Congratulations All 2007 Edgar Award Winners!

[Brian Thornton]

Let me preface this by saying that I read THE JANISSARY TREE when it first came out, that I'm a huge fan of Goodwin's non-fiction work (especially his popular history of the Ottoman Empire) and that this book is a whopping good read.

That said, I'm disappointed for my friend Steve Hockensmith (HOLMES ON THE RANGE), but it truly IS an honor to be nominated.

Also, congratulations to Charles Ardai for his best short story nod. And I'm thrilled to see THE WIRE winning, because it's absolutely the best thing on TV.

Here's a run-down of who won what:

BEST NOVEL

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson (Random House)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam Dell Publishing – Delta Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
(HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear
by E.J. Wagner (John Wiley & Sons)

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Home Front" – Death Do Us Part by Charles Ardai
(Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)

BEST JUVENILE

Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready (Penguin YR – Dutton Children's Books)

BEST PLAY

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure by Steven Dietz (Arizona Theatre Company)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

Life on Mars – Episode 1, Teleplay by Matthew Graham (BBC America)

BEST TELEVISION FEATURE/MINI-SERIES TELEPLAY

The Wire, Season 4, Teleplays by Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, Eric Overmyer, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon & William F. Zorzi (Home Box Office)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

The Departed, Screenplay by William Monahan (Warner Bros. Pictures)

[J. Kingston Pierce]

Good job, Brian, on being the first out of the box with these announcements. I made note of your success at The Rap Sheet:

http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/04/wait-is-over.html

Cheers, Jeff

[Charles Ardai]

Thanks, Brian. Certainly very cool to have a little ceramic Edgar sitting on top of the piano (like Beethoven watching over Schroeder in all those old Charlie Brown specials on TV).

--Charles

[Daniel Hatadi]

That makes two Crimespace members on the list. Big congrats to both Naomi and Charles!

[Angie]

Woo-hoo! Congrats to all the winners - and the nominees. Yay especially to Naomi & Charles!

[Kerrie]

I reviewed THE FAITHFUL SPY last June at http://www.reviewers-choice.com/the_faithful_spy.htm
It felt very topical at the time as it was released in Australia at the same time as that incident when the British discovered terrorists planning to travel on planes and blow them up with liquid bombs.
My final paragraph:
THE FAITHFUL SPY is a book that will strike a chord in the readers of the thriller genre. Eminently readable, there are passages that generate suspense, particularly as it builds to the climax revealed in the last pages. Towards the end a breathtaking twist takes the reader by surprise in its ingenuity, but you find yourself thinking, 'That could happen.' I am not generally a reader of thrillers, but there was enough mystery in this debut novel by Alex Berenson to keep me guessing almost to the end.