2008 Edgar Award Nominees

[Ken Isaacson]

The list of nominees for the 2008 Edgar Awards was just announced. Some good stuff there. Here it is:

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)

BEST FACT CRIME

The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
by Vincent Bugliosi (W.W. Norton and Company
Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit by Kevin Flynn (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson (Penguin Group – Viking)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)
A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational by Maurizio Ascari (Palgrave Macmillan)
Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave Macmillan)
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press)
Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy
by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)
"Blue Note" – Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)
"Hardly Knew Her" – Dead Man's Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade Publishers)
"The Golden Gopher" – Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books
"Uncle" – A Hell of a Woman” by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)

BEST JUVENILE

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin – Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children's Books – Delacorte Press)
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing – Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children's Books – Delacorte Press)
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing – Simon Pulse)

BEST PLAY

If/Then by David Foley (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Panic by Joseph Goodrich (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Books by Stuart M. Kaminsky (International Mystery Writers' Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"It’s Alive" – Dexter, Teleplay by Daniel Cerone (Showtime)
"Yahrzeit" – Waking the Dead, Teleplay by Declan Croghan & Barbara Machin (BBC America)
"Pie-Lette" – Pushing Daisies, Teleplay by Bryan Fuller (ABC/Warner Bros Television
"Senseless" – Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Teleplay by Julie Martin & Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
"Pilot" – Burn Notice, Teleplay by Matt Nix (USA Network/Fox Television Studios)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

Eastern Promises, Screenplay by Steven Knight (Focus Features)
The Lookout, Screenplay by Scott Frank (Miramax)
Michael Clayton, Screenplay by Tony Gilroy (Warner Bros. Pictures)
No Country for Old Men, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy (Miramax)
Zodiac, Screenplay by James Vanderbilt, based on the book by Robert Graysmith
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)

GRAND MASTER

Bill Pronzini

RAVEN AWARDS

Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Kate's Mystery Books (Kate Mattes, owner)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

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

[Grant McKenzie]

So do short stories have to published in book format to be considered? I didn't see any magazine shorts on the list.

[Ken Isaacson]

Grant:

I believe there have been many past nominees, and even winners, of short stories published in magazine, such as Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock, and even Playboy. There's a searchable database on the MWA National website, at http://mysterywriters.org/edgarsDB/edgarDB.php

[Grant McKenzie]

Thanks, Ken. I was curious about that since so many up-and-coming writers would be featured in magazines long before they were asked to contribute to book collections.

[Bill Cameron]

Pyres is a truly marvelous book. Congratulations to Derek!

[Charles A. King]

Congrat's to all those nominated. ... Oooh, Screenplay looks especially tough to call. No Country and Clayton were both first rate movies. No Country being one of the best overall films of 07', and Clayton being one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long, long, long time.

Charles

[Ali]

On the movies - I have to say EASTERN PROMISES gets my vote

Ali

[Donna Moore]

Huge congratualtions to all the nominees. So many good books and stories there and I'm just glad I don't have to judge! Several that I am personally happy about too - it's always great to see friends nominated. And it's wonderful to see Barbara's name on the list. Wherever she is, she will be loving that. I miss her loads and it's great to see her final book get recognition.

[Gumshoe Carl]

Congrats to John Hart for his second nomination in as many years. I'm been
waiting to read Down River and now I knew why!! He has some tough competition in Shamus award
winner and all round nice guy Ken Bruen and Pultizer Prize winner, Michael Chabon and
the Shamus, Barry, and Anthony Award winner Reed Farrel Coleman. Plus the dark horse
Booker prize winner John Banville aka Benjamin Black, so all in all quite
an interesting and talented pool. Congrats also to the committee that had the difficult job of narrowing the nominations to 5. Glad I'm not a judge!

[Neil Plakcy]

The MFA program at Florida International University (where I also got my degree) has been well-represented at the Edgars, especially in the recent past. Last year my MFA thesis advisor, James W. Hall, won for best short story; another of my professors, Lynne Barrett, won for best short story in 1991.

This year, two of my classmates made the short list. Dennis Lehane, one of the writers of The Wire on HBO, and Vicki Hendricks, nominated for best paperback original for Cruel Poetry.

Must be something in the water!

[I. J. Parker]

You know, I hadn't thought about that aspect. Not the tux, but the whole hassle of it. I feel better now. :)

And yes: Congratulations! It looks like a nice roster -- though I haven't read those particular books yet.

[I. J. Parker]

No. Better feel relieved. Think of the expense! New York hotels are grossly priced. And then you end up either disappointed or having to give a speech. :) And if you win, the other nominees will hate you even if they say otherwise.