Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

The nominees for the Edgar awards have been announced:

http://www.mysterywriters.org/files/2...

The only nominee I have read is The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano which made my best of 2009 list.

I've read Starvation Lake: A Mystery by Bryan Gruley and on the Mary Higgins Clark award list I've read Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement. Gruley's book made my Top 10 list.

Last Child by John Hart made my top 10 last year, as did 2 his two previous novels King of Lies and Down River. He is a fantastic amazing writer!! I have Weight of Silence on my TBR, but I shall be moving that up!

Read this interesting story:
Last Updated: January 19. 2010 9:22AM
Nevermore? Mystery visitor misses Poe's birthday
Joseph White / Associated Press
Baltimore -- Is this tradition "nevermore"?

A mysterious visitor who each year leaves roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on the writer's birthday failed to show early Tuesday, breaking with a ritual that began more than 60 years ago.

"I'm confused, befuddled," said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum. "I don't know what's going on."


The tradition dates back to at least 1949, according to newspaper accounts from the era, Jerome said. Since then, an unidentified person has come every year on Jan. 19 to leave three roses and a half-bottle of cognac at Poe's grave in a church cemetery in downtown Baltimore.

The event has become a pilgrimage for die-hard Poe fans, some of whom travel hundreds of miles. About three dozen stood huddled in blankets during the overnight cold Tuesday, peering through the churchyard's iron gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the figure known only as the "Poe toaster."

At 5:30 a.m., Jerome emerged from inside the church, where he and a select group of Poe enthusiasts keep watch over the graveyard, and announced to the crowd that the visitor never arrived. He allowed an Associated Press reporter inside the gates to view both of Poe's grave sites, the original one and a newer site where the body was moved in 1875. There was no sign of roses or cognac at either tombstone.

"I'm very disappointed, to the point where I want to cry," said Cynthia Pelayo, 29, who had stood riveted to her prime viewing spot at the gate for about six hours. "I flew in from Chicago to see him. I'm just really sad. I hope that he's OK."

Pelayo and Poe fans from as far away as Texas and Massachusetts had passed the overnight hours reading aloud from Poe's works, including the poem "The Raven," with its haunting repetition of the word "nevermore." Soon they were speculating, along with Jerome, about what might have caused the visitor not to appear.

"You've got so many possibilities," said Jerome, who has attended the ritual every year since 1977. "The guy had the flu, accident, too many people."

Tuesday marked the 201st anniversary of Poe's birth, and Jerome speculated that perhaps the visitor considered last year's bicentennial an appropriate stopping point.

"People will be asking me, 'Why do you think he stopped?' " Jerome said. "Or did he stop? We don't know if he stopped. He just didn't come this year."

Jerome said he will continue the vigil for at least the next two or three years in case the visits resume.

"So for me it's not over with," he said.

Lorraine:
How intriguing and what a mystery. I have read of these yearly visits to Poe's grave before and wonder what happened this time. If a trust had been set up in 1949 to continue the tradition, the theory that is wasn't open ended but perhaps it had been set to run through the two hundred year anniversary is a possibility. If it was an individual, then all kinds of speculation kick in. Thanks for sharing this!

Brakedrum wrote: "Read this interesting story:
Last Updated: January 19. 2010 9:22AM
Nevermore? Mystery visitor misses Poe's birthday
Joseph White / Associated Press
Baltimore -- Is this tradition "nevermore"? ..."

Thanks for the Edgar Nominee list link Sandi!!
Looks like I have some reading to do to catch up with these books, I have missed all of them though hope to get to The Last Child and the Charlie Huston book soon.

Sandi wrote: "The nominees for the Edgar awards have been announced:
http://www.mysterywriters.org/files/2...
The only nominee I have read is The Girl She Used to Be by..."