The 'Edgars' Mystery Writer Awards

I love a good 'who-dunnit' novel,  and I have a particular admiration for authors who can create a complex story line with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing right until the end.  Of course,  there is more to it than that; you also have to create characters that the reader can care about, and the overall writing has to keep them captive as they turn the pages.  As with writing for any genre, there is a fine line to balance between playing by the 'rules' (a mystery novel by definition has to have unanswered questions and a tense air of confusion) and avoiding cliche's (will anyone ever write another mystery novel where the butler did it?)

I have to admit though, that I have been so busy writing that I am behind on my reading,  but the short list for the Edgar Awards 'Best First Novel by an American Author' is a great place for me to start.

Named after Edgar Allen Poe, arguably one of the best mystery writers of all time, the Edgar Awards are an industry specific awards by the Mystery Writers of America,  and covers are awarded to writers of novels, screenplays and plays for their outstanding work in the genre.

There is a great section on the Writer Mag website giving brief interviews with the five first time novelists who are the finalists for the BFNAA award.

Tom Epperson is nominated for 'The Kind One', a story about a bad-guy-turned-good during the bad old days of the depression in LA who falls for his enemy's girlfriend.  Theplot line brings to mind LA Confidential, A History of Violence, and Romeo and Juliet.  Thoroughly intriguing. Tom's advice to new writers?  "Read great books. Read poetry. Live life. Make notes. Travel. Fall in love. Get your heart broken. Mend your heart."  Good advice, and there is more of it in his interview.

David Fuller 's book, 'Sweetsmoke', is also set in the past,  this time in the Civil War South,  and deals with some pretty powerful themes such as racism, slavery and hate, as well as the power of literacy and knowledge.  Notsurprisingly ,  as a white man Fuller admits that the hardest part of writing the novel was "to write from the point of view of a black man and a slave."  His interview reveals the integrity and dedication of the research that he invested in the story, which is always a good lesson for any writer.

Francie Lin's novel, 'The Foreigner',  steps away from an American background to serve up a mystery set in the Far East.  Weaving themes of family and crime, the novel centres around the life of Emerson Chang as he tries to save his younger brother from a life in the underworld in Taiwan.  I love to go travelling in my mind when I read, so this one will probably top my list of ones to read.

Visit The Writer Mag to read these interviews, and those of the other two finalists, Charlie Newton (nominated for his book 'Calumet City') and Justin Peacock ('A Cure for the Night')

Winners will be announced on April 30th.