Sherlock Holmes and 2018 Edgar Award Nominees

by Scott Monty January 20, 2018

"you remind me of Edgar" [STUD] 

It's that time of year when the Mystery Writers of America makes its annual announcement about the Nominees for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2017. This year marks the 209th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe.

The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at at a gala banquet on April 26, 2018 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Aside from the general interest in the mystery genre, our interest in the nominees steers toward...you guessed it — those who are affiliated in some way with Sherlock Holmes. This year, there are four publications in three categories. Let's investigate.

Best Short Story

“Chin Yong-Yun Stays at Home” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by S.J. Rozan. While this story isn't Sherlockian in nature, S.J. Rozan is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars and her investiture is "The Imperial Palace of Peking."

Best Fact Crime

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca. We just happened to see this at a local bookstore a couple of weeks ago, and were fascinated by the narrative biography of this New York socialite-turned-crimefighter.

Best Critical/Biographical

This is an interesting category as it contains two separate Sherlock Holmes-related books, and we can honestly say that each is supremely worthy of the award. And we've interviewed both authors for our show.

The first is Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes by Michael Sims. It's not just any old biography of Arthur Conan Doyle; it's a well-researched and an even better-told story than the others. And we spoke with Michael about it on Episode 117.




And the other is From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström. This is a true masterpiece that captures the essence of why it is that we do what we do here. We interviewed Mattias for Episode 127.




The entire lineup of Nominees is worthy of your time. But if you're going to put your money on a winner, we think any of the above three would be an excellent choice. Good luck to all of the authors!

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