Showing posts with label Edgar Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edgar Awards. Show all posts

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Potboiler by Jesse Kellerman



This is another of the nominees for the Edgar for best novel.  I had a hard time with this one.  Here is a description of the main character that is dead on:

"We have a profile on you running back to the seventies.  You were emotionally needy, financially strapped, alternatively self-congratulatory and self-loathing, led to believe that your more successful friend held you to be the superior writer.  It was the perfect storm of ego and greed."   Potboiler
p 154.

My own notes said "Protagonist Pfefferkorn = prig.  Unappealing, self-absorbed.  Talentless literary snob."   It was torture to follow this character through 130 pages before the book suddenly took a turn from whine-fest to:  

Potboiler: A potboiler or pot-boiler is a low-quality novel, play, opera, film or other creative work whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot" which means "to provide one's livelihood".

Pfefferkorn is caught up in a plot to destroy the politics of fictional (but real in the story) East and West Zlabia, home of a miserable people who exist on root vegetables.  From page 131 on, he IS the Hero of a Potboiler. At times I wondered if the shadowy government agencies that were fooling with him were just putting him through the paces so he could more effectively crank out the bestselling dross he hated. It all made no sense.

It also reminded me somehow of The Mouse that Roared and the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.



The ending was just the kind of end priggish Pfefferkorn would have written for one of his own ideally existentially broken characters. 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley

The second Edgar Award Nominee in my pile is from Walter Mosely.  This is the fourth in a series starring Private Eye Leonid McGill.





Why would I ever plant false evidence on a poor woman already going to jail?  A woman distraught over her faithless lover and the child in her womb? I tried to remember the state of mind that allowed me to take those actions.  I knew the man that did these things intimately, had all his memories.  I could enumerate each and every sin he ever committed.  But try as I might I could not bring up the feeling inside that allowed me to do the things I'd done.

Of course men were after me.  Of course they wanted to destroy me.  Of course they did.
         All I did was Shoot My Man pp166-167



Leonid not only solves crimes, he sometimes has had a hand in facilitating them.  He has a long dark history and a deeply philosophical mind and tortured conscience.

One crime on his conscience is his tampering with evidence to help indict a woman named Zella Grisham of a crime she didn't commit.  All she was guilty of was shooting her boyfriend three times when she found him in bed with her best friend. 

Thanks to Leonid, she is sent to prison for being part of a fifty eight million dollar heist.  After eight years in prison, a lawyer helps get her released and Leonid is hired to meet her at the train station and make sure she is settled into a new life.

Zella's release unleashes a series of brutal killings and an attempt to murder Leonid in his home.  He can't figure out how the woman he knows to be innocent can be such a trigger.  He works as quickly as he can to untangle the mystery of the original heist and to find who is killing people now because of it.

Leonid has a life as complex as the crime he tries to solve.  He has been married for years to Katrina and they have no relationship at all except for the tenuous tie of their children. 

He has a mistress who he had a falling out with but now he is falling back in with her. 

Only one of his children is his own, the others are products of his wife's many affairs.  He has a hard relationship with his own son Dmitri, but has a deep and loving relationship with the others.

Twill stands out as a remarkable son and character.  He is slick and smart and streetwise.  He loves and respects Leonid more than anyone.  He is the one who works with Leonid on cases and who will eventually be his partner.  Unless he is killed in the dangerous world they live in.


Beautifully written, immediate prose.  Wonderful characters.  The reader is given much to think about as the story races along.  I'm going to go back and read the others in the series because I'd like to know how these folks got here from there.

Visit Walter Mosely's web site here.







The Long Fall 2009

Known to evil 2010

When the thrill is gone  2011

All I did was shoot my man 2012

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Reading the Edgar Nominees for Best Novel



I had a Cone of Shame Moment or two when I went to see how many Edgar Award Winners I've read.  I will be drummed out of the Mystery Reader's Corps if word gets out, I'm sure of it.

I decided I could begin to remedy that by reading the nominees for Best Novel.  The awards will be given out in April so no problems, right?

I requested all of the selections my library owned and got a small pile.  I liked the Gods of Gotham by Lindsey Faye and All I did was shoot my man by Walter Mosley almost equally (though they are very different) and so started reading those in tandem. 

I have in hand The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins and Potboiler by Jesse Kellerman.  I'm waiting for Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Live by Night by Dennis Lehane and Sunset by Al Lamanda.

I need to read much faster.  They all sound really good though and I'm pleased to have such fine reading in store.   I will also get to keep my spot in the ranks of Mystery Readers, having these excellent nominees under my proverbial belt.


Sunday, May 2, 2010

The 2010 Edgar Award Winners



The Edgar Awards, presented annually since 1946 by the Mystery Writers of America were awarded April 29th, 2010. I've listed all of the winners here. Visit the official Mystery Writers of America Edgar page for the complete list of nominees as well. This is a great way to read some of the best novels published each year and to find new authors to read.

Edgar Himself


Winner for Best Novel is The Last Child by John Hart.

Best First Novel by an American Author goes to In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff.

Best Paperback Original was awarded to Body Blows by Marc Strange

Best Critical/Biographical Work this year is The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler

The Best Fact Crime winner is Columbine by Dave Cullen.

