Mystery Writers of America Announces 2010 Edgar Award Nominees

TC Beacham · Jan 19, 2010

NEW YORK, Jan 19, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 201st anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its 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(R) Awards will be presented to the winners at our 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

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 Nesbo, 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)

Continued...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34935018

I'm so happy THE LAST CHILD by John Hart was nominated - loved it!

ToddWBush · Jan 22, 2010

I've never read any of those books nominated for Best Novel. Saw a couple, but none appealed to me. Please tell me that book awards aren't becoming like the movie awards (Oscars, Golden Globes, etc.) that reward obscure, artsy crap that no one has seen*. Please. I'm begging.

* - Yes, I realize that Avatar won the Golden Globe this year and about a bajillion people have seen it. That's beside the point.

gothicangel · Jan 22, 2010

ToddWBush said:
I've never read any of those books nominated for Best Novel. Saw a couple, but none appealed to me. Please tell me that book awards aren't becoming like the movie awards (Oscars, Golden Globes, etc.) that reward obscure, artsy crap that no one has seen*. Please. I'm begging.

* - Yes, I realize that Avatar won the Golden Globe this year and about a bajillion people have seen it. That's beside the point.

I quite like obscure, artsy crap.

Melville · Jan 22, 2010

gothicangel said:
I quite like obscure, artsy crap.

Me, too!

And a lot of the so called "obscure, artsy crap" ultimately becomes very popular, too. Movies like THE HURT LOCKER and books like THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO sure prove that to be the case.

The reason? It's not crap. And it's immensely readable and enjoyable.

"Artsy": literary technique applied to genre prose. In terms of the cinema, "artsy" only means it didn't have an initial wide release.

"Obscure": only to the reader who buys books exclusively at Walmart.

I've read all the books on the list: some are very good, some are just okay, in my opinion. That being said, I'm a big Jo Nesbo fan and NEMESIS, as part of the Harry Hole series, is terrific though I would recommend reading the books in order as there is a distinct plot arc over the entirety.

John Hart, too, is an interesting writer as well...

But I think there are quite a few books that could have been included... but that probably can be said of just about any list.

ToddWBush · Jan 22, 2010

OK, maybe my circle of writers that I read is limited. My bad.

gothicangel · Jan 22, 2010

I think some of these might not have had a UK release, I'll go have a look on Amazon.com.

Latersbra · Jan 31, 2010

i never heard of these books either. i might recognize the cover though, i tend to remember pictures over titles.

sheadakota · Feb 1, 2010

Don't feel bad Todd- I never heard of any of them either-and I don't think I have ever bought a book from Walmart, but I've seen Steinbeck for sale at Walmart, so why the stigma?

Mystery Writers of America Announces 2010 Edgar Award Nominees

TC Beacham

Great Beach Reads!

ToddWBush

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Melville

Reader first, writer second

ToddWBush

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Latersbra

sheadakota

part of the human equation