Play Book Tag discussion

Just to give everyone a heads up. The nominees are going to be announced 1/19/22.

http://theedgars.com/

Last year when we did it, we found some great reads and had a lot of fun reporting them.
This is how we broke the reading down:
February - Free choice
March - Best First Novel
April - Best Novel

Let us know if this works for you and if you are interested this year.
I will post the nominees here when they are announced.

*fist pump!* WOOT!

Sign me up! I loved doing this last year.

The set up works for me.

Theresa wrote: "*fist pump!* WOOT!

Sign me up! I loved doing this last year.

The set up works for me."

It was great fun last year and some great reading. I am hoping for some new discoveries this year as well.

I can't wait to see who the nominees are this year. I really enjoyed doing this last year.

I'm also looking forward to these awards again. I quite enjoyed all the ones I read last year.

I am in. I really enjoyed this last year.

Count me in, please!

Sounds like fun.

Sounds great!!!

I'm in.

It was so much fun last year and reminded me again of why I love mysteries.

I hope to find some good ones again this year.

I'm in. This was so much fun last year. I can't wait to see this years nominees.

Here are the nominees:
https://mysterywriters.org/mwa-announ...

BEST NOVEL

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (Macmillan Publishers – Flatiron Books)
Five Decembers by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)
How Lucky by Will Leitch (HarperCollins – Harper)
No One Will Miss Herr by Kat Rosenfield (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Deer Season by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian (Harlequin Trade Publishing – Park Row)
Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins (Penguin Random House – Riverhead Books)
The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer (Penguin Random House – Viking Books/Pamela Dorman Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
The Lighthouse Witchess by C.J. Cooke (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory (Tom Doherty Associates – Tordotcom)
Starr Sign: The Candace Starr Series by C.S. O’Cinneide (Dundurn Press)
Bobby March Will Live Foreverr by Alan Parks (Europa Editions – World Noir)
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History by Margalit Fox (Random House Publishing Group – Random House)
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (Celadon Books)
Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away by Ann Hagedorn (Simon & Schuster)
Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justiceby Ellen McGarrahan (Penguin Random House – Random House)
The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade by Benjamin T. Smith (W.W. Norton & Company)
When Evil Lived in Laurel: The "White Knights" and the Murder of Vernon Dahmerby Curtis Wilkie (W.W. Norton & Company

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper360)
The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene by Richard Greene (W.W. Norton & Company)
Tony Hillerman: A Life by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma Press)
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White (W.W. Norton & Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Blindsided,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Michael Bracken & James A. Hearn (Dell Magazines)
“The Vermeer Conspiracy,” Midnight Hour by V.M. Burns (Crooked Lane Books)
“Lucky Thirteen,” Midnight Hour by Tracy Clark (Crooked Lane Books)
“The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)
“The Locked Room Library,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Gigi Pandian (Dell Magazines)
“The Dark Oblivion,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Cornell Woolrich (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)
Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)
The Dead Man in the Garden by Marthe Jocelyn (Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books)
Kidnap on the California Cometby M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends)
Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Ace of Spades(Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends)
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Henry Holt and Company BFYR)
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris (HarperCollins – Quill Tree Books)
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)
The Girls I've Beenby Tess Sharpe (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Dog Day Morning” – The Brokenwood Mysteries, Written by Tim Balme (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” – The Beast Must Die, Written by Gaby Chiappe (AMC+)
“The Men Are Wretched Things” – The North Water Written by Andrew Haigh (AMC+)
“Happy Families” – Midsomer Murders, Written by Nicholas Hicks-Beach (Acorn TV)
“Boots on the Ground” – Narcos: Mexico, Written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Analogue,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Rob Osler (Dell Magazines)

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennetby Katherine Cowley (Tule Publishing – Tule Mystery)
Ruby Red Herring by Tracy Gardner (Crooked Lane Books)
Clark and Divisionby Naomi Hirahara (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (Crooked Lane Books)
Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)

* * * * * *

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Double Take: A Madison Kelly Mystery by Elizabeth Breck (Crooked Lane Books)
Runner by Tracy Clark (Kensington Books)
Shadow Hill by Thomas Kies (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
Family Businessby S.J. Rozan (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)

Lots to explore here and a few already in my TBR like The Venice Sketchbook. Now will be making up a list to read!

