Wednesday, 19 January 2011 14:32
2011 Edgar Awards Announced
The announcement from the Mystery Writers of America just dropped into our email and we're posting it asap.

Later, we'll comment on it and offer some perspectvie but for now, here's the information. Congratulations to all the worthy nominees.
Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at our 65th Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL
Caught by Harlan Coben (Penguin Group USA - Dutton)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Faithful Place by Tana French (Penguin Group USA - Viking)
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Tom Doherty Associates – Forge Books)
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Snow Angels by James Thompson (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Random House - Bantam)
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur Books)
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press – Bison Original)
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South
by Alex Heard (HarperCollins)
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery
by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides (Random House - Doubleday)
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science
by Douglas Starr (Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder (Wiley)
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendevouz with American History by Yunte Huang (W.W. Norton)
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)
BEST SHORT STORY
"The Scent of Lilacs" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn (Dell Magazines)
"The Plot" – First Thrills by Jeffery Deaver (Tom Doherty – Forge Books)
"A Good Safe Place” – Thin Ice by Judith Green (Level Best Books)
"Monsieur Alice is Absent" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
by Stephen Ross (Dell Magazines)
"The Creative Writing Murders" – Dark End of the Street by Edmund White (Bloomsbury)
BEST JUVENILE
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)
Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
(Farrar, Straus, Giroux Books for Young Readers)
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)

BEST PLAY
The Psychic by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre – Burbank, CA)
The Tangled Skirt by Steve Braunstein (New Jersey Repertory Company)
The Fall of the House by Robert Ford (Alabama Shakespeare Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1” – Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
“Episode 4” – Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
“Full Measure” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
“No Mas” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
“The Next One’s Gonna Go In Your Throat” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler,
Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
by Evan Lewis (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Sara Paretsky

RAVEN AWARDS
Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, Illinois
Once Upon A Crime Bookstore, Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 27, 2010)
Wild Penance by Sandi Ault (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Down River by Karen Harper (MIRA Books)
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Live to Tell by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins - Avon)
2011 Edgar Awards Announced
Oline Cogdill
edgar-awards-announced
The announcement from the Mystery Writers of America just dropped into our email and we're posting it asap.

Later, we'll comment on it and offer some perspectvie but for now, here's the information. Congratulations to all the worthy nominees.
Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at our 65th Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL
Caught by Harlan Coben (Penguin Group USA - Dutton)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Faithful Place by Tana French (Penguin Group USA - Viking)
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Tom Doherty Associates – Forge Books)
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Snow Angels by James Thompson (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Random House - Bantam)
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur Books)
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press – Bison Original)
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South
by Alex Heard (HarperCollins)
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery
by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides (Random House - Doubleday)
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science
by Douglas Starr (Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder (Wiley)
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendevouz with American History by Yunte Huang (W.W. Norton)
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)
BEST SHORT STORY
"The Scent of Lilacs" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn (Dell Magazines)
"The Plot" – First Thrills by Jeffery Deaver (Tom Doherty – Forge Books)
"A Good Safe Place” – Thin Ice by Judith Green (Level Best Books)
"Monsieur Alice is Absent" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
by Stephen Ross (Dell Magazines)
"The Creative Writing Murders" – Dark End of the Street by Edmund White (Bloomsbury)
BEST JUVENILE
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)
Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
(Farrar, Straus, Giroux Books for Young Readers)
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)

BEST PLAY
The Psychic by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre – Burbank, CA)
The Tangled Skirt by Steve Braunstein (New Jersey Repertory Company)
The Fall of the House by Robert Ford (Alabama Shakespeare Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1” – Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
“Episode 4” – Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
“Full Measure” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
“No Mas” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
“The Next One’s Gonna Go In Your Throat” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler,
Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
by Evan Lewis (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Sara Paretsky

RAVEN AWARDS
Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, Illinois
Once Upon A Crime Bookstore, Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 27, 2010)
Wild Penance by Sandi Ault (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Down River by Karen Harper (MIRA Books)
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Live to Tell by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins - Avon)
Wednesday, 19 January 2011 10:22
James Ellroy on Tv
titleJames Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia) has never been sublte in his crime novels. Now he brings that lurid tabloid look at the world to television with James Ellroy's L.A. City of Demons beginning tonight (Jan. 19) at 10 p.m. on the Investigation Discovery channel.
In this six-part series, Ellroy will give a documentary-style look into L.A.'s dark past and its high-profile murders. Along for the ride will be a bus full of television journalists.
The series will include the 1958 unsolved murder of his own mother, which he wrote about in his memoir My Dark Places. He'll also touch on the stabbing of Lana Turner's mobster boyfriend, by her own daughter, as well as other celebrity-related crimes.
Ellroy has always been a no-holds barred type of writer, anxious to shock as well as tell a salacious story.
I've seen a couple of clips of his new series and it has the look and feel of his documentary-style film James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction, which
went from being tabloid lurid, emotional to downright odd.
In other words, pure Ellroy
James Ellroy on Tv
Oline Cogdill
james-ellroy-on-tv
titleJames Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia) has never been sublte in his crime novels. Now he brings that lurid tabloid look at the world to television with James Ellroy's L.A. City of Demons beginning tonight (Jan. 19) at 10 p.m. on the Investigation Discovery channel.
In this six-part series, Ellroy will give a documentary-style look into L.A.'s dark past and its high-profile murders. Along for the ride will be a bus full of television journalists.
The series will include the 1958 unsolved murder of his own mother, which he wrote about in his memoir My Dark Places. He'll also touch on the stabbing of Lana Turner's mobster boyfriend, by her own daughter, as well as other celebrity-related crimes.
Ellroy has always been a no-holds barred type of writer, anxious to shock as well as tell a salacious story.
I've seen a couple of clips of his new series and it has the look and feel of his documentary-style film James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction, which
went from being tabloid lurid, emotional to downright odd.
In other words, pure Ellroy
Sunday, 16 January 2011 10:55
Sara Paretsky Mwa Grand Master
titleSometime this week, the Mystery Writers of America will announce the nominees for its annual Edgar Awards, which, anyone who follows the genre knows are the Oscars of the mystery world.
But a couple of months ago, it was announced that Sara Paretsky has been named the 2011 Grand Master, a wonderful addition MWA's long list of worthy Grand Masters.

