And the Edgar nominees are...

(looking for the Weekend Update? Not to worry, it's right here.)

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 60th Annual Edgar Awards, which are:

Best Novel:

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook (Harcourt)
Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books)
Drama City by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Regan Books)

Best First Novel Written by an American Author:

Die A Little by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Run the Risk by Scott Frost (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Hide Your Eyes by Alison Gaylin (Signet)
Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original:

Homicide My Own by Anne Argula (Pleasure Boat Studio)
The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin - Plume)
Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (Dark Alley)
Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie (Hard Case Crime)
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece  by Edward Dolnick (HarperCollins)
The Elements of Murder:  The History of Poison by John Emsley (Oxford University Press)
Written in Blood by Diane Fanning (St. Martin's True Crime)
True Story:  Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel (HarperCollins)
Desire Street:  A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans by Jed Horne (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel:  How to Knock 'em Dead with Style by Hallie Ephron (Writer's Digest Books)
Behind the Mystery:  Top Mystery Writers Interviewed by Stuart Kaminsky, photos by Laurie Roberts (Hot House Press)
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton)
Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade:  The Evolution of Dashiell Hammett's Masterpiece, Including John Huston's Movie with Humphrey Bogart  edited by Richard Layman (Vince Emery Productions)
Girl Sleuth:  Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Born Bad" – Dangerous Women by Jeffery Deaver (Mysterious Press)
"The Catch' – Greatest Hits by James W. Hall (Carroll & Graf)
"Her Lord and Master" – Dangerous Women by Andrew Klavan (Mysterious Press)
"Misdirection" – Greatest Hits by Barbara Seranella (Carroll & Graf)
"Welcome to Monroe" – A Kudzu Christmas by David Wallace (River City Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE

Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Wright & Wong: The Case of the Nana-Napper by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz (Penguin Young Readers – Sleuth/Razorbill)
The Missing Manatee by Cynthia DeFelice (Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers)
Flush by Carl Hiassen (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Boys of San Joaquin by D. James Smith (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins – Laura Geringer Books)
Last Shot by John Feinstein (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Quid Pro Quo by Vicki Grant (Orca Book Publishers)
Young Bond, Book One:  Silverfin by Charlie Higson (Hyperion/Miramax Books)
Spy Goddess, Book One:  Live & Let Shop by Michael Spradlin (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

BEST PLAY
River's End by Cheryl Coons (Book and Lyrics), Chuck Larkin (Music) (Marin Theatre Company)
Safe House by Paul Leeper (Tennessee Stage Company)
Matter of Intent by Gary Earl Ross (Theater Loft)
Mating Dance of the Werewolf by Mark Stein (Rubicon Theatre)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
CSI – "A Bullet Runs Through It, Parts 1 and 2", Teleplay by Richard Catalani & Carol Mendelsohn
CSI – "Grave Danger", Teleplay by Anthony Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn, Naren Shankar.  Story by Quentin Tarantino
Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit – "911", Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson
Sea of Souls – "Amulet", Teleplay by Ed Whitmore
Wire in the Blood – "Redemption", Teleplay by Guy Burt

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY
Crash - Story by Paul Haggis; Screenplay by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (Lions Gate Films)
A History of Violence - Screenplay by Josh Olson, based on the Graphic Novel by John Wagner & Vince Locke (New Line Productions)
The Ice Harvest - Screenplay by Richard Russo & Robert Benton, based on the Novel by Scott Phillips (Focus Features)
Match Point - Screenplay by Woody Allen (BBC)
Syriana – Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, based on the book by Robert Baer (Warner Brothers)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
Eddie Newton, "Home" – EQMM May 2005 (Dell Magazine)

The Mary Higgins Clark Award:

Breaking Faith by Jo Bannister (Allison & Busby Ltd.)
Dark Angel by Karen Harper (MIRA Books)
Shadow Valley by Gwen Hunter (MIRA Books)

Congratulations to all the nominees. The winners will be announced at the Edgar Awards Gala Banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York on April 27.

Comments

[Natalie R. Collins]

I guess I'm the last person on the face of the planet who hasn't read Laura Lippman, so I promise to rectify this as soon as I finish my next book, but it's interesting to me that people are dissing Tess's books. Tess is a very deserving writer. She can write a suspense scene like no one else, and her characters are real and believable.