I've already been making a list too. I just added nearly all the Mary Higgins Clark nominees to my tbr list so I'm sure I'll read at least one of those in February. Right now Suburban Dicks looks like it will be my choice for best first novel. The Venice Sketchbook and No One Will Miss Her sound interesting from the best novel list. Of course all of this is subject to change as everyone starts reviewing books :-).

Thanks for adding the list and linking the books!!

I recommend Razorblade Tears. It does get a bit violent but I enjoyed the story and couldn't put it down until I finished.

The Venice Sketchbook is available on Kindle Unlimited if you have it. It's my pick for Rhys Bowen for PBT Favorite authors as well. Will be my first from the author.

I will play a little. I saw three books I would be more than happy to read and one of them was the Venice sketchbook. Obvious buddy read for that month. But I also saw the light house which is which has recently entranced me. Could also go with the firekeepers daughter if that month works. Glad I looked at this thread more closely.

I have on my TBR Razorblade Tears and Firekeeper's Daughter. I enjoyed The Missing American last year so will use this as an opportunity to continue the series.

I'm still puzzling what to choose for Best New Author.

I'm interested in When Evil Lived in Laurel: The "White Knights" and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer for nonfiction

I love the noir cover of Five Decembers and had Razorback Tears on my 2022 priority list. I'll read Venice Sketchbook since it's on the the PBT favorite authors. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the mostly unfamiliar books and authors that are nominated.

Jen K wrote: "Thanks for adding the list and linking the books!!

I recommend Razorblade Tears. It does get a bit violent but I enjoyed the story and couldn't put it down until I finished.

[boo..."

I really want to read Razorblade Tears but Blacktop Wasteland is on my physical tbr.

I was happy to see that I already own at least one book in most categories.

I have Razorblade Tears on my kindle for best novel and my daughter's new kindle paperwhite came with 3 months of Kindle Unlimited so The Venice Sketchbook is on hand as well.

I own Never Saw Me Coming from the first novel list and Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York from the Fact Crime category.

I own two of the young adult nominees: The Forest of Stolen Girls and The Girls I've Been and one of the juvenile nominees: Cold-Blooded Myrtle.

Not my usual genre, but I happen to have The Confidence Men on my shelf. I just added The Venice Sketchbook, I have enjoyed a few of her books recently and I added Two Truths and a Lie because it grabbed my attention.

When do you start reading? Will there be a new thread or is the thread we will use for discussion and reviews?

Booknblues wrote: "I have on my TBR Razorblade Tears and Firekeeper's Daughter. I enjoyed The Missing American last year so will use this as an opportunity to continue ..."

The second Emma Djan book was good though I felt that it needed more Emma and less of the victim and suspects. It definitely hits some tough subjects to wary of.

Also I'm disappointed that I haven't read more of the Best Fact Crime section and am also interested in reading some of these next month too including When Evil Lived in Laurel: The "White Knights" and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer.

Meli wrote: "Jen K wrote: "Thanks for adding the list and linking the books!!

I recommend Razorblade Tears. It does get a bit violent but I enjoyed the story and couldn't put it down until I fi..."

I would like to read Blacktop Wasteland too.

Joanne wrote: "Not my usual genre, but I happen to have The Confidence Men on my shelf. I just added The Venice Sketchbook, I have enjoyed a few of her books recently and I added [..."

I think you could start immediately and report on this thread. We have set it up this way last year and it worked for us:

February - Free choice
March - Best First Novel
April - Best Novel

We ended up with a pretty good overview last year and quite a few of the nominees read. While I don't think that any made it to my top 10, they would definitely have made it to the top 20.

Thanks BnB- I just put a hold on The Confidence Men and should be able to ge my hands on it next week, if anyone else is interested in reading it with me as A Free Choice

Joanne wrote: "Thanks BnB- I just put a hold on The Confidence Men and should be able to ge my hands on it next week, if anyone else is interested in reading it with me as A Free Choice"

It sounds like a good one so I'll be interested in your take on it.