According to the MWA release, the "Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."

I would agree with that.
Paretsky revolutionalized the mystery world in 1982 when she introduced detective V.I. Warshawski in Indemnity Only. A woman private detective? It seemed like heresy when, during the span of two years, Paretsky, Sue Grafton and Marica Mueller all brought in strong women detectives.

V.I. Warshawski, like the other women detectives used her wits and she challenged a genre in which women typically were either vamps or victims.
altThe rest is history. Or in the case of Paretsky, 16 novels, several short story anthologies and a book of essays. Her latest novel is Body Work.

Paretsky and the other mystery writers opened the door to mysteries as we know them today -- a divserse genre full of diverse detectives from different ethic and sexual backgrounds, myriad regions and foreign countries. I doubt we would have gay detectives today if Paretsky and crew hadn't shown readers that fighting for justice isn't just for white men.
I would say she also helped usher in the regional mystery. Her view of Chicago was spot-on. I was talking with my brother-in-law, Thomas, just last night about Paretsky. He and his wife, Lee, lived in Chicago and he also believed that Paretsky nailed the city. One of my closest friends, Toni, lives in Chicago and it's a city I love. Paretsky's novels are mini travelogues of The Windy City.
By the way, Paretsky was profiled in Mystery Scene, Holiday Issue 2009, No. 112.

I started reading mysteries when I was about 9 years old but there was a time when the genre wasn't speaking to me. Sara, Sue and Marcia are among the reasons I came back to mystieres and why I love the genre and why I began reviewing mysteries.
So next time I slam someone's novel, you can blame them.
I had the pleasure of having Sara on a panel during the most recent Bouchercon in San Francisco. It was unclear up until the moment she walked into the room if Sara would make it. She had an event that morning in Idaho and, well, you know how lovely and reliable airline travel is.
At the last minute she was able to make it and she added so much to the panel.


Sara Paretsky will receive her award at The Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 28.

As soon as the nominees for this year's Edgars are announced, we'll post them, too.

Sara Paretsky Mwa Grand Master
Oline Cogdill
sara-paretsky-mwa-grand-master
titleSometime this week, the Mystery Writers of America will announce the nominees for its annual Edgar Awards, which, anyone who follows the genre knows are the Oscars of the mystery world.
But a couple of months ago, it was announced that Sara Paretsky has been named the 2011 Grand Master, a wonderful addition MWA's long list of worthy Grand Masters.

According to the MWA release, the "Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."

I would agree with that.
Paretsky revolutionalized the mystery world in 1982 when she introduced detective V.I. Warshawski in Indemnity Only. A woman private detective? It seemed like heresy when, during the span of two years, Paretsky, Sue Grafton and Marica Mueller all brought in strong women detectives.

V.I. Warshawski, like the other women detectives used her wits and she challenged a genre in which women typically were either vamps or victims.
altThe rest is history. Or in the case of Paretsky, 16 novels, several short story anthologies and a book of essays. Her latest novel is Body Work.

Paretsky and the other mystery writers opened the door to mysteries as we know them today -- a divserse genre full of diverse detectives from different ethic and sexual backgrounds, myriad regions and foreign countries. I doubt we would have gay detectives today if Paretsky and crew hadn't shown readers that fighting for justice isn't just for white men.
I would say she also helped usher in the regional mystery. Her view of Chicago was spot-on. I was talking with my brother-in-law, Thomas, just last night about Paretsky. He and his wife, Lee, lived in Chicago and he also believed that Paretsky nailed the city. One of my closest friends, Toni, lives in Chicago and it's a city I love. Paretsky's novels are mini travelogues of The Windy City.
By the way, Paretsky was profiled in Mystery Scene, Holiday Issue 2009, No. 112.

I started reading mysteries when I was about 9 years old but there was a time when the genre wasn't speaking to me. Sara, Sue and Marcia are among the reasons I came back to mystieres and why I love the genre and why I began reviewing mysteries.
So next time I slam someone's novel, you can blame them.
I had the pleasure of having Sara on a panel during the most recent Bouchercon in San Francisco. It was unclear up until the moment she walked into the room if Sara would make it. She had an event that morning in Idaho and, well, you know how lovely and reliable airline travel is.
At the last minute she was able to make it and she added so much to the panel.


Sara Paretsky will receive her award at The Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 28.

As soon as the nominees for this year's Edgars are announced, we'll post them, too.