I took a peek at the Bouchercon attendees list today and noticed that several authors have recently signed up. Here are the ones that I noticed:

Jason Goodwin, Andrew Gross, Arnarldur Indridason (cover boy for the current issue being sent out tomorrow), Daniel Woodrell, Linwood Barclay, Stephen Booth, Greg Rucka, Linda Greenlaw, Sheldon Siegel, Jason Starr, John Lutz, Steve Thayer, David Ellis, and Eddie Muller. And that's in addition to an author list that was already very good. I'm very excited about going this year. Should be great! July 17, 2008

The Critics Award 2008
Sponsored by
The Strand Magazine

Best Novel

WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman – Winner
Down River by John Hart
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston
The Strangler by William Landay
The Watchman by Robert Crais

Best First Novel

THE BLADE ITSELF by Marcus Sakey – Winner
In the Woods by Tana French
The Mark by Jason Pinter
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
When One Man Dies by Dave White

Voted on by a panel of very well-known mystery critics: Larry Gandle, Oline Cogdill, Dick Lochte, Hallie Ephron, David Montgomery, Sarah Weinman, David Anderson and Andrew Gulli.

CWA Dagger Award Winners

Duncan Lawrie Dagger
Frances Fyfield -- BLOOD FROM STONE (Little,Brown)

Duncan Lawrie International Dagger
Dominique Mannoti -- LORRAINE CONNECTION (Arcadia)

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Tom Rob Smith -- CHILD 44 (Simon & Schuster)

The CWA New Blood Dagger
Matt Reys -- THE BETHLEHEM MURDERS (Atlantic )

The CWA Dagger in the Library
Craig Russell

The Debut Dagger
Amer Anwar -- WESTERN FRINGES

The Short Story Dagger
Martin Edwards --
"The Bookbinder's Apprentice"
The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries

There are a couple of revered mystery/suspense writers of the past who now are protagonists in recently published novels. Josephine Tey is the main character of AN EXPERT IN MURDER by Nicola Upson (Harper, $24.95, June, 2008). Plot: March 1934. Revered mystery writer Josephine Tey is traveling from Scotland to London for the final week of her celebrated play Richard of Bordeaux. But joy turns to horror when her arrival coincides with the murder of a young woman she had befriended on the train ride, and Tey quickly finds herself plunged into a mystery as puzzling as any of those in her own works.

The other is DAPHNE by Justine Picardie (Bloomsbury, $25.99, August, 2008). As you might expect the suspense writer Daphne Du Maurier, author of REBECCA, is featured in this novel. Plot: Drawing on Justine Picardie’s own extensive research into Daphne du Maurier’s obsession with the Brontës and the scandal that has haunted the Brontë estate, Daphne is a marvelous story of literary fascination and possession; of stolen manuscripts and forged signatures; of love lost and love found; of the way into imaginary worlds, and the way out again. Written in three entwined parts, the novel follows Daphne du Maurier herself, the beautiful, tomboyish, passionate author of the enormously popular Gothic novel Rebecca, at fifty and on the verge of madness; John Alexander Symington, eminent editor and curator of the Brontës’ manuscripts, who by 1957 had been dismissed from the Brontë Parsonage Museum in disgrace, and who became Daphne’s correspondent; and a nameless modern researcher on the trail of Daphne, REBECCA, Alexander Symington, and the Brontës. July 17, 2008

I always go incommunicado as I'm finalizing the magazine or else it doesn't get done. DP 54 is being printed tomorrow and will be mailed Monday. If it comes early enough tomorrow, I mail some issues to foreign subscribers and mystery bookstores, but I know from the past there will not be enough time to get the subscriber mailing out. I'm proud of the cover article on Scandinavian Crime Fiction. It took a long time to put together, but since it spotlights what quickly has become an important and very high quality section of mystery fiction in English-speaking countries, it is a subject most worthing of attention. I put a lot of author photos in it so you can attach a picture to a name. I hope you enjoy it and find recommendations for further reading.

