I was a wonder-blogger as we led up to the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards banquet. This year, I read, reviewed, and ranked in three categories. My calls:
- Best Novel – Canary by Duane Swierzynski
- Best First Novel – Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
- Best Paperback Original – The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
And then I totally flaked out once the winners were announced. And I haven’t reviewed a dang thing since then. Life! Go figure.
But for those who were anxiously awaiting, the alignment this year was less than perfect: MWA and I agreed on just one out of three.
- Best Novel went to Lori Roy’s fabulous Let Me Die in His Footsteps, which I ranked third.
- Best First Novel went to The Sympathizer, by Viet Than Nguyen, which I ranked #2.
- And it was “winner winner chicken dinner” because the actual judges gave the totally deserving Lou Berney the Edgar for The Long and Faraway Gone.
Berney’s book was the one that really resonated with me out of all the nominees this year. I ended up buying it several times, because I gave the darn thing as a gift to friends and relatives out of sheer enthusiasm. My dad loved it but argued with the ending. Here’s where you can get all the info on this year‘s nominees and winners.
I’ve been reviewing Edgar nominees since 2010. That year was stellar: I had 100% agreement, as both Literary Lunchbox and the MWA gave John Hart’s The Last Child and Stefanie Pintoff’s In the Shadow of Gotham awards. In 2011, I sank to the depths at 0% (but I still think my calls were better). In 2012, it was 50%. MWA and Lunchbox agreed on Mo Hayder’s Gone, but I gave All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen the edge over Lori Roy’s winner, Bent Road. 2013 was tough, at another 0%… but I think everyone expected Gone Girl to triumph over Dennis Lehane’s Live by Night. And Chris Pavone’s debut, The Ex-Pats, was awfully good. In 2014, it was another 50% and I defer to MWA, Red Sparrow deserved its win, but we agreed with William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace. And last year I totally called it with Tom Bouman’s Dry Bones in the Valley as the best debut, although I figured Mo Hayder for a second win with Wolf, and Stephen King took the Edgar home for Mr. Mercedes.
At any rate, before I returned to the world of reading and reviewing, I felt that closure was necessary, Edgars-wise. Thanks for reading.
The third finalist for the MWA Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original is Gilly MacMillan’s 
Literary Lunchbox Edgar Ranking: Best Paperback Original
This year, I’m adding a new category to my 
’s 
Next up: Dodgers
Here’s the set-up: There’s a gang in LA. No surprise, they sell drugs and commit other crimes. In fact, Fin, the head of their gang is likely to go to jail, but there’s a witness (a former judge) hiding out in Wisconsin that needs killing.
Four boys – ages 13 to 20 – are tasked with taking that road trip: 15-year-old East, his younger half-brother Ty, Walter, and Michael. East spends most of his time “standing yard” in the Boxes, watching for trouble, refusing entry to some potential drug purchasers while letting others in, always on the lookout for cops. It’s thought he’s related to Fin. His younger brother Ty has a different dad, and he’s tough, maybe crazy, and already a killer. Walter’s supposed to be the smart one, a hulking six-footer. And then there’s Michael, a college boy, who can talk white, knows the landscape, and can help them fit in where four black guys – even wearing Dodger t-shirts, caps and sweatshirt and driving a mini-van – will stand out.
They head out with strict instructions: keep your head down, wear your Dodger wear, no guns, no drugs, no credit cards, and the oldest – Michael – drive the car and holds most of the cash. They are to head eastward, follow specific instructions to obtain a gun, kill the judge, and then come home. Of course, it almost immediately begins to fall apart, and 2,000 miles later, they’ve thrown Michael out of the car, the judge is dead, East shot his own brother, Walter’s taking a plane home, and East is stranded in the midwest. He hunkers down, making a life for himself as the jack of all trades at an Ohio paintball range, where the proprietor and his wife take him on in a quasi-familial relationship. The sad part of this: paintball proprietor Perry is dying. A call home to Walter reveals that Fin’s in jail, and everything East has known is changed. He decides he’s never coming home.
Of course, he does. I won’t reveal the plot twist that brings him back, but I didn’t foresee it. He has to head home. Because, of course, the boys’ journey to kill the judge was much like Dorothy and her friends’ mission to kill the wicked witch of the West: just an assignment to keep them all busy. Fin’s goal was to simply keep East safe. It was a dodge – which Merriam defines as “a cunning trick or ploy to avoid something unpleasant.” The boys may have been the Dodgers, but Fin pulled the strings.
Beverly is a fine writer, with a particular strength in description of people and places. You almost smell the sweat of the boys in the hot car and see the wonder of the icy beauty of the midwestern landscape. His description of the people, even minor characters, makes them real. It’s worth the time to savor his writing. It’s an unusual and haunting story, particularly given the ending, which I won’t give away here!
It’s tough to compare Dodgers to Under the Harrow. They are very different books. Under the Harrow is a personal story, emotional, raw in its feelings. Dodgers comes across much more “literary,” cooler in feel. I enjoyed them both – but for the character detail, the complex plot, and let’s face it, the play on words that is the title, I’m giving the top spot to Bill Beverly’s Dodgers.
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Posted in Commentary, Edgar, Review
Tagged Bill Beverly, Dodgers, MWA Edgar, Under the Harrow