Matthew Quirk Roars to the Lead in the Edgar Race
Ay, carumba. When I read Black Fridays, the Edgar nominee for Best First Novel (reviewed here), I had high hopes that this would be the worthy successor to John Grisham’s white-collar, bruised-knuckle...
View ArticleEdgars out, and I’m reading, reviewing, and ranking!
Too crazy busy with new job, new house, new name it to be timely with the Lunchbox blog, so you likely already know that (drum roll, please) THE EDGARS NOMINEE LIST IS OUT! This will be my fifth year...
View ArticleBest First Novel Nominee: Red Sparrow
What do you get when a 33-year CIA veteran with literary talent pens his debut novel? If you’re talking Jason Matthews, who led the Operations Directorate before his retirement, and the book Red...
View ArticleDry Bones in the Valley second entry in Edgar Race
About ten pages in, I realized that I had previously read Dry Bones in the Valley, Tom Bouman’s debut novel featuring Officer Henry Farrell of Wild Thyme, Pennsylvania. And I liked it. That made...
View ArticleCharming Murder at the Brightwell enters the competition
Deborah Crombie’s blurb on the cover of Ashley Weaver’s debut mystery, Murder at the Brightwell, says it all: “An elegant Christie-esque 1930s romp.” Quite a change from the college student/amateur...
View ArticleUnbecoming Final Finalist for Edgar
Rebecca Scherm’s Unbecoming, like fellow nominee The Sympathizer, features a protagonist with two faces. As Julie, she is a young American from California who works as a restorer of art and objets...
View ArticleEdgar starts NOW!
Every year, I read, review, and rank the MWA Edgar finalists in 2-3 categories, and overall, about half the time the Literary Lunchbox pick for the Edgar and the actual winner line up. Some years, I...
View ArticleNick Petrie’s Drifter – Reacher-esque?
“Lots of characters get compared to my own Jack Reacher, but Petrie’s Peter Ash is the real deal.” That’s the blurb from Lee Child on Nick Petrie’s debut mystery, The Drifter. I try not to go into a...
View ArticleDancing with the Tiger Edgar nominee
The fifth nominee for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel continues the trend I noted in my most recent review – that is, the trend toward diversity in the genre. Lili...
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