Edgars nominees announced!

The Mystery Writers of America (of which I am a proud member!) has announced the nominees for the 2011 Edgar awards.   I am excited to say that I have not read many of these nominees.  Excited because that means I have many weeks of happy reading ahead of me.

Last year at this time I undertook to read all the nominees for Best Novel and Best First Novel by an American author, review them and rank them as I went along.  It was super-fun.  Plus, I called it.  Picking the winners was extremely satisfying.  Click here for my post when the winners were announced – my top-ranked books received the awards at the Edgars ceremony in New York city!

Up for consideration for best novel are:

• Caught by Harlan Coben (Penguin Group USA – Dutton)
• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
• Faithful Place by Tana French (Penguin Group USA – Viking)
• The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
• The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)
• I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

And for best first novel by an American author:

• Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Tom Doherty Associates – Forge Books)
• The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
• The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)
• Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
• Snow Angels by James Thompson (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

In other MWA news, I’m proud to see that Augie Aleksy’s Centuries & Sleuths bookstore in Forest Park is receiving a Raven award and Chicago’s Sara Paretsky is the grand master.  It’s a good year for Chicago!   I’d love to go to NY for the Edgars Symposium and awards banquet.