…And Edgar Week Begins!

Barely 18 hours after returning home from Los Angeles, it’s time to get into the thick of things for Edgar Week. As usual, there’s lots going on, starting tonight at 6 PM with the Mystery Writers of America’s party to launch its latest anthology, THE PROSECUTION RESTS, at Mysterious Bookshop.

Tomorrow the annual symposium kicks off bright and early, ending with the Agents & Editors party at 5 PM. After that it’s Partners & Crime’s 15th anniversary party at 7:30 PM. That gets us into Thursday and, of course, the big show, starting with cocktails at 6 PM or thereabouts. I’ll be at the banquet as the official chronicler of the award winners using the handy Twitter hashtag of #edgars09, so follow along at home or chime in if you’re attending the banquet as well.

And once the week is done, my plans call for being comatose, though many others will be off to Malice Domestic for the weekend. It’s a crazy whirlwhind, but so it is every year – and always worth it.

UPDATE: Dan Wagner makes his predictions for the big night.

UPDATE 2: No EQMM/AHMM party this year, reports AHMM editor Linda Landrigan. “Like many other publishers, we’ve been holding back on parties and travel expenses during these hard times to be prudent.”

UPDATE 3: Xavier Lechard’s six-part series on the Edgar Best Novel winners over the years is a must-read (via) and the Missoulian profiles co-Grandmaster James Lee Burke.