2009 Edgar Award Nominees

Are you a mystery reader? A mystery writer? My friend Kay and I once thought writing mysteries would be a lot of fun. Then I realized how difficult plotting is, and what's a mystery without a plot, right?

But I still love a good mystery, and the Edgar Awards nominations list is an excellent reading guide. The Edgars are given each year in lots of categories, but, truthfully, I never paid attention to anything other than the books. Now I notice screenplays are on the list! (Yay for THE CLOSER!)

And this book about writing detective fiction, by another all-time fav of mine, P.D. James.



Click here to find all the kids' Edgar nominations. (Thank you to the Kids Lit blog from the Menasha Wisconsin Public Library for that link.)

Click here for the complete list, which includes one of my favorite reviewed books of the year: THE LAST CHILD. If the others in that category hold a candle to John Hart's page-turning and beautifully-written mystery set in North Carolina, I'm in for some good reading.

My To Be Read List is getting very long...

Related posts: First in Line for Last Child

Why Read?

Why Read?

Over at the group blog, made up of some very impressive Southern writers, today was my turn up. Our Blog Head (now that doesn't sound very literary- I'm sure there's a better term: blog administrator?) Karin suggested a theme for the month. June's theme is "What Writers Influenced You?" Meaning, what books do you love to read for writing inspiration. Or at least that's how I took the question.

Truthfully, my list would have been way too long for one blog entry. I could have included food writer Julia Reed for her Southern essays. Or John T. Edge when he writes about donuts or barbeque-- like this article in today's NYTimes. I'd have to say Nancy Drew because that's about all I read when I was a newly independent reader. But I just read an article about how many Supreme Court Justices loved Nancy Drew and I'm not sure she's a legitimate literary influence. Had I followed that path, I could have been a lawyer, or at least a sleuth. Well, I do love detective fiction: P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Lee Child, James Lee Burke. Maybe I should be writing mysteries, instead of just reviewing them.

See, I could go on and on with the books I'd love to emulate. But I didn't because I don't think anybody would have read it, tucked into that A Good Blog is Hard to Find list of fabulous blogger writers. So I limited my influences to the kids' book writers I love to read while thinking about writing fiction. Even so, I left out a bunch.

Leave me a comment- here or there: What books or writers influence your writing today? Or, hey, if you're thinking of the Supreme Court, or any other noble profession that was influenced by your reading, what did you read when you were a child?