The Hungry Detective

This is a very strong list of nominees. Lots of big names and big books. I already have some thoughts I want to share, but I am in Wisconsin this week. I'm watching the Brewers game and enjoying time with my parents. Check back in a few days for ill advised commentary. --EDIT-- It has been more than a few days for those ill advised comments, so you maybe one of the select few to actually read them. Official announcement here . BEST NOVEL Trigger City by Sean Chercover - William Morrow The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly - Little, Brown and Company Red Knife by William Kent Krueger - Atria The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Knopf The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny - Minotaur I am real curious to see how this shakes out. Last year's winner was the deserving WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman. Not to diminish that win in any way, but the awards were given out in Baltimore. Again deserving, but decidedly lacking in excitement. Kreuger and Connelly are multi...

A new set of nominations means I can shake off my terrible showing at last week's Edgar Awards and make a whole new bunch of predictions that will probably not come to fruition. I am now slightly concerned that my picks my set in motion forces that cause these books not to win. What a heavy, heavy burden I carry. Anyway, I'm posting the nominees here although publicized elsewhere already. I'll make picks when we are closer to the I ndy B'Con where these awards will be announced. Good luck to all of the nominees. Best Mystery Novel Trigger City - Sean Chercover -- Wm. Morrow Where Memories Lie - Deborah Crombie -- Wm. Morrow The Dying Breed (UK)/ The Price of Blood (US) - Declan Hughes -- John Murray/ Wm. Morrow The Draining Lake - Arnaldur Indridason -- Minotaur Curse of the Spellmans - Lisa Lutz -- Simon & Schuster The Cruelest Month - Louise Penny -- Minotaur The Fault Tree - Louise Ure -- Minotaur Best First Mystery Finding Nouf - Zoe Ferraris -- Ho...

I've read the Spellman trilogy, by Liza Lutz, in just over four months. This is surprising given my relative dissatisfaction with the first book. The chief crime of THE SPELLMAN FILES was trying too hard. The Edgar ® nominated CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS was a pleasant surprise to me as a I felt the first 100 pages were more of the same. However, that book settled into an easy rhythm as the Ms. Lutz found a groove for her story and its multiple inhabitants. So where does this leave REVENGE OF THE SPELLMANS ? Third time is the charm I think. Probably not as enjoyable as CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS, but easily the book with the fewest problems. In REVENGE Ms. Lutz has finally focused her view to just one character, Isabel Spellman. Gone from the book are the tangents that led me away from Isabel and the 'main' story to highlight some ridiculous foible of any one of the dozen screwball characters Ms. Lutz was writing about. Here the writing feels more organic. REVENGE succeeds becaus...

Another Edgar Awards has come and gone. The Hungry Detective has done its usual bad job of prognostication . 4 out 12 is not good, but I did get Best Novel. WooHoo! As for the rest. Oh well. I am only listing the winners... and congratulations to them! A complete list of nominees and my picks can be found here . Special thanks to Ms. Weinman's Twitter account. Cheers! Best Nove l Blue Heaven - C.J. Box Best First Novel by an American Author The Foreigner - Francie Lin Best Paperback Original China Lake - Meg Gardiner Best Fact Crime American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century - Howard Blum Best Critical/Biographical Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories - Dr. Harry Lee Poe Best Short Story “Skinhead Central,” - T. Jefferson Parker (from The Blue Religion, edited by Michael Connelly) Best Juvenile The Postcard - Tony Abbott Best Young Adult Paper Towns - John Green Best Play The Ballad of Emmett Till - Ifa...

Here we are again, and I'll be honest since their announcement last January I have hardly looked over the list. Elaborate plans to read more of the nominated fell through very quickly. The relative obscurity of some of these titles made it difficult to track down books via the library. I am sure the books are all fine, written by gifted and talented writers. And I don't think anyone wants the Edgar's to turn into a popularity contest, but many of the noms in the 'Big Three' Fiction category are definite thinkers. They almost seem like a rejection of what was generally agreed as the best books of 2008. Still it awfully easy for me to 'Monday Morning Quarterback' the whole thing. So let me again wish all the nominees the grandest of congratulations and best of luck on the 30th of April. The Hungry Detective's picks are in RED . Best Nove l Missing - Karin Alvtegen Blue Heaven - C.J. Box Sins of the Assassin - Robert Ferrigno The Price of Blood - Declan Hu...

Book 3 in Mr. Ellroy's Underworld Trilogy is finally nearing publication. The great Chip Kidd has been Mr. Ellroy's designer for many books dating back to, I think, WHITE JAZZ, but I am unsure if that trend continues with this book. It certainly has the look of Mr. Kidd's work BLOOD'S A ROVER purportedly follows US Government shenanigans post RFK assassination into the early 1970's. As with the past novels in the trilogy Ellroy focuses his gaze on the unknown and unremembered bagmen of history. The tools of corruption fascinate Ellroy more so than the puppet masters. The book is in stores on September 22, 2009.

THE KING OF LIES was Edgar nominated for Best First Novel, and the follow up DOWN RIVER won the Best Novel Edgar last year. Mr. Hart's track record is impressive. THE KING OF LIES is at its core a family drama. The book opens with the discovery of the body of Ezra Pickens, the patriarch of a seriously maladjusted family. Left behind are a son and daughter who were abused by their father in equally dreadful ways. Each thinks the other is responsible for the murder. Work is the son, and it is with him that we discovery the tortured path of this family. It is here where one could use the over used phrase of Southern Gothic, but that would be cheat to imbue this book with kind of mysticism that doesn't suit the book. Family'a are just as screwed up North of the Mason-Dixon Line. Calling this Southern Gothic only serves to distance a reader from the palpable reality of THE KING OF LIES. The chief benefit of this tag is to be able to blurb William Faulkner's name, as if he is...