Generally everyone just picked what they wanted to read and after reading, reported on it. If more than one of us read it, we would get into a discussion about it -- that happened quite a bit. There were no formal buddy reads but pretty much everyone overlapped reading with someone.

As reviews popped up we all started adding more to our reading lists! Generally, many discussions ensued. it's all pretty informal. As BooknBubbles broke out, we used February for everyone to read whatever they wanted in categories other than Best First Novel and Best Novel, as we saved that reading for March and April respectively. I of course ran behind and was reading a few books even after the awards were announced. My eyes were bigger than my reading stomach so to speak - I had an impossibly long list of ones I identified to read last year, in light of what else I was reading (specifically A Brief History of Seven Killings - a chunkster).

No reason not start now on the categories other than Best First and Best Novel. I think we had a later start last year.

Now time to indulge and see what I want to read from the list - besides The Venice Sketchbook which I already own. Those Mary Higgins Clark nominees are calling me.

I finally went through and looked at nominees carefully. I already own 2 of them. A nominee will be a perfect read at some point for Feminerdy. Another is from my favorite crime fiction publisher Soho Crime. I like the looks of all the Mary Higgins Clark nominees. Maybe best of all, several of the main award nominees fit prompts for Popsugar 2022 Challenge.

I did notice this year a swerve again towards darker themes involving social justice or psychological suspense, which give us more gothic and horror options.

My tentative reading list (lots of shiny new things - my reading could spread out to several months):

February - Free choice

Memorial Sue Grafton
Sleep Well, My Lady - own
Family Business - NYC real estate and murder? Sign me up!

Mary Higgins Clark
Chapter and Curse
Ruby Red Herring
The Sign of Death
Clark and Division - Soho Crime
The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet


Biography/Critical
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science
Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World

Non-Fiction/True
The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History

Best Paperback Originals
The Album of Dr. Moreau - possible March Feminerdy**
Starr Sign: The Candace Starr Series
The Shape of Darkness

March - Best First Novel
Suburban Dicks

April - Best Novel
Five Decembers
How Lucky
The Venice Sketchbook - own

**Have to comment on how unusual this is - basically a SciFi written by a fantasy award winning author, nominated for an Edgar. Wouldn't it be cool if it were also to be nominated for a Hugo?

Wow! I just went to the actual website list to copy link for friends on FB, and saw that Soho Crime editor and author Juliet Grames is getting a special award! Juliet edits Cara Black and Sujata Massey, and other favorite crime fiction authors for Soho Crime. She also published a well received mystery inspired by her family history - The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna. I have met and talked with her at many author signings and Soho Crime events. This is well earned recognition and I am so pleased for her!

Jen K wrote: "I would like to read Blacktop Wasteland too."

I will let you know when I read it.
I have you down for at least 2 buddy reads for this year! :P

Meli wrote: "Jen K wrote: "I would like to read Blacktop Wasteland too."

I will let you know when I read it.
I have you down for at least 2 buddy reads for this year! :P"

Awesome!

I'm really looking forward to this reading group. My plan is to read the following:

Feb. - The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
Mar. - Never Saw Me Coming
Apr. - Either Five Decembers or How Lucky or both!

Tentatively thinking:

Feb. - Ace of Spades
Mar. - Suburban Dicks
Apr. - The Venice Sketchbook

Also tempted by some of the non-fiction.

My first Edgar nominee read - I needed something cozy and light and fun: Ruby Red Herring by Tracy Gardner - nominated for a Mary Higgins Clark Award.
I give it 3 stars - not great but not terrible and definitely had its moments. The title is irresistable, and I now know a whole lot about how to distinguis a real Burmese ruby from a spinel (fake). You never know when that info could be useful in your day to day life.

