Thursday, May 1, 2008

French Kissing In The USA*

So there we were at 6.30am trying to make a funny out of the Edgars and THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE and the fact that Tana French’s (right) second name is, well, you follow our drift, when we realised that trying to make funnies before the first bucket of coffee goes down the hatch may well cause our collective spinal cords to leap up and strangle what’s left of our pitiful collective brains. So, instead, we’ll just give it to you straight – Sarah Weinman reports that Tana French’s debut novel IN THE WOODS has won the Edgar for Best First Novel By An American Author. Hoo-rah! Of course, the downside to Tana’s win means that we’ll have to disinclude her from the roster of Irish crime fiction writers, but that’s a small price to pay. Run wild, Tana, run free! Meanwhile, the winner of the Best Novel award was John Hart’s DOWN RIVER, and Megan Abbott scooped the Best Paperback Original with QUEENPIN. Bernd Kochanowski? We still love you, but you’re sacked. For all the Edgar details, jump on over here
* How long have we been waiting use that header? Way too long, that’s how long ...

5 comments:

  1. A well-deserved "Whoo Hoo" to Tana!!!

    OK Dec, we're now getting ready to cheer for your forthcoming win at Bristol.....

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  2. Sacked and burned.

    But life was beautiful.

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  3. Mick? You know you want to be in Bristol, baby ... Bernd? We take it all back. Please forgive us. If you'll rejoin the CAP Towers team, we'll give the the Minister for Propaganda Elf's office with the view of the Japanese gardens ... Cheers, Dec

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  4. Declan,

    in the basement I never saw the garden. Is it stone garden like in the writer's museum (don't know the name anymore) in Dublin ?

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  5. Kerrie? We wouldn't care if Tana claimed Tralfamodore as her place of birth ... she's more Irish than the Irish themselves, as the old saying goes. Especially now that she's won the Edgar. Cheers, Dec

    Oh, and Bernd? Sorry about that whole basement / dungeon thing. We thought you and HR Pufnstuf would be good for one another, that's all ... Cheers, Dec

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Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.