Edgars, the Aftermath (updated with pictures!)

This post will be updated throughout the evening and Friday as well, starting with my thoughts and incorporating others as I get them.

So first, the Glamour Awards:

CALIFORNIA GIRL was a very good book. Was it my favorite of 2004? No, because I thought it had structural issues, but it was acclaimed by many and Jeff Parker is certainly a wonderful writer. That said, I’m a bit surprised he took this category a mere 3 years after winning for SILENT JOE because of the close proximity, and also since all the other nominees would have been first-time winners in the Best Novel category. That said, maybe there’s a feeling that with Spencer-Fleming and Mooney (both nominated for their 3rd novels) they have more time, and Lippman will win for a later standalone. But that’s speculation, ain’t it.

Best First was always a bit of a strange category with its skewing towards more literary endeavors. So will Don Lee’s COUNTRY OF ORIGIN be the most head-scratching winner since Robert Clark’s MR. WHITE’S CONFESSION (a book I happened to adore, btw)? Time will tell, but I do wonder if Lee — who edits the esteemed literary journal Ploughshares — ever expected he’d be feted by the Mystery Writers of America. Somehow I suspect not.

PBO? What can I say except it’s well deserved to a writer who should get all attention possible. Yay for Mr. Stansberry. This was probably the most “shoo-in” category anyway. Even if anyone else tells me otherwise.

Short Story was an interesting but extremely worthy choice — I certainly have no problems whatsoever with Laurie Lynn Drummond winning, since I still think of all of the stories in her debut collection, stories about cops that make many a police procedural seem silly and contrived by comparison. If her novel’s anywhere near as good, holy mackerel.

Anyone really surprised that Leslie Klinger took Crit/Biographical? Exactly.

In the “Professor and Mary Ann” section, I’ve heard great things about CHASING VERMEER so I’m not surprised to see it win…Best teleplay — what, like L&O: CI wasn’t going to take it somehow with the deck so stacked?…I thought Max Allan Collins had a good shot at Best Play but Neal Bell’s had good buzz too…and since A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is an amazing, amazing novel, I’m not totally surprised it would have translated decently to screenplay. Very cool.

I would not have been able to post in a timely fashion without the fabulous help of Crime Spree photo editor Mary Reagan (whose photos can be found here.) At 10:45 PM, after many missed connections (damn dying cell phones) we finally spoke, she surrounded by various folk including Eddie Muller, C.J. Carpenter, Reed Farrel Coleman and Robert L. Fish winner Thomas Morrissey. The overall impression of this year’s Edgars was of total, utter briskness. The ceremony was finished by 9:45, which has to be some sort of record. The MC kept things moving, and Grandmaster Marcia Muller, who “could have gone on and on,” instead chose not to. Muller did, however, tell the crowd that when she got the news on a Friday night, she was quite skeptical — to say the least.

Then I asked the most important question of all: who was the Best Dressed? There wasn’t a clear consensus but names tossed out as worthy candidates included Laura Lippman, Lisa Scottoline and Ms. Carpenter (who may be the most photogenic regular in the mystery world. When she’s not hailed as the “female John Sandford,” that is.)

More consensus: that the funniest speaker, far and away, was Lisa Scottoline.

UPDATE, 10 AM Friday: Mary does it again, providing all the pictures you can handle from last night’s ceremony. Captions will follow in the interim.

G. Miki Hayden finishes her dispatches for Today in Literature with her own take on the ceremony, who was there and what they said.

UPDATE, 6 PM Friday: Liam Callanan, one of the Best First novel nominees, reports on the good stuff over at The Happy Booker.