Skip to main content

Barry Nominations 2009

The Hungry Detective's wife celebrated her Birthday over the weekend. WooHoo! My unfailing dedication to her meant that I missed posting the Barry nominations in a timely manner. Given the delay I had though I would forgo posting, but I changed my mind once I decided that I had a few things to say about them.

Best Novel:
• Trigger City - Sean Chercover
• The Draining Lake - Arnaldur Indridason
• Envy the Night - Michael Koryta
• Red Knife - William Kent Krueger
• The Cruelest Month - Louise Penny
• The Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow

The usual suspects as of late. Chercover, Krueger, Penny. The other three I know get a lot of love. As the lone woman in the group Louise Penny can rely on precedent. Last year's winner, Laura Lippman, was also the lone female. I know who I would like to see win, but I also have an idea of who might win.

Best First Novel:
• The Kind One - Tom Epperson
• Stalking Susan - Julie Kramer
• City of the Sun - David Levien
• Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith
• A Carrion Death - Michael Stanley
• Sweeping Up Glass - Carolyn D. Wall

Mr. Epperson also received a Best First Novel nom in this year's Edgar race. The Smith novel was widely applauded. The co-authored A CARRION DEATH has been on a slow simmer in the way that it both is and is not a surprise for showing up here on the list.

Best British Novel:
• A Simple Act of Violence - R.J. Ellory
• Ritual - Mo Hayder
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
• Shatter - Michael Robotham
• Bleeding Heart Square - Andrew Taylor
• Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker

On the Mystery News website this award is qualified with 'Published in the U.K. in 2008, not necessarily written by a British writer nor set in the U.K.' That's like me saying my favorite US cities are San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Toronto. That is not to say THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is not a worthy book, just that this is a bit of a head scratcher.

Best Paperback Original:
• The First Quarry - Max Allan Collins
• Money Shot - Christa Faust
• State of the Onion - Julie Hyzy
• The Black Path - Åsa Larsson
• Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski
• Echoes from the Dead - Johan Theorin

Totally awesome that Mr. Swierczynski picked up this nomination. This is by far his best book. Here is hoping that he can tear himself away from the comics to write another one soon.

Best Thriller:
• Collision - Jeff Abbott
• The Deceived - Brett Battles
• The Survivor - Tom Cain
• Finder - Colin Harrison
• Night of Thunder - Stephen Hunter
• Good People - Marcus Sakey

Not sure if the Thriller category is a new one, but as someone who has read a lot of thrillers lately it is great to see these books and these authors recognized. My general concern here is that sub-genres of sub-genres can become ghettoized to the extent that they become excluded from the non-qualified Best Novel award.

Best Short Story:
• “The Drought,” by James O. Born (from The Blue Religion, edited by Michael Connelly; Little, Brown)
• “The Fallen,” by Jan Burke (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], August 2008)
• “A Trace of a Trace,” by Brendan DuBois (from At the Scene of the Crime, edited by Dana Stabenow; Running Press)
• “A Killing in Midtown,” by G. Miki Hayden (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2008)
• “Proof of Love,” by Mick Herron (EQMM, September/October 2008)
• “The Problem of the Secret Patient,” by Edward D. Hoch (EQMM, May 2008)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Very Best of Mr. Dennis Lehane

I thought this post would appear in October. Ya, know when SHUTTER ISLAND: THE MOVIE was supposed to be released. And then it wasn't. Something about Leo not being able to do 'press' for the movie. Doesn't really matter the reason, a February release date has one of those fancy Hollywood meanings: Not Good. Look I'll be honest, I didn't connect with SHUTTER ISLAND. I loved the fifties setting, the haunted house atmosphere, and impending doom of the Hurricane. Even the set-up of the story was intriguing but how it played out just didn't work for me. Some interesting characters, a bunch of great set pieces, but the ending announces itself with an expected, thud that went nowhere. Am I still going to the movie? Its Lehane, Scorsese, Leo, and Ruffalo of course I am. Anyway the list. 8. Prayers for Rain - 1999 The last Kenzie-Gennaro book follows our heroes as they investigate a guy who is terrorizing women into committing suicide. The book played like an episo
4 comments
Read more

Small Mercies - The Return of Dennis Lehane

 A time honored tradition at The Hungry Detective HQ is to perform the twice annual, and largely ceremonial, 'Dennis Lehane New book 20XX" Google search. Nothing comes up on his long abandoned Website, except notification of the script work for his television and film projects.  Grousing aside, 2022 was a big year for Mr. Lehane. BLACK BIRD, a show he created, played on Apple+ to solid acclaim. The show's star, Paul Walter Hauser, won a Golden Globe. But despite that I have yet to watch it. Not for any other reason than I am a movie person more than a TV person. The TV I do watch is watched in an arcane order that is difficult to decipher and even more baffling to explain. Short story, I need to watch ANDOR [Editor's Note: Slow going on ANDOR despite everyone telling me it is amazing.] And then BLACK BIRD, or maybe SLOW HORSES. I'll get there...  Anyway at the dead end of 2022, I did the search. Found out he wrote a book. SMALL MERCIES . I was excited to hear it. I
Post a Comment
Read more

A Fogotten Post: A Remembrance

[Editor's Note: Started this missive, never came back to it. Still relevant, I suppose.] I am reading MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev Marsh. This was... technically still is... on my to buy pile. In the before time... the overwhelming to be read pile time... I would have bought this and thrown it on the shelf to read in the near or more likely distant future. I hope I like it enough to buy the second in the series. Buying a book is fun, buying a book that is good is better. [Editor's Note: Abandoned this book, unfinished.] BLACKTOP WASTELAND - S.A. COSBY So glad I didn't buy this last summer. Good decision to put off buying and reading what would have certainly been one of the best books of the year. New goal for the remaining 2021 calendar. Don't be dumb. Buy Mr. Cosby's follow up and read day one! [Editor's Note: I did buy a signed copy of RAZORBLADE  TEARS, meanwhile B.W. won every award, except the Edgar where it wasn't even nominated!? Also Signed firsts of
Post a Comment
Read more