My review: Avery Ayers and her family's esteemed appraisal firm has been hired by a museum to authenticate a rare large ruby that is believed to be the missing ruby eye of an antique chinese dragon medallion in the museum's possession. It's the first significant project herself will be working on since taking over the firm after her parents' deaths a year earlier in a car accident. Also, her parents had authenticated the dragon medallion a year earlier, including the single ruby eye still in its setting. yet no sooner does Avery and her partner Micah start work on the ruby than mysterious notes and calls are delivered to Avery, followed by break-ins and escalating violence. Even the circumstances surrounding her parents deaths and their authentication of the ruby eye in the dragon medallion come into question.

I have a fondness for mysteries set in the world of art, antiques, vintage collectibles and the faking of same, probably stemming from my teen years spent accompanying my mother to estate sales and auctions. There were a lot of those in rural upstate NY in the mid-1970s as newly adopted state laws regulating the sale of milk drove many an aging farmer into retirement and 'selling the farm', literally. However, while this was enjoyable, and I probably will read the next in the series when it's published, something just didn't sit right with me throughout. It might have been the fact that the author never missed a chance to describe what was being worn down to the designer logo. Something about Avery herself didn't sit well with me; maybe she was too young in years for the role she was cast in, maybe her constant need to moderate her emotions and talk to her shrink irritated me. Whatever, I rounded it up to 3 stars because there is one super marvelous heroic greyhound named Halston (oh yeah, author is definitely hung up on designers) in the story.

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White - 4 stars

Part biography, part film reviews, part analysis of the man, his work and legacy, this is an interesting book that breaks Hitchcock down into twelve personality aspects linked to his films by chapter such as “The Murderer”, “The Voyeur”, “The Womanizer”, “The Auteur”, etc.

Lots of tidbits and keen observations peppered throughout such as, 1.) the death of his father coinciding with the zenith of Germany’s attacks on England during WWI and the 1918 influenza pandemic sweeping across Europe soon thereafter all of which seemed to shape his childhood, 2.) that had he not gotten into movies, he claims he would have been a criminal lawyer, 3.) that he was a worrier, incredibly vain, hugely insecure and constantly needing and getting reassurance from his wife, 4.) that both Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway refused to work with him, 5.) he was Universal’s third largest shareholder at one point, 6.) he didn’t like Paul Newman because he didn’t wear a tie and drank beer (not wine) at one of his famed post shoot dinners, 7.) that Cézanne was his favorite artist.

Certainly, a true original and yet, like many brilliant, creative icons, very much a creepy weirdo. That aside (if you can separate the man from his work), his movies and his influence remain both indelibly etched in our modern culture and presciently relevant more than 50 years after his death.

The book was a fun read and I like the various film interpretations the best.

Nominee for Best Original Paperback:

The Album of Dr. Moreau - Daryl Gregory

4 stars

This was a fun locked door mystery story that featured a boy band comprised of animal/human hybrids. I really liked the two police officers investigating the case and enjoyed trying to figure out who did it along with them. The story involved a little suspension of disbelief as to how the hybrids came to be (but the story's inspiration - The Island of Dr. Moreau had a similar issue) but I did not mind. I appreciated the boy band humor and the references to some pop culture and mystery novels. The ending was satisfying and the format of the book was clever. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Nominee for THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet - Katherine Cowley

4 stars

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Like my reading last year for the Edgars, I am delighted that I am finding something which I will want to continue reading the series. This was additionally fun because it was a throwback to our Regency tag last year.

One additional note that the setting for this book is super cool. It is a real life "castle" in which the front and back do not match. It can be seen here, be sure to check out the Gallery-

https://www.castlegoring.com/index.html

Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney - 3 stars

Nominated for a Mary Higgens Clark - My Review

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara
nominee for Mary Higgins Clark Award
3 stars
my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Nominee for Mary Higgins Clark award

Chapter and Curse-Elizabeth Penny 3stars

Molly Kimball and her mother decide to leave their home in the U.S. to help Nina's Aunt Violet run the family bookshop in Cambridge. The shop has been in the family for generations but it's having financial problems. During a poetry reading at the bookshop Nina finds the dead body of one of her great-aunts friends. The setting in Cambridge is one of the best parts of the book. It's not a place I've ever really wanted to visit but the author makes it sound so beautiful that I'd like to go there. I liked the main characters, the two store cats and the beginnings of a romance for Molly. The mystery itself was very easy to solve. The author also spends too much time explaining what the American counterpart is for English terms. I think most people know them already. This is the first book in a new series. I will read a second book when it comes out and hopefully the mystery in it will be a bit more complex.

