The Kiss of Death Chapter of RWA is happy to announce the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense Contest will open January 1, 2024, 12:01 am, MST. 

The Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for published and unpublished authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots.

The contest provides helpful feedback by trained judges. Winning or placing in the competition adds a boost to the entrant’s writing career. There are two divisions within the contest: Published and Unpublished. Entries should be received between January 1, 2024 – March 15, 2024. Finalists for each division will be announced in May [Unpublished] and June [Published]. Winners are traditionally announced during the Awards Ceremony at the Death by Chocolate Party held annually during the RWA® National Conference in July. 

This year, Meghan Frayser, an agent at Creative Media agency and Reagan Rothe, editor from Black Rose Publishing have offered to give feedback to some of our unpublished finalists.

Would you like to judge? Go to KODContest.com to register as a judge.

Watch the 2023 Daphne duMaurier Award for Excellence Presentation here. You can download the transcript here. 

We have added a NEW CATEGORY to the contest, Cozy Mystery. Last year, to honor the 25th Anniversary of the contest, we included the category, Novella Mystery/Suspense, to the published division. If you are considering entering the contest this year, please read through the rules and submission guidelines carefully, as there have been modifications.

Scoresheets for non-finalists will be released by June 30, 2023.

Categories

• Short Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works with a central romance that have a word count of 40k-65k.
• Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words with a central romance set in a time that predates the end of World War II.
• Cozy Mystery: works over 40,000 words with an amateur sleuth, where sex, violence, and profanity occur off the page. Entries in the category are not required to have a romantic storyline.
• Mainstream Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words where the mystery/suspense is the main plot.
• Paranormal (PTTF) Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words with a central romance and in which paranormal, fantasy, time travel, and/or futuristic elements play a significant role.
• Long Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works with a central romance that have a word count of 65k and above.
• Novella Mystery/Suspense: works between 25,000 and 40,000 words where the mystery/suspense is the main plot. The novella may have other elements, such as romance, paranormal, historical, or contemporary.

Need help determining which category you’re in or other questions about the contest? Check out the FAQ page for more information!

Division Specific

Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense 

2024 Finalists

Published Division Finalists

Overall Winner – Now and Always — CJ Burright

Cozy Mystery Suspense

1st – Murder Among The Roses — Liz Fielding

2nd – Murder in Fourth Position  — Lori Robbins

3rd – The Portraits of Pemberley — Elizabeth Gilliland

Historical Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Conflagration! — donalee Moulton

2nd – Confessions to a Stranger — Danielle Grandinetti

3rd – Glory and the Master of Shadows — Grace Callaway

Long Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Above ‘N’ Beyond —Tee O’Fallon

2nd – Cliffhaven — A. M. Grimm

3rd – Dead Keen (Things Unseen, Book 2) — Anise Eden

 Mainstream Mystery Suspense

1st – Against All Enemies — Vannetta Chapman 

2nd – The Buried Hours  — Rachel Grant/R. S. Grant

3rd – These Still Black Waters —Christina McDonald

 Short Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Don’t Close Your Eyes — Mary Alford

2nd – Killer Christmas Evidence — Sami A. Abrams

3rd – Eliminating the Witness — Jordyn Redwood

 Romantic Suspense Category

1st – Now and Always — CJ Burright

2nd – Healing Kiss — Amanda Uhl

3rd – The Offer — DL Wood

We asked our 2023 finalists what their favorite writing craft books were, and asked our published finalists to share writing advice. You can read their answers by clicking HERE.