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Health & Fitness

This Book Takes the Prize: The Edgar Award Edition

      Movies have the Oscars, Broadway, the Tonys, but mysteries have the Edgars!!
      The Edgars is short for the Edgar Allen Poe Award (who better to supply the name of a mystery award?). The awards have been in existence since 1946. The first work to win an Edgar was Watchful at Night by Julius Faust. The awards are given out by the Mystery Writers of America. The awards’ scope has greatly expanded and now Edgars are given out for over twelve different categories. The categories include the following:
1. Best Novel
2. Best First Novel (for first time writers)
3. Best Paperback Original
4. Best Fact Crime
5. Best Critical/Biographical
6. Best Short Story
7. Best Juvenile
8. Best Young Adult
9. TV Episode Teleplay
10. Robert L. Fish Memorial Award- This award is sponsored by the estate of the late crime writer and is given to a new and outstanding writer of  a short story mystery.
11. Mary Higgins Clark Award (given to a work that adheres to the Mary Higgins Clark style of mystery writing. The work in question must feature an intrepid, hardworking, intelligent woman who has good family ties and is not looking for trouble, but it finds her anyway.
12. Ellery Queen Award- this award is given to multiple authors who are working on the same text or to publishers who strongly support the mystery genre.

        Given the size and scope of the award, judging is a complex process. The entire proceedings are overseen by a General Awards Chair, and then each category is given a judging panel of 4 judges plus one chairperson. All judges are drawn from the Mystery Writers of America membership. The only exception to the rule is the panel for the “Best Novel” which has eight judges to handle the increased workload. Judges are encouraged to compile “top ten” lists and communicate with one another throughout the judging process. The nominees are announced in January on or around Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday (January 19). The awards are then announced at a banquet celebration in May.
      2013 saw a diverse group of nominees and winners. Here are the winners for each category. Check them out today!
Best Novel
 Live by Night by Dennis Lehane http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4533936~S50

Best First Novel
The Expats by Chris Pavone http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4424141~S50

Best Paperback Original
The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4540100~S50

Best Fact Crime
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4491161~S50

Best Critical/Biographical
The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics by James O’Brien http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4593994~S84

Best Short Story
The Unremarkable Heart” found in the Mystery Writers of America Present: Vengeance by Karin Slaughter http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4477168~S84

Best Juvenile
The Quick Fix by Jack D. Ferraiolo http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4600867~S84

Young Adult
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4521342~S50

TV Episode Teleplay
“A Scandal in Belgravia” from the hit BBC series Sherlock. Teleplay written by Steven Moffat
http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4535460~S50

Robert L. Fish Memorial
When They Are Done With Us” by Patricia Smith from Staten Island Noir http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4576700~S50

Mary Higgins Clark
The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan http://alpha2.suffolk.lib.ny.us/record=b4533622~S50

Ellery Queen
Akashic Books http://www.akashicbooks.com/

     Should you feel inclined to indulge in some summertime sleuthing, please know the Reference Librarians are always there to assist with solutions to your inquiries.

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