Mary Higgins Clark Award
The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton


3 stars rounded up

It's January 1891, Victoria reigns, and we are in Bath. In this second in a series dubbed a Victoria Book Club Mysteries, 2 of the members find themselves once again embroiled in a murder. This time, it's William not Amy. William is suspected and actually arrested for murdering this man of business, about whom he'd just started to have suspicians. Naturally the police are intent on proving William guilty and thus leave the sleuthing and bringing the real murderer to justice. Rather farcical as a mystery, this was fun, and Amy herself, who writes very popular murder mysteries under a male pseudonym, is actually entertaining. However, this author is better known for her historical romances and it really shows both in the strong romance very strong sweet romance plot, but also in crafting the murder mystery. The clues just sort of happen, or are announced, including how accidentally William figures out who is the real murderer and why in the last couple of chapters.

I knocked off a bit for the misleading title -- there is no 'sign', the plot bears zero similarity to The Sign of the Four which the Mystery Book Club is reading and discussing at their weekly meeting in the beginning of the book, and the book is not even dedicated to Sherlock Holmes or Arthur Conan Doyle, but to Agatha Christie! I rounded this up from 2.5 to 3 stars in part because there are so many wondeful Victorian era mysteries mentioned as being under discussion with the Mystery Book Club, and because Amy herself is very amusing.

I have at this point read 3 of the Edgar Nominees for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. All 3 have been less than exciting.

I do still have lined up to read in my TBR in the next couple of weeks - The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet and at some point before the awards in April Clark and Division. I hope one of those is worthy of the prize. So far the 3 I have read are not -- entertaining and a light bit of reading only.

Theresa wrote: "I have at this point read 3 of the Edgar Nominees for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. All 3 have been less than exciting.

I do still have lined up to read in my TBR in the next couple of weeks - [b..."

Thanks for doing the leg work on this, Theresa. I'm hoping you like The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet and Clark and Division sounds really interesting, it is not on my TBR, yet.

I'm struggling with Miss Mary Bennet. She is very annoying. But, I haven't yet figured out who committed the murder, so I slog on.

It's a change. The last two mysteries that I read had likable characters with far too obvious mysteries.

Jgrace wrote: "I'm struggling with Miss Mary Bennet. She is very annoying. But, I haven't yet figured out who committed the murder, so I slog on.

It's a change. The last two mysteries that I read had likable ch..."

Isn't Mary supposed to be the annoying unlikeable one?

I will read it soon. I have been sticking an Edgar read in around my more serious reads and the long readalongs.

Jgrace wrote: "I'm struggling with Miss Mary Bennet. She is very annoying. But, I haven't yet figured out who committed the murder, so I slog on.

It's a change. The last two mysteries that I read had likable ch..."

She is annoying, but I think that is part of the point. I'm sorry you aren't liking it as much as I did.

Jen K wrote: "Meli wrote: "Jen K wrote: "Thanks for adding the list and linking the books!!

I recommend Razorblade Tears. It does get a bit violent but I enjoyed the story and couldn't put it do..."

Absolutely - both are wonderful. Action packed. Violence but with a purpose. peace, janz'

Finished Firekeeper's Daughter

Nominated for best YA Mystery

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Never Saw Me Coming (Best First Novel) - 3 stars

The story about a group of college students (unknown to each other) participating in a clinical study...for psychopaths that find themselves being killed off.

This is NOT my usual type of book and I don't think I would have read it had I not been participating in this subgroup.

It was actually pretty good but at times disturbing and comical and farfetched and...well you get the point.

All that said, I was in the mood for something that I could read for fun to get me back on track after a couple of weeks of feeling like my reading momentum had stalled and this did the trick. Read it in two days and enjoyed it. Not for everyone.