Thursday, February 24, 2011

Mystery Novels of the Award-Winning Kind

Ah, The Edgar Awards.   Named for Edgar Allen Poe and presented in Spring by the Mystery Writers of America, these awards are considered the most prestigious in the field.  And I, not known as a high-class reader of literature, have actually picked some up. And opened them!  Here they are and I highly recommend these.

Best First Novel by an American Author: In the Woods by Tana French  2008
Three kids disappear in the Irish woods, only one is found.  Twenty years later he's a law officer working on a similar case.  At the end some questions remain unanswered, but overall it's satisfying.   Nice and weird.

Best Novel: Bones by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)   2000
My friend stopped reading it as soon as she got to the boot with the foot still in it.  Sign me up!  Lots of good characters offset the gore. Part of the Irene series - read them all!  The rest aren't as bloody.

Best Paperback Original: Fade Away by Harlan Coben (Dell)  1997
Third in the Myron Bolitar series, this deals with his painful past as a former athlete and the person who put him in the 'former' category.  Lots of snappy dialogue.

Best Novel: The Sculptress by Minette Walters (St. Martin's Press)    1994
Minette Walters!  She is the Queen of twisty mysteries.  In this case Olive is in prison for the ax murders of her mother and sister.  Rosalind is assigned to write a book about her and starts to doubt Olive's guilt.  But who's playing whom? Mwwa ha ha ha ha.

Best First Novel: The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) 1993  In the first Harry Bosch novel, Harry investigates the death of a former fellow 'tunnel rat', a soldier sent to kill Viet Cong living and working underground.  Literally underground.  Starts simple, gets hairy.  Just the way I like it.

List of all The Edgar Award Winners

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