"Secretly Selected" [VALL]

by Scott Monty January 25, 2011

Earlier this week, the Mystery Writers of America announced their nominations for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards (commonly referred to as "The Edgars"). While not quite a banner year for nominations as 2007 (there were seven Sherlock Holmes-related nominees), we're very happy to see Sherlock Holmes For Dummies by Steven Doyle, BSI ("The 'Western Morning News'") in the Critical/Biographical category.

The press announcement began thusly:

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 65th Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

Below are a few categories of nominees. If you'd like to see the full list, please click here.

BEST NOVEL

• 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)

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)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

• Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Random House - Bantam)
• The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)
• Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur Books)
• Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
• Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME

• Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity
• by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press – Bison Original)
• The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard (HarperCollins)
• Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
• Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides (Random House - Doubleday)
• The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr (Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

• The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)
• Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
• Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder (Wiley)
• Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendevouz with American History by Yunte Huang (W.W. Norton)
• Thrillers: 100 Must Reads edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE

• Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
• The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)
• The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)
• Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)
• The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

• The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
• 7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
• The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus, Giroux Books for Young Readers)
• Dust City by Robert Paul Weston (Penguin Young Readers Group - Razorbill)

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