Someone made the comment to me, just yesterday, that the "mystery" crowd is snobbish and cliquish toward people who move into mystery from other genres. I'm wondering if this is true, and if this is one of the reasons Tess's work is constantly questioned.

Just curious.

[Fiona]

For heaven's sake. I've only just checked back here, and find I appear to have started something.

I'm not going to read through all 51 comments in detail. Forgive me if I misrepresent or misunderstand snatched comments.

Tess is a grown up. Tess is a writer. She'll find worse on amazon, and all over the internet. Everyone will. For the record, I've read her books and enoyed them very much (The Surgeon is excellent, and I was one of the people who made Body Double this week's fourth (? even higher?) bestselling paperback). That said, it's in my opinion not what constitutes best novel of the year standard. A very enoyable novel of the year, perhaps. Others have different opinions. That's lovely.

Part of this is the nature is the nature of blogs. A doctoral thesis could probably be written on this subject, so I'm certainly not going to try. They're very public and allow comment. Harsher things (MUCH harsher) are said all about the internet, in less public places where people can't respond freely, but that doesn't mean my opinion changes due to the nature of how it can be challenged or responded to. Nor how people express them (there's an argument that it should/could/might - I don't follow it). It's not even that relevant if my words seem harsher than they were intended (which appears to be the case!) - as the base sentiment remains the same whatever. (WTF is something I say. And hence something I write. It's merely an expression of rather intense surprise.)

As for raising up and casting down... I don't think there's an award that's free of it. Ever. Not a one. Every year, without fail, regular as clockwork, critics get their knifes out about the Booker prize shortlist and longlist (''this has no right to be there'', ''this should be there instead'', ''worst Booker mistake in years'' (as Tonkin said of Banville), ''writer x deserved it in palce of writer y'' - it doesn't MEAN anything. It's a single person's view.) Being a subjective area, it comes with the territory. They're not things said inteded to hurt - but of course they will to a degree. Though it must be accepted that, rationally, it means nothing. And I'm sure Tess knows this (

[Fiona]

For heaven's sake. I've only just checked back here, and find I appear to have started something.

I'm not going to read through all 51 comments in detail. Forgive me if I misrepresent or misunderstand snatched comments. What follows is not necessarily specific, therefore, just general thoughts on the matter.

Tess is a grown up. Tess is a writer. She and anyone will find worse on amazon (imagine how poor Patricia Cornwell must feel! You will find reems of reviews all over amazon questioning even her basic sanity), and all over the internet. For the record, I've read her books and enoyed them very much (The Surgeon is excellent, and I was one of the people who made Body Double this week's fourth (? even higher?) bestselling paperback). That said, it's in my opinion not what constitutes best novel of the year standard. A very enoyable novel of the year, perhaps. Others have different opinions. That's lovely.

Part of this is the nature is the nature of blogs. A doctoral thesis could probably be written on this subject, so I'm certainly not going to try. They're very public and allow comment. Harsher things (MUCH harsher) are said all about the internet, in less public places where people can't respond freely, but that doesn't mean my opinion changes due to the nature of how it can be challenged or responded to. Nor how people express them (there's an argument that it should/could/might - I don't follow it). It's not even that relevant if my words seem harsher than they were intended (which appears to be the case!) - as the base sentiment remains the same whatever. (WTF is something I say. And hence something I write. It's merely an expression of rather intense surprise.) I say things like this about awards all the time (routinely! carping at awards is my ritual). I'm not going to stop now. Minette Walters is one of my very, very favourite writers, but when she won the Gold Dagger a couple of years back I was horrified - absolutely horrified, I thought it was an awful decision and almost certainly her poorest work - and I would not refrain from telling her that I think that. That I thought the book was average at best, and poor in comparison to her other work. Hell, enough people liked it enough to give it the award, SHE isn't going to care about what I think, standing back from it.

