9/2/2005 Sara Paretsky catches the eye

September 2, 2005.  On this day Sara Paretsky won the Eye Award, given by the Private Eye Writers of America for lifetime achievement.  Most of her twenty-something books star private investigator V.I. Warshawski.  She is one of the top authors to come out of the wave of female P.I. writers in the 1980s.  The MWA named her a Grand Master in 2011.

8/26/2004 Cleary gets Kelly

August 26, 2004.  On this day the Crime Writers Association of Australia gave the Ned Kelly Award for best mystery novel to Degrees of Separation.  It was the 20th and last novel Jon Cleary write about police inspector Scabie Malone. 

7/10/2008 A dagger from Blood from Stone

July 10, 2008.  On this date the Crime Writers Association gave Frances Fyfield the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award (Best Crime Novel)  for  Blood From Stone.

A highly successful barrister wins another case and then kills herself.  Peter Friel investigates, leading to the revelation of terrible secrets...

"The kind of compelling, hypnotic read that can only come from the pen of a writer at the top of her game."  - Daily Record.

6/5/2008 Inspector Endersby meets Arthur Ellis

June 5, 2008.  On this date the Crime Writers of Canada gave the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Mystery Novel to John Redfern for Trumpets Sound No More.  The book, set in London in the 1840s, featured Inspector Owen Endersby, on the trail of the killer of a theatre manager.

5/10/2006 Elmore Leonard grasps a Diamond Dagger

May 10, 2006  On this date the Crime Writers Association gave their lifetime acheivement award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger, to Elmore Leonard.  CWA is British, Leonard was American.  Nice to see trans-Atlantic cooperation.

Leonard made a rare trip across the pond to accept the award.  He said: "This is great news, by far the best kind of achievement award, to be recognised by fellow writers for the one thing I have ever wanted to do in my life, tell stories, what I’ve been doing for the past 55 years.”

4/29/ 1999. Mr. Clark and Mr White score an Edgar

April 29, 1999.  On this date the Mystery Writers of America gave out the Edgar Awards.  The prize for best  novel of the year went to Robert Clark for Mr. White's Confession.  It's Saint Paul in 1939.  Some women are murdered and the prime suspect is a modest little man, who seems as decent as can be.  But his memory is so bad he doesn't know whether he did the deeds or not...

Kirkus Reviews called it "the most tender account of a sex-killing investigation you’ll ever read.”

4/27/1994 Grand Masterhood for Lawrence Block

April 27, 1994.  The Edgars Banquet was held on this day and the Mystery Writers of America granted Grand Master status to Lawrence Block for his contribututions to the private eye novel (with Matt Scudder), comic crime (Bernie Rhodenbarr), comic spy (Evan Tanner) and much more.

That autumn I was chairing a panel on short stories at Bouchercon in Seattle and, a month before, when I had settled everything with the panelists about what we would do and when, the bosses asked if we could squeeze in one more panelist who was interested in the panel.  Fella named Larry Block.

Not being a complete idiot I said, I said, hell yes.  He was terrific and the panel drew a huge crowd.  And the highlight of my writing career is walking from the green room to the conference room with Edward D. Hoch leading the way and Lawrence Block marching behind me.

4/25/1996 Come to Grief comes to Edgar

May 25, 1996.  On this date the Mystery Writers of America gave the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the year to Come to Grief.  It was Dick Francis' third win and he remains the only person to score a hat trick in that category.  While Francis didn't write many novels about the same character, this was the third book about Sid Halley, a former jockey who turned private eye after losing an arm in a racing injury.  (The second book in the series, Whip Hand, was also an Edgar winner).

3/21/2014 The Girl Next Door wins a prize

March 21, 2014.  In this date Brad Parks' novel The Girl Next Door won the Lefty Award, which is given out each year at Left Coast Crime for the best comic crime novel of the year.

The book was part of his series about Carter Ross,a newspaper reporter in Newark, NJ. The Girl Next Door involved union negotiations and Booklist called it a masterpiece.

11/8/2005 Indridason takes a Dagger

November 8, 2005.  On this date Arnaldur Indridason won the Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger for the Best Mystery Novel of the year.  Silence of the Grave was his second book about Inspector Erlendur. When a skeleton is found in a construction site in Reykjavik, Erlendur has to figure out who the corpse is and whether he/she is a victim or something else...

10/22/2009 William Brodrick grabs a dagger.

October 22, 2009.  William Brodrick won the CWA Gold Dagger Award on this day for his novel A Whispered Name.  It is a historical novel set in Passchendaele in 1917.

10/11/1986 Grafton nabs the first Anthony Award

October 11, 1986.  The Anthony Awards are voted on by the attendees at each year's Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention.  In effect they are modeled on the Hugo Awards, since science fiction fandom got organized a long time before our field di. 

The first Anthonys (Anthonies?)  were distributed on this date at the Bcon in Baltimore, Maryland.  Sue Grafton took home the Best Mystery Novel for B Is For Burglar, the second Kinsey Milhone book.  It also scored the Shamus Award for Best Private Eye Novel.

10/9/2004 Laura Lippman goes home with Anthony

October 9, 2004.  At the Bouchercon in  Toronto, Laura Lippman won the Anthony Award for Best Mystery Novel for Every Secret Thing.  We hope she has an extra-wide mantlepiece because she has also taken home the Edgar, the Shamus, and Agatha Awards.

7/28/2011 John Grisham wins Harper Lee

July 28, 2011.  On this date John Grisham's novel The Confession won the first Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction.  The prize is named, of course, in honor of the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.  Grisham's book is about the trial of a man accused of murdering a cheerleader.

4/10/1972 The French Connection connects with Oscar

April 10, 1972.  On this date The French Connection won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best adapted Script (Ernest Tidyman), and Best Director (William Friedkin).  The film was inspired by a true case involving New York City cops. It was the first R-rate movie to fetch home Best Picture.

Not surprisingly, MWA gave it the Edgar for Best Picture as well.

3/18/2006 Cast Adrift takes the Lefty

March 18, 2006.  Left Coast Crime is a conference that normally takes place west of the Mississippi but in 2006 it occured on the Left Coast of England, namely Bristol.  Go figure.

The winner of Lefty Award is chosen by conference participants every year for the best funny crime novel of the year.  And this time it went to Cast Adrift,  about a journalist who gets involved in the making of a pirate movie and finds real life pirates. 

One reviewer called it "Agatha Christie on laughing gas."

2/21/2004 Mumbo Gumbo takes the prize

February 21, 2004.  The Lefty Award is given out each year at Left Coast Crime for the best humorous mystery novel.  On this day, in Monterey, California, it went to Jerrilyn Farmer for Mumbo Gumbo.  Maddie the caterer gets roped into working for a quiz show when a food writer mysteriously  disappears...