The Edgar Winners -- Anybody Read These Books?

[Jack Getze]

Mystery Writers of America celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe last night by announcing winners for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. Can't say I've read any of these yet, although a friend tells me C.J. Box is a great read. How about you people?

BEST NOVEL -- Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (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 (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)

[I. J. Parker]

Saw the list! Congratulations to all nominees and winners. No, haven't read the books, but I think I did read something by C.J.Box and liked it very much. (I'm not always impressed with Edgar choices).

[Jon Loomis]

Nice to see a couple of SM/M folks up there--congratulations to all! And I say that sincerely, since I didn't have a book in the running this year.

[John Dishon]

I'm glad Francie Lin's The Foreigner won. I don't know if it deserves it because Amazon hasn't delivered it to me yet, but it's nice to see Taiwanese fiction get some recognition.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

I enjoyed the Foreigner.

And John, I see you are in Bowling Green. We're in the same stomping grounds. I live in Lafayette, TN, just across the border from Scottsville, and run the newspaper there and one in Russellville, and supervise a publisher in Leichtfield.

[J. F. Juzwik]

I haven't read these either, but I have read one of C. J. Box's book's as well (can't recall off-hand what the name is), but I enjoyed it very much.

[HappyRuby]

I've read China Lake by Meg Gardiner and reviewed it - liked it very much.

[Ayo]

I have read Meg Gardiner's China Lake which I loved. I have also read "Skinhead Central" - The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker.

[HappyRuby]

I love T. Jefferson Parker so I'd better get ahold of that one. I also read Cross Cut and Kill Chain by Gardner and they were both good.

[denise marcotte]

It's true that Blue Heaven is very good. as are all the books by C.J. Box. I recommend them all. They are crime stories with an ecological twist.

[Donna Carrick]

Congrats to all -- it's great to see the activity. However, to answer Jack's question, no I haven't read any of these. Sorry, Donna