Announcing the 2012 Crime Fiction Bracket Tourney

It's that time of year again. March, and therefore March Madness, is approaching. And the third annual crime fiction bracket tournament is also approaching. It's time to start taking nominations for this year's tourney.

This year's theme week is "Heroes and Villains," so the corresponding bracket tourney will be protagonists versus antagonists. The tourney will run a tad bit different as all the antagonists (a.k.a. villains) will face off against each other while all the protagonists (a.k.a. heroes) will face off against each other, and then the lone remaining one on each side of the bracket will face off in the final week - during the theme week: Top Hero vs. Top Villain.

You all will decide who competes in this year's contest! I'll take the top 32 heroes nominated and the top 32 villains nominated. Nominees can be part of a series or they can come from stand alone novels, but they must come from crime fiction. You may nominate as many characters as you like as often as you like through March 4th.  Then I will tally all of the nominations, build the bracket and announce our competitors on March 7th.

As in the two previous tourneys there will be a correlating contest, so if you want to get your predictions in for the contest you will be able to do that between March 7th and March 15th. Voting for Round 1 begins March 12th. So mark your calendars and get your nominations in. Let's make this the most exciting tourney yet!