Okay, okay. It’s the cliche of award-ceremony cliches. However, it is also true. I lost out to Jason Goodwin’s The Janissary Tree for Best Novel Edgar, but in another way I won. How? I’ll tell you: According to Jason’s publisher, who accepted the prize for him, they didn’t flip the bill for his trip from England for the ceremony, so he didn’t come. They just didn’t expect a win. I, on the other hand, lost, but my peeps at St Martin’s Minotaur paid to ship me all the way from Budapest to the City that Never Sleeps. So, my congratulations and condolences to Mr. Goodwin.



It’s late here, so that’s all I’m writing for the moment. (Yes, I saw Stephen King, but decided to not break through the ring of admirers to meet him; Steve Hockensmith and his lovely wife were great fun; Sarah Weinman was right in the thick of it as usual; met Joseph Finder and talked with him about the Serbian language and other interesting anomalies; etc.) But for those interested, here are the winners, and a hearty congrats to Naomi in particular, who I finally met in the flesh and found utterly charming.



BEST NOVEL



The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)



BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR



The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson (Random House)



BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL



Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam Dell Publishing – Delta Books)



BEST FACT CRIME



Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

(HarperCollins & William Morrow)



BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL



The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear

by E.J. Wagner (John Wiley & Sons)



BEST SHORT STORY



“The Home Front” – Death Do Us Part by Charles Ardai

(Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)



BEST JUVENILE



Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)



BEST YOUNG ADULT



Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready (Penguin YR – Dutton Children’s Books)



BEST PLAY



Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure by Steven Dietz (Arizona Theatre Company)



BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY



Life on Mars – Episode 1, Teleplay by Matthew Graham (BBC America)



BEST TELEVISION FEATURE/MINI-SERIES TELEPLAY



The Wire, Season 4, Teleplays by Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, Eric Overmyer, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon & William F. Zorzi (Home Box Office)



BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY



The Departed, Screenplay by William Monahan (Warner Bros. Pictures)

(Originally posted at the Contemporary Nomad)