk came later. It started with the blood."
2) Earthquake Weather
By Terrill Lee Lankford
"I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, but on any given night Los Angeles can do a pretty good imitation of either locale."
1) Ninja Soccer Moms
By Jennifer Apodaca
"The thing about revenge is that it takes a woman who is well and truly pissed to get it right."
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