As for raising up and casting down... I don't think there's an award that's free of it. Ever. Not a one. Every year, without fail, regular as clockwork, critics get their knifes out about the Booker prize shortlist and longlist (''this has no right to be there'', ''this should be there instead'', ''worst Booker mistake in years'' (as Tonkin said of Banville), ''writer x deserved it in palce of writer y'' - it doesn't MEAN anything. It's a single person's view.) Being a subjective area, it comes with the territory. They're not things said inteded to hurt - but of course they will to a degree. But it must be accepted that, rationally, it means absolutely nothing. And I'm sure Tess knows this. It's not a personal attack, it's not a reflection on her, it's a reflection of my view of some words written on leaves of paper within covers. When people express them on the internet on places where people can happily wander by people don't tend to think, ''oh, so and so might actually read this'' is not generally a thought. There's an argument that that is a GOOD thing.

Possibly I see this differently through not actually knowing who any of you really are. I don't do conventions, don't know you personally, live across an ocean, have never met authors. This is not the case for most - or many - or several (maybe im assuming) - on this blog. Maybe there's something in that, I don't know. The internet isn't particularly personal to me, and posting on forums to people I don't know lacks an emotional dimension that exists in real life, or when people are known personally. I don't know.

I might have more thoughts later.

[Fiona]

the internet can make you look silly in other ways, too, see.

[Tess Gerritsen]

Um, Fiona -- the Edgar- nominated book isn't BODY DOUBLE. It's VANISH.

[Fiona]

Having read back, I do see your point Sandra. I see it clearly and I understand what you're saying, it's just not necessarily something I hold to.

But EvilKev, if you imagine I care for one single second about what someone I hasn't met and am never ever going to thinks about me based on a string of words written on the internet, you are sorely mistaken. My comments were not personal, yours were.

[Fiona]

I know - I was just referring to the fact that I bought Body Double in UK paperback this week. It's at number four I think. (Don't think you've ever been that high before.)

[Tess Gerritsen]

Maybe everyone could please just go back to their corners?

I accept that I'm not up to Fiona's standards, and never will be. But I'm really uncomfortable being the reason for all this discord. I deeply thank all those who stepped up in my defense. But I also understand that having your work out there in public is like bringing your baby out for the very first time -- there will always be someone who says, "Why's he so funny looking?"

We all think our babies are beautiful. But other people just think they look funny.

[Fiona]

I don't think you're the reason... I am. You've conducted yourself mightily whereas I appear to have put my whole leg in it.

And to say you're not up to my standards isn't true... but people read different books for different reasons, that's all. By one standard, I find your books very entertaining and a perfect example of a certain "standard" of writing I could want. In others, perhaps not. To put it some other way, Dan Brown writes entertaining novels that are exciting and easily readable, but apallingly, horribly, awfully written (in my opinion!), but you write novels that I find entertaining and exciting and easily readable but that are, by contrast, *well* written.

(And if I'm being honest, there is a submissive part of me that wants to run off awakwardly, mollified, ashamed and disgustingly apologetic, but there's a stronger - though smaller - part that wants to try and stand ground.)

[Sarah]

Putting on my hall monitor cap here, it might not be a bad idea for everyone to take a collective deep breath and at least sleep on it. Though I'll probably have my own take on it sometime tomorrow, along with a few other related things.

[Allison Brennan]

I generally lurk over here, but I wanted to say that I, for one, am very happy that Tess Gerritsen's work has been recognized as the quality storytelling that it is. I've been a fan since HARVEST and GRAVITY is still, to date, one of the best stories out there. I, personally, think that VANISH is her strongest book in her Rizzoli/Isles series . . . and I've enjoyed them all.

Congratulations to all the nominees . . . I haven't read all the books on the list, but the ones I have read definitely are winners in my book.

[Lana Lang]

I would be curious to know whether a prominent thriller writer has ever been nominated for an Edgar before.

Could this be a reaction to the ITW and their own planned awards program? The ITW could eventually outshadow the Edgars (since Thrillers outsell mysteries). Perhaps the Edgars are trying to steal the ITW's thunder here.

[Robert Gregory Browne]

I just want to jump in here to say that the opening of Tess's VANISH, written from the POV of a young woman who is headed for nothing but heartache, is one of the best pieces of fiction I've read. It brought me to tears when I read it.

And when the closing brings it all home again, you know that you are in the hands of a master.

THAT's why she was nominated for an Edgar. No matter what anyone on this blog says, she truly deserves this nomination.

[fahrrad]

Dies ist ein großer Ort. Ich möchte hier noch einmal.