Voted Best Short Story: "Amapola" - Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea

Best Young Adult novel goes to Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

Voted Best Juvenile Novel Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn

Best Television Episode Teleplay this year is "Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson

The Robert L. Fish Memorial Award (Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year) went to "A Dreadful Day" - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman

The Simon and Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award was awarded to Awakening by S.J. Bolton

Mrs. Pollifax author Dorothy Gilman was awarded the Grand Master Award

The Raven Award given "is a special award given for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing" (according to MysteryNet.com). The recipients for 2010 are:
Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers' Festival

The Ellery Queen Award (The Ellery Queen Award was established in 1983 to honor writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry) was given to Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker


Our mystery group selection for April was California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker.  This 2004 Edgar Award winner follows two families over time and at its center is the murder of a girl from one of those families.

At first it seems like there is a "good" family and a "bad" family, but for me both families were just awful.  The rest of the book group did not feel that way.

We did agree that the book was more about the setting and times (late sixties for the most part) than about the crime.  It was one of those novels where there are many possible suspects, and much time is spent on each of those people, but again as reflections of the political and social upheaval of the sixties than about how they might be capable of committing a grisly crime.

I had a few recommendations for others authors the group might like if they enjoyed this novel:

Sarah Lovett
James Patterson
Ridley Pearson
Kathy Reichs
Robert Crais
Dennis Lehane
David Baldacci

I also thought they would like a list of other Edgar Award winners.  Here is a list from the Mystery Writers of America Edgars Database

Winners for Best Novel for All Years


Year Award Category Title Author's Name Publisher/Producer Notes

2009 Best Novel Blue Heaven C.J. Box St. Martin's Minotaur

2008 Best Novel Down River John Hart St. Martin's Minotaur

2007 Best Novel The Janissary Tree Jason Goodwin Sarah Crichton Books/FSG

2006 Best Novel Citizen Vince Jess Walter Regan Books

2005 Best Novel California Girl T. Jefferson Parker HarperCollins - William Morrow

2004 Best Novel Resurrection Men Ian Rankin Little, Brown

2003 Best Novel Winter and Night S.J. Rozan St. Martin's Minotaur

2002 Best Novel Silent Joe T. Jefferson Parker Hyperion

2001 Best Novel The Bottoms Joe R. Lansdale Mysterious Press

2000 Best Novel Bones Jan Burke Simon & Schuster

1999 Best Novel Mr. White's Confession Robert Clark Picador USA

1998 Best Novel Cimarron Rose James Lee Burke Hyperion

1997 Best Novel The Chatham School Affair Thomas H. Cook Bantam

1996 Best Novel Come to Grief Dick Francis Putnam

1995 Best Novel The Red Scream Mary Willis Walker Doubleday

1994 Best Novel The Sculptress Minette Walters St. Martin's Press

1993 Best Novel Bootlegger's Daughter Margaret Maron Mysterious Press

1992 Best Novel A Dance at the Slaughterhouse Lawrence Block Wm. Morrow

1991 Best Novel New Orleans Mourning Julie Smith St. Martin's Press

1990 Best Novel Black Cherry Blues James Lee Burke Little, Brown

1989 Best Novel A Cold Red Sunrise Stuart M. Kaminsky Scribners

1988 Best Novel Old Bones Aaron Elkins Mysterious Press

1987 Best Novel A Dark-Adapted Eye Barbara Vine Bantam

1986 Best Novel The Suspect L.R. Wright Viking

1985 Best Novel Briar Patch Ross Thomas Simon & Schuster

1984 Best Novel La Brava Elmore Leonard Arbor House

1983 Best Novel Billingsgate Shoal Rick Boyer Houghton Mifflin

1982 Best Novel Peregrine William Bayer Congdon & Lattes

1981 Best Novel Whip Hand Dick Francis Harper & Row

1980 Best Novel The Rheingold Route Arthur Maling Harper & Row

1979 Best Novel The Eye of the Needle Ken Follett Arbor House

1978 Best Novel Catch Me: Kill Me William H. Hallahan Bobbs-Merrill

1977 Best Novel Promised Land Robert B. Parker Houghton Mifflin

1976 Best Novel Hopscotch Brian Garfield M. Evans

1975 Best Novel Peter's Pence Jon Cleary Wm. Morrow

1974 Best Novel Dance Hall of the Dead Tony Hillerman Harper & Row

1973 Best Novel The Lingala Code Warren Kiefer Random House

1972 Best Novel The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth Viking

1971 Best Novel The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo Pantheon

1970 Best Novel Forfeit Dick Francis Harper & Row

1969 Best Novel A Case of Need Jeffery Hudson World

1968 Best Novel God Save the Mark Donald E. Westlake Random House

1967 Best Novel The King of the Rainy Country Nicolas Freeling Harper & Row

1966 Best Novel The Quiller Memorandum Adam Hall Simon & Schuster

1965 Best Novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John le Carre Coward-McCann

1964 Best Novel The Light of Day Eric Ambler Knopf

1963 Best Novel Death and the Joyful Woman Ellis Peters Doubleday

1962 Best Novel Gideon's Fire J.J. Marric Harper

1961 Best Novel The Progress of a Crime Julian Symons Harper

1960 Best Novel The Hours Before Dawn Celia Fremlin Lippincott

1959 Best Novel The Eighth Circle Stanley Ellin Random House

1958 Best Novel Room to Swing Ed Lacy Harper

1957 Best Novel A Dram of Poison Charlotte Armstrong Coward-McCann

1956 Best Novel Beast in View Margaret Millar Random House

1955 Best Novel The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler Houghton Mifflin

1954 Best Novel Beat Not the Bones Charlotte Jay Harper