The issue will include a Barry Award Ballot. Please vote. Thanks. July 17, 2008

MORE CWA AWARD NOMINATIONS 2008

Some more of the short-lists have been announced.

JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
Best First Novel
Zoë Ferraris THE NIGHT OF THE THE MI’RAJ (U.S. title FINDING NOUF) Little, Brown
Elena Forbes DIE WITH ME Quercus
Caro Ramsey ABSOLUTION Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Matt Rees THE BETHLEHEM MURDERS (U.S. title THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM) Atlantic Books
Tom Rob Smith CHILD 44 Simon & Schuster

INTERNATIONAL DAGGER
Best Translated Novel
Andrea Camilleri (Italy) THE PATIENCE OF THE SPIDER (Picador, Macmillan) Translated by Stephen Sartarelli
Stieg Larsson (Sweden) THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (MacLehose Press, Quercus) Translated by Reg Keeland
Dominique Manotti (France) LORRAINE CONNECTION (EuroCrime, Arcadia Books) Translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz
Martin Suter (Spain) A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL (EuroCrime, Arcadia Books) Translated by Peter Millar
Fred Vargas (France) THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK (Harvill Secker, Random House) Translated by Sîan Reynolds

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Best Thriller
Mo Hayder RITUAL Transworld
Gregg Hurwitz I SEE YOU LITTLE, Brown (U.S. title THE CRIME WRITER)
Michael Robotham SHATTER Sphere (Little, Brown)
Tom Rob Smith CHILD 44 Simon & Schuster
David Stone THE ECHELON VENDETTA Penguin

Thoughts:
1. Best First Novel. I really liked the Matt Beynon Rees novel and it is a very worthy contender. We are doing a “reviewed to death” on CHILD 44 and all of the reviews that have come in so far have been very positive (even Marv Lachman’s!), so it looks like all of the pre-publication hype that this novel received was valid. Two Yanks and three Brits
2. International Dagger. I think that Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is the best crime novel I’ve read this year and it is on my short list for best crime novel of the decade. This is the third year of this category. Fred Vargas has won the previous two and is once again nominated. If she wins this time, we need to re-name the award the Fred Vargas Award and retire it.
3. Steel Dagger. My wife just finished SHATTER by Michael Robotham and liked it a lot (high praise from her). I’ve just finished RITUAL by Mo Hayder, a very unusual journey into African religious practices. It was good, but not my kind of book – had a hard time relating to the main characters. CHILD 44 – see my thoughts in paragraph 1 above. Two Brits, two Yanks and one Aussie. June 3, 2008

2008 BARRY AWARD NOMINATIONS

Presented by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine and Mystery News. The Awards will be presented on October 9, 2008 at Bouchercon in Baltimore, Maryland. Subscribers and readers of both magazines are eligible to vote. Votes can be submitted to george@deadlypleasures.com or by mail to P.O. Box 969, Bountiful, UT 84011. The deadline for voting is September 15, 2008. Please supply name and zip with vote.

BEST NOVEL(Published in the U.S. in 2007)

SOUL PATCH, Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)
THE UNQUIET, John Connolly (Atria)
DOWN RIVER, John Hart (St Martin’s Minotaur)
DIRTY MARTINI, J.A. Konrath (Hyperion)
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman (Morrow)
RED CAT, Peter Spiegelman (Knopf)

BEST FIRST NOVEL (Published in the U.S. in 2007)

MISSING WITNESS, Gordon Campbell (Morrow)
BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD, Sean Chercover (Morrow)
IN THE WOODS, Tana French (Viking)
THE SPELLMAN FILES, Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM, Matt Beynon Rees (Soho Press)
THE BLADE ITSELF, Marcus Sakey (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

BEST BRITISH CRIME NOVEL (published in the U.K. in 2007, not necessarily written by a British writer nor set in the U.K )

A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, R.J. Ellory (Orion)
PIG ISLAND, Mo Hayder (Bantam Press)
ONE UNDER, Graham Hurley (Orion)
THE DEATH LIST, Paul Johnston (Mira)
THE 50/50 KILLER, Steve Mosby (Orion)
DAMNATION FALLS, Edward Wright (Orion)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

QUEENPIN, Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
BLACK WIDOW AGENCY, Felicia Donovan (Midnight Ink)
CHOKE POINT, Jay MacLarty (Pocket)
THE MARK, Jason Pinter (Mira)
WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND, Fred Vargas (Penguin)
WHO IS CONRAD HIRST?, Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

BEST THRILLER

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
THE CLEANER, Brett Battles (Delacorte)
THE WATCHMAN, Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
VOLK’S GAME, Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt)
SILENCE, Thomas Perry (Harcourt)
MIDNIGHT RAMBLER, Jim Swain (Ballantine)

BEST SHORT STORY

Doug Allyn, "Dead As a Dog" (EQMM July 2007)

Dale C. Andrews and Kurt Sercu, "The Book Case" (EQMM May 2007)

Jon L. Breen, "The Missing Elevator Puzzle" (EQMM February 2007)

Jeffrey Deaver, "Bump" (DEAD MAN'S HAND)

Edward D. Hoch, "The Problem of the Summer Snowman" (EQMM November 2007)

Gillian Roberts, "The Old Wife's Tale" (EQMM March-April 2007)

Neil Schofield, "Murder: A User's Guibe" (AHMM July-August 2007)The word “Guibe” is not a typo.

05/30/2008

The Duncan Laurie Dagger Short List for Best Novel has been announced in The Times. The rest of the short lists for various CWA Dagger Awards will be announced next week.

THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN, James Lee Burke

THE CORONER'S LUNCH, Colin Cotterill

BLOOD FROM STONE, Frances Fyfield

NIGHT WORK, Steve Hamilton

WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman

A VENGEFUL LONGING, R.N. Morris

5/30/2008

Arthur Ellis Award Nominations 2008

For the best in Canadian Crime Fiction:

Best Novel
Linwood Barclay, NO TIME FOR GOODBYE (Bantam)
Terry Carroll, SNOW CANDY (Mercury Press)
Maureen Jennings, A JOURNEYMAN TO GRIEF (McClelland & Stewart)
Louise Penny, THE CRUELLEST MONTH (McArthur & Company)
Jon Redfern, TRUMPETS SOUND NO MORE (RendezVous Crime/Napoleon & Company)

Best First Novel
Claire Cameron, THE LINE PAINTER (HarperCollins)
Sean Chercover, BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD (William Morrow/HarperCollins)
Liam Durcan, GARCÍA’S HEART (McClelland & Stewart)
Susan Parisi, BLOOD OF DREAMS (Penguin Australia)
Sharon Rowse, THE SILK TRAIN MURDER (Carroll & Graf)
Marc Strange, SUCKER PUNCH (Castle Street Mysteries/Dundurn)

Best Short Story
Vicki Cameron, “Eight Lords A’Leaping” in Locked Up (Deadlock Press)
Maureen Jennings, “Wreckwood” in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
D.J. McIntosh, “The Hounds of Winter” in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
Rick Mofina, “As Long as We Both Shall Live” in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
Leslie Watts, “Turner” in Kingston Whig-Standard (July 7, 2007)

Nice to see some friends (and all subscribers to DP), such as Rick Mofina, Maureen Jennings (twice nominated!), and Sean Chercover nominated. I'll be rooting for them. 05/21/2008

What's with book titles nowadays? An arc of Victor Gischler's latest just landed on my desk. GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE. And then there is the recent, hard-to-characterize THE NYMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS by Mario Acevedo (I think it's a humorous, vampire thriller ), followed by my personal favorite ISLAND OF THE SEQUINED LOVE NUN by Christopher Moore (his THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE isn't a bad title either). Well, back to the GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE. Here is the plot: Mortimer Tate was a recently divorced insurance salesman when he holed up in a cave on top of a mountain in Tennessee and rode out the end of the world. The book starts ten years later, when he emerges into a bizarre landscape filled with hollow reminders of an America that no longer exists. The highways are lined with abandoned automobiles, electricity is generated by indentured servants pedaling stationary bicycles. What little civilization remains revolves around Joey Armageddon's Sassy-a-Go-Go strip clubs. Accompanied by his cowboy sidekick Buffalo Bill and two gorgeous, lethal women named Sheila and Tyler, Mortimer journeys to the lost city of Atlanta -- and a showdown that just might determine the fate of humanity.

I hope no one asks the author where he gets his ideas. I frankly don't want to know. 5/21/2008

Chelsea Cain came out with her first novel HEARTSICK in 2007. It depicted the twisted relationship between serial killer/torturer Gretchen Lowell and the police detective who finally caught her Archie Sheridan. Even though Gretchen tortured, killed him and brought him back to life, Archie is obsessed with visiting her in jail for reasons that were somewhat unclear to me.

Well, in September Cain is coming out with the sequel entitled SWEETHEART. The publicity material gives away a big plot spoiler so I assume it is at the very beginning of the book -- Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison!!! The first book contains a lot of graphic violence and torture so it isn't for everyone's taste. But the writing is quite good. May 17, 2008

Larry Gandle just called from the Edgar Awards Dinner. Here are the winners:

Best Novel

DOWN RIVER by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best First Novel

IN THE WOODS by Tana French (Viking)

Best Paperback Original

QUEENPIN by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)

5/1/2008 at 10:15 Eastern Daylight Savings Time

DP #53 mailed over a week ago and tax returns filed. Whew! Now I can get back to living (and reading). I'm already getting renewals so if you haven't gotten it by now, you should receive it within the next few days.

I'll also be putting together the first phase of our Barry Award nominations, so we can get them out before the Anthony Award nominations (there is always some similarity because both are fan awards and come from similar fan bases). I like to be first so that no one accuses us of copying their list. 4/20/2008

The Thriller Awards Nominations are out.

BEST NOVEL 2008

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (Simon & Schuster)
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (Viking)
Trouble by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam)

BEST FIRST NOVEL 2008

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton)
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle (McBook Press)
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt and Co.)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL 2008

The Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco (Ballantine)
A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon (Pocket)
Shattered by Jay Bonansinga (Pinnacle)

Once again these award nominations are dominated by male writers (despite 8 out of the 15 judges being female), but that reflects the male-dominated thriller sub-genre. 3/21/2008

The Strand Magazine is starting a new mystery fiction award called the Critics Award. Those who nominate are esteemed mystery fiction critics including our own Larry Gandle (who seems to want to be a judge for every mystery award known to man. Just so he doesn't neglect his duties as DP Assistant Editor. I don't want to be paying all that money for nothing. That's a joke.). Other judges include Sarah Weinman, Dick Lochte, Oline Cogdill, Hallie Ephron, David Montgomery, David Anderson and the Editor of The Strand Magazine, Andrew Gulli.

The Nominees are:

Best Novel 

Down River by John Hart (Thomas Dunne Books/Minotaur)

The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

The Strangler by William Landay (Delacorte Press)

The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon and Schuster)

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)

Best First Novel

The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin's Minotaur)

In the Woods by Tana French (Viking)

The Mark by Jason Pinter (Mira Books)

Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (William Morrow)

When One Man Dies by Dave White (Crown Publishing)

I see a few titles I hope will also appear on the Barry short lists. 3/21/2008

It seems that whenever the economy goes south we lose another mystery book store. This time it is Boulder, Colorado's High Crimes (formerly The Rue Morgue). I guess readers are using their discretionary income to buy gasoline for their cars.

High Crime's owner, Cynthia Nye, will continue the business as an internet/mail order business. I just talked to her and she says that the first week's business, after the closing, was robust. So cross your fingers. She will still be getting signed hardcover first editions, I believe. www.highcrimesbooks.com

Based on the recommendation of Ali Karim, the next Reviewed to Death title is CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith. This first novel is being super-hyped so we shall see what the DP review staff thinks of it. It will be out in April, so please grab a copy, read along with us, and submit a review to me if you wish for DP#54.

March 3, 2008

Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Crime Fiction Nominees

Benjamin Black, CHRISTINE FALLS (Henry Holt)

Ake Edwardson, FROZEN TRACKS (Viking)

Karin Fossum (Translated by Charlotte Barslund) THE INDIAN BRIDE (Harcourt)

Tana French, IN THE WOODS (Viking)

Jan Costin Wagner (Translated by John Brownjohn) ICE MOON (Harcourt)

WOW! What a list! Three Scandanavian crime writers, an Irish literary, mainstream fiction writer disguised as a mystery writer and a first-time Irish writer.

Where are the excellent American writers? Is this the equivalent of what happened in the U.K. with the CWA Awards a couple of years ago?

March 3, 2008

Agatha Award Nominees

Best Novel

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, by Donna Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best First Novel

A Beautiful Blue Death, by Charles Finch ( St. Martin 's Minotaur)

A Real Basket Case, by Beth Groundwater (Five Star)

Silent In The Grave, by Deanna Raybourn (Mira)

Prime Time, by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Harlequin)

Best Nonfiction

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life In Letters, by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg , and Daniel Stashower (Penguin Press)

Best Short Story

"A Rat's Tale", by Donna Andrews (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct, 2007)

"Please Watch Your Step", by Rhys Bowen (The Strand, Spring, 2007)

"Casino Gamble", by Nan Higginson (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)

"Popping Round To The Post", by Peter Lovesey (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November, 2007)

"Death Will Clean Your Closet", by Elizabeth Zelvin (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)

Donna Andrews and Rhys Bowen have two nominations each, which I'm sure are well deserved. Very strong list for Best Novel, which will make it difficult for fans of the traditional mystery to choose a winner.

March 3, 2008

Otto Penzler's weekly column in The New York Sun is always a treat for me. But added pleasure was mine when I read last week's column on mystery magazines and had this to say about DP: "Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine is entirely devoted to articles and reviews, and is invaluable for the dedicated scholarship and fandom of its delightful founder, George Easter, and regular contributors Larry Gandle, Marv Lachman, Mary Mason, Ali Karim, Ted Hertel, and many others. In 1997, it began to present the Barry Award (named for Barry Gardner, a highly respected reviewer, then recently deceased) for excellence in crime fiction; several categories are voted upon by subscribers and Web visitors."

Otto did make one error in the column: he stated that "the longest running mystery fan magazine is Mystery Scene." I remember the editor of MS making that claim on a panel I was on and being corrected by Janet Rudolph of Mystery Readers International -- the longest running mystery fan magazine -- mention of which was surprisingly missing from the article.

March 3, 2008

2008 Hammett Prize Nominees

I have a new DP List -- Best Books of 2008 which I have just posted. In compiling the list I rely on reviews in DP and starred reviews in the four principal library journals -- Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal. As I've mentioned before there are one or two books a year that garner a starred review in all four journals. The first so far in 2008 is somewhat a surprise for me because heretofore I've been underwhelmed with the author's output.

*JUDAS HORSE, Smith, April (Knofp, $23.95). Maverick FBI Special Agent Ana Grey goes undercover to infiltrate the volatile core of a domestic terrorist cell, where she must negotiate a minefield of loyalty and betrayal under constant threat of discovery. 2/07/2008

A month or so ago Ali Karim alerted us to a new book, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson (January 2007 in U.K, Quercus) with this rave review. Despite its 500+ page size, I dived in and wow! I'm about 100 pages from the end (and I don't want it to end) and I'm blown away by this mystery debut. I'll be giving it an A+, a very rare rating for me. It is wonderfully complex and loved the author's writing style. There are some unpleasant scenes (the title character is raped and later she gets her revenge on the perpetrator) and an animal dies, so it won't be for everyone's tastes.

Possibly the best book of 2008. Thanks, Ali.

The good news is that it will be published by Vintage in the U.S. later in 2008. The bad new is that the author, a relatively young man, recently died after completing only three books in the series. What a loss!

See if you can detect a recent trend in mystery cover art:

I'm not a fan of tattoos, but these are pretty cool.

2/07/2008

Where are they now? Mid-list writers often disappear for a few years in between publishing contracts. Here are a few that have popped up again:

Elizabeth Gunn is now being published in England by Severn House and these are sold here in the U.S. McCAFFERTY'S NINE (2007) continues her Jake Hines series and COOL IN TUCSON (2007) begins a new series.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has a new Bill Slider mystery, GAME OVER (Severn House, $28.95). Also available in U.S. This was one of my favorite series in the 1990s.

John Straley is back with THE BIG BOTH WAYS (Graphic Arts Center hc, $25.95, tp $16.95). Set in 1935, it follows several people in the Puget Sound area as they deal with death and mystery and head up the Inside Passage to Alaska to find a new and better life.

Edward Sklepowich is also being published in England by Severn House, so this book is also available here. FRAIL BARRIER is his lated Urbino Macintyre mystery set in Venice, Italy.

2/07/2008

Once again I'm sorry to announce that two more mystery writers have passed away.

Margaret Truman was famous on two fronts: as the daughter of venerable U.S. President Harry Truman and as a veteran and successful mystery writer.

Benjamin M. Schutz, hardboiled P.I. novelist. I'm particularly sad because I've enjoyed corresponding with Ben over the years. He was a very early and loyal subscriber to Deadly Pleasures. His career as a mystery writer suffered in the 1990s when male P.I. novels waned in interest. He was a nationally recognized psychologist and expert in child custody evaluation.

2/07/2008

Assistant Editor Larry Gandle was in Utah last weekend attending the Sundance Film Festival with friends. On Saturday I drove up to Park City (about 45 minutes away), picked him up and brought him back to my house. We had a very enjoyable couple of hours together, during which I took his photo in my library -- the same pose that you see in the masthead of this website. I got a big kick out of him walking around my library, saying, "George, you're so anal... you're so anal." He's right, but I still enjoy collecting. He's holding a bottle with a poison label. Good times. 12/25/2008

I know you'll forgive this short personal reference. I am the proud grandpa to two beautiful girls and our latest, 1-year-old Jacob Easter (Jake), who is a very cheerful, well-mannered young boy -- as you can see.

We put photos of him laughing on our fridge and every morning as I get my breakfast I can't help but smile and laugh. He's a keeper!

Ali Karim reports that the CWA Diamond Dagger (Life Achievement) is going to be awarded to Sue Grafton. Nice!1/18/2008

The Edgar Nominations are out. Not a bad list. I've actually read and liked some of them. Very pleased with Gordon Campbell's nomination for Best First Novel. His book and Matt Beynon Rees's novel are my choices for best firsts of the year (from those that I've read, which are limited in number). Authors under the Best First category must be American and some may wonder about Tana French who lives in Ireland. Apparently she was born in the U.S. Under Best Novel, I've read Christine Falls, Priest and Down River, all worthy nominees. Of those, I think I enjoyed Down River the most. Of the Paperback Original Nominees I found it interesting that four out of five were Trade paperback originals and only one mass market original. Keeping with Edgar Award tradition, there are a couple of obscure titles under that category. It was also nice to see Barbara Seranella's last novel nominated under the Mary Higgins Clark category. Only three out of the fifteen nominees for the top 3 categories (Best Novel, Best First and Best Paperback) are female authors. I guess the Barry Award nominee ratio between male and female authors isn't so bad. Larry Gandle will have his reviews of the nominees in the next issue of DP. He's already told me that he didn't care for the Michael Chabon novel (no big surprise there).

BEST NOVEL

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group – Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent's Tail)
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime)
Inferno by Karen Harper (Harlequin – MIRA Books)
The First Stone by Judith Kelman (Berkley Prime Crime)
Deadman's Switch by Barbara Seranella (St. Martin's Minotaur)

01/18/2008