Thursday, May 01, 2014

Thursday Night at the Edgars

By the time you read this, I should be on my way to New York for Thursday's Edgar Awards.

Nominees for best novel are:

Sandrine's Case by Thomas H. Cook (Grove Atlantic – The Mysterious Press)
The Humans by Matt Haig (Simon & Schuster)
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin (Hachette Book Group – Reagan Arthur Books)
Until She Comes Home by Lori Roy (Penguin Group USA – Dutton Books)

For best first novel, it's:

The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn (W.W. Norton)
Ghostman by Roger Hobbs (Alfred A. Knopf)
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman (Minotaur Books)
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (HarperCollins Publishers)

And for best paperback original:

The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow Paperbacks)
Almost Criminal by E. R. Brown (Dundurn)
Joe Victim by Paul Cleave (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)
Joyland by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime)
The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood (Penguin Group USA - Penguin Books)
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey (Amazon Publishing – Thomas and Mercer)
Nominees from beyond U.S. borders include Haig, Penny, Rankin, Cleave, Brown, Marwood, Ballantyne, and John Connolly (for best short story).

Robert Crais and Carolyn Hart will be named Grand Masters by the Mystery Writers of America, and Aunt Agatha's Bookstore, in Ann Arbor, Mich., gets the Raven award.. Read the complete list of nominees here, and I'll be back later, God and this crap computer willing.

© Peter Rozovsky 2014 

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4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Be bold! Make predictions! I need to place a bet with my bookie.

Someday we ought to discuss the merits and deficits in book awards. The process is not always fair and honest. The "winners" are sometimes selected for the wrong reasons. But more about this later. In fact, it would be a good after-the-awards discussion. Of course, the discussion only works if we have read all of the contenders. And, I confess, I have not. But perhaps we can discuss the awards processes in general terms. Hint: I have serious misgivings about all book awards.

May 01, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

I'll make no predictions except that I will enjoy the dinner and the company, as I have in recent years. I know little about the judging process beyond an acquaintance with a fellow who was a judge one year in one of the catefories. A sound bloke he is. but beyond that, I can shed no light.

I do know that just being shortlisted is an honor, but I don't know what the submission process is. There were complaints one year from the organizers of a different set of awards that publishers wree not as diligent as they could have been about submitting books for consideration.

May 01, 2014  
Blogger Unknown said...

You've hinted at what I deem to be a problem with some awards: the books are put forward (nominated) by the publishers; that does very little to reassure readers of the books' merits.

May 01, 2014  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Funny you should mention that. I'm just back from the awards dinner, where a number of speakers reminded attendees that the Edgars are selected largely by writers. One of the presenters, for example, urged us to read the judges' biobliographies in the program, for example.

I'm not sure how the books come to the judges' attention, but writers are not a bad group to vote on awards for writers.

May 01, 2014  

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