Death Becomes Them at the 2008 Edgar Awards  

by Jordan Foster -- Publishers Weekly, 5/1/2008 3:32:00 PM

The 62^nd Annual Edgar Awards held in New York last night saluted several of the genre’s stalwarts as well as recognizing an emerging group of talented newcomers. Outgoing Mystery Writers of America president Nelson DeMille passed the torch to the incoming president, Edgar winner Harlan Coben, who opened the evening by praising the wisdom of another of multiple award-winner, Lawrence Block. The original motto of the MWA, said Coben, was “crime doesn’t pay…enough,” but added a tidbit he learned from Block early on his career: “nobody has to fail so that I can succeed.”

John Hart took home the Edgar for Best Novel for his sophomore effort, Down River, the story of a man wrongly convicted of murder. Presenter Lee Child quipped that the envelope was difficult to open then hinted it might just be a plot device on his part. “I’m a suspense writer,” Child said, “what do you expect?” The Edgar for Best First Novel By An American Author went to Tana French for In the Woods, whose debut featured a detective in Dublin’s Murder Squad struggling with a childhood trauma. Other winners included Megan Abbott’s Queenpin for Best Paperback Original; Vincent Bugliosi’s Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy for Best Fact Crime; Susan Straight’s “The Golden Gopher,” part of Los Angeles Noir, for Best Short Story; Katherine Marsh’s The Night Tourist for Best Juvenile; Tedd Arnold’s Rat Life for Best Young Adult; Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton for Best Motion Picture Screenplay; and Matt Nix’s pilot episode of Burn Notice for Best Television Episode Teleplay.

With Raven Awards going to the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book in Washington, D.C. and to Kate Mattes, owner of Kate’s Mystery Books in Boston, the evening also paid tribute to the newest MWA Grand Master, Bill Prozini. In a Star Wars-inspired film introduction, the titles of the prolific Prozini scrolled upwards in familiar yellow script. In his introduction for Pronzini, Lawrence Block amended Coben’s earlier quote by adding that while no one has to fail for him to succeed, “it’s so much more gratifying when they do.”

Pronzini, known for his long-running Nameless Detective series, thanked his wife, former Grand Master Marcia Muller, and entertained the crowd with his favorite worst lines in crime fiction. A sampling appears below.

“I let the edges of my eyes siphon up her loveliness.”

“In an ice-blue evening gown that made a low bridge criss-cross right above where the meat on chicken is the whitest.”

“From the moment he crushed Cora’s skull, he knew it was going to be a rotten Monday.”

 “The next day dawned bright and clear on my empty stomach.”

“A shy man, he had learned to do without women until Poppy Ames unleashed his libido and put it right up front where everybody could see it.”

(and the audience favorite)

“I looked at her breasts outlined against the fabric of her blouse, nipples like split infinitives.”