Your reading queue may already be waist-high now (I know mine is) with all the Best Ofs and award winners that have been rolling in, but who can resist the siren songs of this year's Edgar hopefuls? I mean, really. From Benjamin Black's Christine Falls to debut favorite (and favorite of ours) In the Woods and Michael Chabon's genre-bending The Yiddish Policeman's Union--not to mention the host of delectable discoveries (Who is Conrad Hirst, indeed?)--it's been a great year for mysteries. I'm eager to see who'll be taking an Edgar home in May. Cue the drum roll:



Best Novel:

· Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

· Priest by Ken Bruen

· The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

· Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman

· Down River by John Hart

Best First Novel by an American Author:

· Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell

· In the Woods by Tana French

· Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard

· Head Games by Craig McDonald

· Pyres by Derek Nikitas

Best Paperback Original:

· Queenpin by Megan Abbott

· Blood of Paradise by David Corbett

· Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks

· Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill

· Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall

Best Fact Crime:

· The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert

· Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi

· Chasing Justice by Kerry Max Cook

· Relentless Pursuit by Kevin Flynn

· Sacco & Vanzetti by Bruce Watson

Best Critical/Biographical Work:

· The Triumph of the Thriller by Patrick Anderson

· A Counter-History of Crime Fiction by Maurizio Ascari

· Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou

· Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley

· Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O'Connell

Best Young Adult:

· Rat Life by Tedd Arnold

· Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney

· Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin

· Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin

· Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston

Best Juvenile:

· The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

· Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman

· Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

· The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh

· Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen

Grand Master Award:

· Bill Pronzini

Speaking of Edgar, it happens that Poe would have celebrated his 199th birthday this past Saturday. (I wonder if the nominee announcement just the day before was intended to coincide? Do tell MW of A!) In any case, we all know Poe's life was regrettably short: imagine how many more spooky stories he might have penned had drink and tragedy not gotten the best of him? What I'd like to imagine just as much is what he'd think of his heir-apparents writing today. I suspect he'd enjoy the grisly detail to be found in books like Heartsick or get sucked into the dark underbelly of Charlie Huston's world, but what about that frightful element of surprise--that unknowable dark turn into something sinister and evil--that makes his stories so wonderfully creepy? It's a primal sort of macabre you find in Poe that I think must be hard to recreate in the here and now, where (we think) we have the tools to unravel any mystery. Of contemporary authors, who do you think gets close to hitting that eerie note? Stephen King is my best guess, though it's hard to say. But I'm all worked up now for a good scare. --Anne

i-cop Article From : www.omnivoracious.com