After a long trip home, Brad finally returned to the offices of
BradParksBooks.com, where the interns had hung a banner proclaiming his latest and greatest triumph:
Congratulations Brad! Shamus Award—Best Hardcover Novel
"Hey, boss, way to bring home the hardware!" said Sarah, the smart intern.
Brad smiled.
"Big win. You're a giant killer," said Zach, the silly intern.
Brad shrugged modestly.
"You must be so excited," said Peter, the slothful intern, stifling a yawn.
Brad nodded.
"I still don't understand why they named an award after the whale at Sea World," said Maggie, the clueless intern.
Brad tilted his head.
And then there was silence.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Zach said.
And then Sarah figured it out: "Oh my goodness, he's so stunned at winning, he's actually still speechless."
"Best. Writing award. Ever!" Zach said. "Hey, boss, I'm going to photocopy my butt and send it to the interns of all the Shamus finalists with the caption, 'Kiss this.' Unless, of course, you tell me not to."
Brad shook his head furiously.
"Awesome!" Zach exclaimed, and made a beeline toward the photocopier.
"And I'm going to spend the rest of the week pretending to work while I'm actually playing Angry Birds," Peter said.
Brad slapped his forehead. Peter disappeared into his cubicle, leaving Sarah and Maggie to prepare the latest newsletter.
And, to be sure, there's big news to share. Brad's 2013 book
The Good Cop beat out works by a star-studded shortlist that included Sue Grafton and Bill Pronzini, both Mystery Writers of America Grand Masters. In doing so, he ended the
Curse of Dennis Lehane, becoming the only Best First Novel Shamus Award winner to go on and win in the Best Hardcover Novel category.
The Good Cop also became the first book in history to
win both the Shamus and the Lefty Award.
And since Brad currently has no words to describe his excitement, the interns will just have to let the pictures tell the story.
So here's Brad and Shamus, getting sexy...
It's elementary, Dear Shamus!...
Shamus is No. 1...
Wait a second! How did this get in the photo-shoot?...
Wasting away in Shamus-ritaville...
Brad and Shamus on the Yamaha Raider®, with its 113-cubic-inches of air-cooled, fuel-injected pushrod V-Twin power. (Note: Brad has no idea what that means)...
And, finally, there always has to be a nice one for Brad's Mom...
Special thanks to intern-for-the-day/author extraordinaire
Jamie Mason for the photography; and to Greg Gonzalez and Sean Dixon with Yamaha corporate for letting Brad sit on that totally boss chopper.
In other news, the interns are slowly gearing up for the release of
The Fraud, the next Carter Ross novel, on
July 7, 2015. It's been called "the most thrilling Carter Ross yet" (albeit by the guy who wrote it, so take that with a grain of salt). You can pre-order it using the links below, and the interns hope to have a cover to share with you soon.
But, in the meantime, they have another highly important duty:
Unplugging the photocopier.
Forever Yours in Shamus Shamelessness,
The BradParksBooks.com Interns
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE FRAUD: