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Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Tom Ripley is always in fashion

And with good reason. Patricia Highsmith wrote in a cold, calculating manner about a man who was cold and calculating. The amoral Tom Ripley murdered to continue the elaborate con game that became his life. A forger, a murderer, a family man, Ripley’s talent was for reinvention and a coldness toward all humanity.

Last summer Norton publishers put out a beautiful boxed set of Highsmith’s Ripley novels, priced at around $100. The collection just looks gorgeous – a work of art. But these are books, not paintings, and meant to be read.

Tom Ripley was introduced in 1955′s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Highsmith continued to visit Ripley in four other novels, the last of which was 1992′s Ripley Under Water.

Compare him to our current serial killer as hero – Morgan Dexter from Jeff Lindsay’s novels and the superior Showtime series. Each man has different reasons for killing.

Tom Ripley represents greed, control and an indifference to others. Morgan Dexter is, in is own way, an innocent who has turned his urge to kill into murdering people far worse than he could ever be. Tom’s taste for the good life propels his crimes. Dexter Morgan taps into the feeling of being an outsider. Each of us – whether we admit it or not – worries when we’ll be “unmasked,” either in our professional or personal life, or both, as well as worrying how others perceive us.

I’ll leave it to you to decide who you prefer – Tom Ripley or Dexter Morgan.

Meanwhile, here’s one of my favorite passages from 1955′s The Talented Mr. Ripley.

“The atmosphere of the city became stranger as the days went on. It was as if something had gone out of New York — the realness or the importance of it — and the city was putting on a show just for him, a colossal show with its buses, taxis, and hurrying people on the sidewalks, its television shows in all the Third Avenue bars, its movie marquees lighted up in broad daylight, and its sound effects of thousands of honking horns and human voices, talking for no purpose whatsoever. As if when his boat left the pier on Saturday, the whole city of New York would collapse with a poof like a lot of cardboard on a stage.”

Posted in Edgar Allan Poe Awards | 3,322 Comments »

Meg Abbott: Noir as they come

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

As the Edgar Awards draw near, I want to give propers to one of the nominees.

No, I have no idea who will win and this post is not about that.

This post is about women writing noir.

And that leads me to Megan Abbott, who has had three of her four novels nominated for an Edgar; all of her novels have been nominated for one award or another.

Abbott’s novel Bury Me Deep has been nominated for an Edgar, a Hammett and the L.A. Times Book Prize. (Full disclosure: I am a judge for the mystery/thriller category of the L.A. Times Book Prize along with my colleagues Sarah Weinman and Dick Adler.) The Edgars will be given April 29. The L.A. Times Book Prize will be given April 24. The Hammett will be given out May 28.

Bury Me Deep is steeped in the atmosphere of the 1930s about a young woman who comes to Hollywood seeing stardom and gets much less. It’s based on a true incident – the trunk murders of 1931.

What Abbott proves in this novel, as well as in her previous novels, is how well women can write noir.

It’s hardly a revelation as mystery readers have known for years that women can write dark just as well as any man. Writing dark is not gender specific.

Abbott doesn’t just write noir, she also is quite well versed in the history and films of noir.

Her recent articles in the Los Angeles Times Magazine’s special issue on noir were top notch.

Here’s an excerpt from Abbott’s essays:

“Ultimately, noir is a genre, a feel, a mood that thrives on ambiguity, on contrast, on fragility, on desperate yearning—at one’s own peril. The sense that anything beautiful, anything that matters, could be taken away at any time. The delicious terror of standing right on the edge, looking over. Is there a world more seductive than one that teeters on the very edge—gorgeous and treacherous, impossible and yet nearly yours?”

Here’s a link to her articles in the L.A. Times magazine, must reading for any mystery fan.

Posted in Edgar Allan Poe Awards | 3,018 Comments »

Patricia Highsmith always in fashion

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Despite the plethora of contemporary mystery writers, the classics are always in style. Dashiell Hammett, Ross McDonald, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and more still are garnering audiences.

That’s because what they wrote about – human foibles, greed and secrets – is still relevant. Today’s mystery writers are still writing about those same subjects.

Which leads me to Patricia Highsmith.

Every few years it seems as if there is a push to rediscover Highsmith and her most famous character, Tom Ripley who was introduced in 1955′s The Talented Mr. Ripley. (More on that in another post.)

But it is also the fascination with Highsmith herself never goes away.

Countless articles have been written about Highsmith and at least two biographies that I can find. (I know readers will correct me if I am wrong.) A Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson was published in 2004.

The latest is The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (St. Martin’s Press) by Joan Schenkar.

Schenkar’s biography is up for an Edgar Award this year in the Best Critical/Biographical category and with good reason. Schenkar gives us an insightful, in-depth portrait of a complicated, unlikable but brilliant writer.
Schenkar shows a woman who could have been a character in her own work: moody, eccentric, racist, outspokenly anti-Semitic, paranoid and a forger.

Highsmith definitely tapped into her own turmoil for her novels.

I deplore Highsmith’s views, but I can’t deny that I admire her writing. She’s no hero, but her novels gave readers superior stories.

I also want to add that the Best Critical/Biographical category has top-notch nominees and that each book nominated is a superior addition to the genre. The Edgars will be given April 29 in New York City.

The nominees in the Best Critical/Biographical category are

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House – Alfred A. Knopf);
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company);
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books);
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press).

Posted in Edgar Allan Poe Awards | 2,170 Comments »

2010 Edgar Award Nominees

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Mystery Writers of America has just announced the nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2009.

The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

BEST NOVEL

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House – Alfred A. Knopf)
The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House – Ballantine Books)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster – Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books)
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)
The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group – Twelve)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press)
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House – Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House – Alfred A. Knopf)
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Last Fair Deal Gone Down” – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
“Femme Sole” – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
“Digby, Attorney at Law” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
“Animal Rescue” – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
“Amapola” – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books)
Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Place of Execution,” Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
“Strike Three” – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
“Look What He Dug Up This Time” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
“Grilled” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
“Living the Dream” – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“A Dreadful Day” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS

Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books)
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books)
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins)

Posted in Awards, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Mystery Writers of America | 2,629 Comments »

The Edgars, L.A. Times awards

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

So many awards were presented this past weekend that we haven’t had time to catch up with any of them.

As you saw on the previous post, Kate and Brian have already posted the Agatha winners. And as you also saw, Kate and Brian were the proud winners of the Poirot Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Mystery at Malice Domestic.

So let’s play catch up with some other winners from this over-packed weekend.

First, the Edgar winners, given by the Mystery Writers of America:

BEST NOVEL WINNER:
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box , left, (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
The Foreigner by Francie Lin (Picador)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
China Lake by Meg Gardiner (New American Library – Obsidian Mysteries)

BEST FACT CRIME
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Crown Publishers)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories
by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Sterling Publishing – Metro Books)

BEST SHORT STORY
“Skinhead Central” – The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)

BEST JUVENILE
The Postcard by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)

BEST PLAY
The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza (Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Prayer of the Bone” – Wire in the Blood, Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (BBC America)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY
In Bruges, Screenplay by Martin McDonagh (Focus Features)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
“Buckner’s Error” – Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTER
James Lee Burke
Sue Grafton

RAVEN AWARDS
Edgar Allan Poe Society, Baltimore, Maryland
Poe House, Baltimore, Maryland

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Killer’s Wife by Bill Floyd (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

OK, that list is over.

Now for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize winners.

Yes, I am aware that the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize has winners in categories other than mystery/thriller. But I am only going to mention the mystery/thriller category.

And, for a full disclosure: I was a judge for this category along with my lovely colleagues Sarah Weinman and Dick Adler. We three made our decision in early Februrary so that should show you how well we can keep a secret!

2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller goes to:

Michael Koryta, right, Envy the Night (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Posted in Awards, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Mystery Writers of America | 2,488 Comments »

Dreaming of Malice, the Edgars, L.A. Times Books Festival

Friday, April 24th, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I often wish I could be in two places at once. Wouldn’t that be lovely? You could be spending time having fun while also at work.

But during the next week or so, I wish I could be five places at once. There are just too many mystery-related events that I would love to attend, not to mention the wonderful non-mystery event I’ll be at.

First, I would love to be at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

I’ve never been, but have heard only wonderful comments about this festival that will be April 25 and 26. The myriad authors and panels certainly appeal to me and I would have enjoyed moderating a panel or two.

But, I also have a personal connection. Along with Sarah Weinman and Dick Adler, I am one of the judges for the mystery/thriller category of the L.A. Times Book Prize. It would be lovely to be able to see the winner receive the award. (Oh, like you think I am going to give you the name here? Or even give away the winner’s gender? Just wait…)

I also wanted to attend the Edgar Awards symposium (April 29) and the banquet (April 30). I haven’t been able to attend for three years and had hoped to be able to return this year.

The Edgars are fun, at least I think so. Plus, I’ll take any excuse to wear my long dress.

But most of all, I wanted to attend Malice Domestic May 1 to 3 in
Arlington, Va.

I love Malice and its honoring of the traditional mystery. It has been at least five years, maybe more, since I have been able to make it to Malice and I miss this terrific conference.

The panels are insightful, the authors receptive and the fans are nice.

I have never had a bad time at Malice.

This year, Nancy Pickard is the guest of honor; Elaine Viets the toastmaster and Anne Perry will receive the lifetime achievement.

But again, I have a personal reason for wanting to attend this year’s Malice.

I would like to be there to cheer on Kate and Brian when they receive the Malice Domestic Poirot Award.

According to the Malice Domestic Website, “this award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the Malice Domestic genre. The award is bestowed by the Malice Domestic Board of Directors and presented at the Malice Domestic conference. The Poirot Award is not an annual award.”

And I must say, the award is well deserved.

Let me also add congratulations to all the winners and the nominees.

So, I won’t be attending any of these mystery-related events.

Instead, I will be in Sarasota, Florida, for the American Theater Critics Association’s annual conference, which is normally held in June. But this year, ATCA’s conference falls smack in the middle of these other events.

My husband, Bill, is a theater critic and this conference is a great excuse to see live theater twice a day.

It helps that I am as interested in theater as he is. Heck, we even met in the theater.

We were among the handful of journalism majors who were also involved with the theater at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was an actor; I was his dresser.

But that’s another story.

Oh, well, maybe next year I can be in L.A., or New York City, or Arlington.

PHOTOS: Nancy Pickard, top, Anne Perry

Posted in Agatha Awards, Awards, Edgar Allan Poe Awards | 969 Comments »

2009 EDGAR NOMINEES

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Our congratulations to all the nominees!

Mystery Writers of America has announced its Nominees for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2008. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 63rd Gala Banquet, April 30, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

Missing by Karin Alvtegen (Felony & Mayhem Press)
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Night Following by Morag Joss (Random House – Delacorte Press)
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Kind One by Tom Epperson (Five Star, div of Cengage)
Sweetsmoke by David Fuller (Hyperion)
The Foreigner by Francie Lin (Picador)
Calumet City by Charlie Newton (Simon & Schuster – Touchstone)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Random House – Doubleday)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Prince of Bagram by Alex Carr (Random House Trade)
Money Shot by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
Enemy Combatant by Ed Gaffney (Random House – Dell)
China Lake by Meg Gardiner (New American Library – Obsidian Mysteries)
The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli (Random House – Bantam)

BEST FACT CRIME

For The Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz (HarperCollins)
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Crown Publishers)
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To The Revolution by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren by Jonathan Lopez (Harcourt)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Company)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Company)
Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia University Press)
Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction by David Geherin (McFarland & Company)
The Rise of True Crime by Jean Murley (Greenwood Publishing – Praeger)
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Sterling Publishing – Metro Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” – Hardcore Hardboiled by Sean Chercover (Kensington Publishing)
“Skin and Bones” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by David Edgerley Gates (Dell Magazines)
“Scratch of a Woman” – Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
“La Vie en Rose” – Paris Noir by Dominique Mainard (Akashic Books
“Skinhead Central” – The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)

BEST JUVENILE

The Postcard by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Enigma: A Magical Mystery by Graeme Base (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff (Random House Children’s Books – Wendy Lamb Books)
The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow by Riford McKenzie (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books)
Cemetary Street by Brenda Seabrooke (Holiday House)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd (Random House Children’s Books – David Fickling Books)
The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Harry N. Abrams Books – Amulet Books)
Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
Torn to Pieces by Margo McDonnell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

BEST PLAY

The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza (Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the story by Robert Lewis Stevenson (Arizona Theatre Company)
Cell by Judy Klass (International Mystery Writers’ Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Streetwise” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Paul Grellong (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
“Prayer of the Bone” – Wire in the Blood, Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (BBC America)
“Signature” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Judith McCreary (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
“You May Now Kill the Bride” – CSI: Miami, Teleplay by Barry O’Brien (CBS)
“Burn Card” – Law & Order, Teleplay by David Wilcox (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

The Bank Job, Screenplay by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (Lionsgate)
Burn After Reading, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Focus Features)
In Bruges, Screenplay by Martin McDonagh (Focus Features)
Tell No One, Screenplay by Guillaume Canet, based on the book by Harlan Coben (Music Box Films)
Transsiberian, Screenplay by Brad Anderson & Will Conroy (First Look International)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Buckner’s Error” – Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTERS

James Lee Burke
Sue Grafton