Edgar Winners

The winners of the Edgar Awards were announced last night in New York City. I guess the biggest news was that Louise Penny DIDN'T win. The Agatha Awards will be announced tomorrow night. Penny is up for that one too so we will see if she succeeds there.

The Edgar Winner for Best Novel was:
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. Set in a small town in Minnesota in 1961 and told from the point of view of a 13 year old boy recounted 40 years later, this is actually a story of what tragedy does to the boy, his family and the small town. There are many deaths that summer - accidents, suicides and murder. Reviewers have been very vocal in their praise of Krueger's strong time and place in this title comparing it to works like A River Runs Through It and Montana 1948.

The Edgar Winner for Best First Novel was:
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews. This surprises me a little as I really liked both Reconstructing Amelia. Red Sparrow though has been described as a really good spy thriller in the same vein as an early Le Carre. A Russian intelligence officer, Dominika Egorova becomes a trained seductress in the service. She is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a first tour CIA officer. Their love affair and twisted spy game comes to a deadly conclusion.

The Edgar Winner for Best Paperback Original was:
Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood. Stephen King described it this way "Bel and Jade are the 11-year-old girls, do dubbed by the British press when they're convicted of murdering a 4-year-old left in their care. Finally paroled, they're told they must never see each other again. Years later, with new lives, they come together in a run-down seaside amusement park where a killer is running wild. The suspense keeps the pages flying, but what sets this one apart is the palpable sense of onrushing doom." There is no way I could describe this title any better.

All three are available in the library. Enjoy. I'll be back with the Agatha winner early next week.