The Edgar Awards

And the winners are...
Fresh from last night's MWA Edgars awards...

Best Novel Down River by John Hart
Best First Novel In the Woods by Tana French
Best Paperback Original Queenpin by Megan Abbott
Best Fact Crime Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Best Critical/Biographical Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Dan Stashower, Jon Lellenberg and Charles Foley
Best Short Story The Golden Gopher by Susan Straight
Best Juvenile The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh
Best Young Adult Rat Life by Tedd Arnold
Best Play Panic by Joseph Goodrich
Best Television episode Pilot for Burn Notice
Best Motion Picture Screenplay Michael Clayton
Grand Master Bill Pronzini
Robert L. Fish Memorial Award The Catch by Mark Ammons
Raven Awards Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Kate's Mystery Books

Congrats to all the winners and nominees.
...I know, you're all really dying to know what I wore, right? I went with the Givenchy tuxedo, an off-white silk shirt, and pointy ankle strap shoes with a little bit of fishnet toe cleavage. I thought I looked pretty good. Then I got there and felt like a total frump! We're talking major taffeta, bows, wraps, and a killer short white dress covered with passementerie (on a blond, of course.)

Ruth McCarty looked spectacular in a black two piece outfit with a long skirt that she called "wearable art'..and it was. I want it.
Maybe next year I'll be more adventurous..
Rosemary

Rosemary

The Edgars

Tuxedo or slinky dress? Stilettos or conservative pumps? Red nails or just buff? What's a woman to do? Tonight I'll be attending the annual Edgars banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York. Last year was my first time and it was a pretty glam event. Stephen King and I didn't hang out but we were in the same room and that's a start.

I was thrilled to be seated in between Parnell Hall and Rhys Bowen and I hope I get just as lucky
tonight.

I haven't read all of the nominated books but I am pulling for one nominee in particular...a certain bald guy..wait a minute, a lot of those guys are bald. Well, it would probably be impolitic to say who it is...let's just say it's the biker dude.

Pix and winners tomorrow!

Agatha Award Winner Hank Phillippi Ryan!

Congratulations!!!
Three cheers for JRW's own Hank who was awarded the coveted Malice Domestic teapot this weekend for Best First Mystery. Hurray!!!

RO: This week is the equivalent of Oscars week in the mystery community. We couldn't be more thrilled for our own Hank who faced tough competition from Deanna Raybourn, Beth Groundwater, and Charles Finch but snagged the Agatha for Prime Time!

Malice Domestic has just wrapped up, Mary Alice Gorman's Festival of Mystery is tonight and by the time my driving buddy, Liz Zelvin, and I roll into New York it will be time for the Edgars.
Malice will always hold a special place in my heart because it was my first mystery convention and they say you never forget your first. Typical New Yorker, I went to breakfast on Friday with my Ipod and a newspaper - which I never read or listened to because of the chatty Pari Noskin Taichert who was sitting next to me and must have thought I looked lonely so she decided to introduce me to Patsy from Remember the Alibi and a few other folks who stopped by to say hello and then moved on. If you haven't been, Malice is that kind of show - lots of friendly people, fun panels, and yes, there's the bar. No men in g-strings or chaps like the Romance show (uh, at least I didn't see any...Hank?) but maybe we can talk to the organizers about that for next year!

HALLIE: Today I'm at the wonderful Mystery Lovers Bookshop's 13th! (a lucky number in the mystery world) annual Festival of Mystery. It's one of my all time favorite events ever, and Mary Alice Gorman and Richard Goldman are THE BEST FRIENDS of the mystery writing community.
My first mystery event was the big enchilada, Bouchercon in Denver back in...could it be 2001? I took a van to the hotel from the airport and shared it with two delightful librarians from Wisconsin. I still remember the huge red rolling suitcases they had--they told me it was filled with books they were going to get signed. I knew then that I'd died and gone to heaven.

ROBERTA: I am JUST back from Malice. I think my first appearance there was in 2000, before I was published. It's so much more fun now--full of meeting with old friends, making new ones, and Sisters in Crime business. We were so thrilled to see Hank accept her teapot for best first mystery!!! A perfect conclusion...

Ro: Jan...we MISSED you, Hallie, see you later and Hank....way to go!