‘Twas the day of the Edgars

And so, over the course of the rest of the day, I’ll update with pictures, reports, thoughts and by the end of the evening, the winners.

First up, the pictorial view, ably provided by Mary Reagan as she attended the Black Orchid party Tuesday night.

G. Miki Hayden continues her reports for Today in Literature as she details the MWA’s 60th Anniversary bash.

Meanwhile, USA Today’s Carol Memmott gives a good overview of what will be awarded tonight, speaking to former MWA President Michael Connelly about what the term “Edgar winner” may or may not mean to a writer’s career.

Another perspective is offered up by Laurie King, who’s been blogging all about her time in the city and at the Edgar Week festivities.

For those who may not go home with a trophy, legal thriller writer Joel Goldman — nominated for best PBO last year — offers some perspective:

Here’s two quick stories from last year you might enjoy.  At

the Agents/Editors party on Wednesday night, I saw a woman staring at my name

tag so I introduced myself.  She replied that my name was very

familiar.  With all due modesty, I told her that I was a nominee.

When she asked in what category, I told her best paperback original.

With a gasp, she said that she was a judge in that category and asked me

the name of my book.  Feeling fortune slipping away, I told her it was THE

LAST WITNESS.  When she asked me what it was about, I stopped worrying

about my acceptance speech.  When she finally remembered my book and

assured me it was a worthy nominee, I understood fully what it meant to tie for

second place.

The next night, I received my certificate for having been

nominated and gave it to my wife to carry while I carted off a box of my unclaimed

books from the book table.  We took a cab from the Grand Hyatt uptown to

our hotel on /st1:address/st1:street/st1:address/st1:street/st1:address/st1:street54^th St. When we turned out the light in our hotel room, I asked my wife where she

had left the certificate (which was in a cardboard tube with my name on it) and

she answered “in the cab”.  I could scarcely console her with

the promise that MWA would replace it, which they did.  Three weeks later,

I received an email from a fellow writer who had been at the dinner.  Her

sister, she wrote, lived on the lower east side and was out that night, in the

rain, with a friend who found my cardboard tube lying in a street in her

neighborhood.  The friend picked up the tube, removed the certificate and

showed it to the sister who immediately recognized its value and gave it to her

sister the writer who tracked me down and returned it.  Sometimes, tying

for second is not so bad.

More updates continue in the posts above this one.