2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel - My Choice (UPDATED)

   The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view my review of each book. The Mystery Writers of America will announce the winner on April 28, 2022.  This blog post will reveal my personal favorite and the rational for my choice.

    I would like to say that this year's nominees presented a pleasant surprise for me.  I usually dislike at least one of the novels, and in some years, I have had a challenging time finishing one or more of them.  This year, I enjoyed all the books and found each of them to be very entertaining.  The quality of writing is outstanding in all five.  The locales were all interesting and different from the usual urban settings of most crime and mystery novels.  So, which one is my winner?

    I enjoyed reading Rhys Bowen's The Venice Sketchbook.  It had an interesting plot, and the descriptions of Venice were outstanding.  This book made me want to hop on a plane to Italy.  That said, I don't think this is really a "mystery" book.  Nobody is murdered.  No one goes missing.  There are old family secrets which are ferreted out, but I just couldn't really figure out why this was nominated for a best mystery novel.  

     Razorblade Tears was another well-plotted novel.  I enjoyed the setting in and around my new hometown of Richmond, Virginia.  The author combined a good story with an agenda to discuss LGBTQ issues and the combination generally succeeds.  I was a bit put off by the brutal violence sequences.  I suppose they were necessary to define the wickedness of the story's protagonists, but I was put off by it.

     Kat Rosenfeld's No One Will Miss Her had nifty plot twists and the story moved along at a brisk pace.  The rural setting in Maine was a plus.  I thought the characters were a bit stereotyped.  The rich girl versus poor girl struggle gets turned on its head and that makes this nominee a real contender for the Edgar Award.

     How Lucky contains totally unique and intriguing characters.  The backbone of the novel is a basic missing girl story, but the charming and one-of-a-kind narrator makes this nominee special.   What S.A. Cosby does for LGBTQ issues, Will Leitch does here for prejudices and pre-conceived notions regarding physically handicapped people.  In my opinion, the violent conclusion detracted from the story, but all the mysteries were resolved.  

     Five Decembers was my favorite of the five and if I had a vote, I would vote for this nominee to be the winner.  The settings in Honolulu, Manila, Singapore, and Tokyo were exciting.  The historical context of World War II added importance.  The characters were very sympathetic and extremely well developed. Again, I enjoyed all five of these nominees and won't argue with any of the other four if they are voted the 2022 Edgar Winner, but Five Decembers by James Kestrel was my clear favorite.  

May 2, 2022 - 

The Mystery Writers of America announced their winners and in the best novel category they concur with me!  Five Decembers by James Kestrel is the 2022 Edgar Award Winner in the Best Novel category!

     

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen

 

The Venice Sketchbook

Author: Rhys Bowen

Publisher: Amazon Publishing

Date of Publication: April 13, 2021

Pages: 412

      

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the fifth and final of my reviews for this list of books. Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews. Shortly I will publish a separate post with my pick for the Edgar Award. The Mystery Writers of America announce their choice later this month.

    This is a fine novel which I enjoyed very much. My only gripe here is that it does not seem to fit the typical "mystery novel" genre. Much of it reads like a romance, and other parts are more of a travelogue. Again, this is not knocking the book, I just wonder how it wound up being nominated for a best mystery award!

     The author deftly balances two plots. One is set from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, and the second is set in 2001 following the terror attacks of 9/11. In the early story, an 18-year-old young British woman named Juliet Browning accompanies her elderly aunt on a trip to Venice. There she meets and becomes enamored with an Italian man who is several years her senior and belongs to an elite family   She returns some years later with a school group, reconnects with her now married nobleman, and soon returns on a one-year art fellowship. War clouds are forming in Europe, and Juliet's life becomes complicated. In the more contemporary story, Caroline Grant, a recently separated fashion designer, inherits an assortment of odd items from her spinster great Aunt Juliet. Included in her inheritance is a set of keys and instructions to go to Venice. Caroline slowly untangles the true story of Juliet's life in Venice. Telling a story from two perspectives and from two different time periods often ends in a mess, but not here. The two stories are very complimentary, and the author moves back and forth between the two with great skill.

     The descriptions and settings in Venice are very vivid and make the reader want to hop on a plane and visit this great city as soon as possible! I have never been there but feel that I could find my way around Venice after reading this book. The rendering of the art scene in Venice in the 1930s is remarkable as well. The author includes famous artists such as Paul Klee, which adds to the authenticity of the story. The romantic interludes were central to both stories and well told, but I found these surprising in a best mystery novel nominee.

     Overall, The Venice Sketchbook is an excellent novel told with great skill.  It is just not what I expected from an Edgar nominee.

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker

 

A Thousand Steps

Author: T. Jefferson Parker

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Date of Publication: January 11, 2022

Pages: 368

      T, Jefferson Parker is a marvelous writer.  He has won two previous Edgar Awards for the best mystery novel of the year (Silent Joe in 2001 and California Girl in 2003) and another Edgar for the best short story ("Skinhead Central" in 2008). A Thousand Steps may be his best yet.

     This is basically a missing girl story, but it is so much more than that.  It is a surreal look into the culture in Southern California in the late 1960s.  It is like opening a time capsule and seeing all of the music, clothes, drugs, cars, and attitudes of that time and place.  At the center of the story is Matt Anthony, a sixteen year old in Laguna Beach who lives off of his paper route money and is basically raising himself.  His dad has moved on to another family in Arizona and his mom is trying to find herself in the counterculture.  His older sister Jasmine (nicknamed Jazz) fails to come home for several nights in a row.   The police figure she is just another hippie girl runaway.  However, a classmate of Jazz' is found dead on the beach which ratchets up the tension quite a bit.    Matt initiates his own investigation which leads him on a circuitous path through pot parties, orgies, communes, and music festivals.  Parker brings that era back to life with great characters (fictional as well as real-life folks such as Timothy Leary), incredible detail, and vivid descriptions of place.  

     This is a a great read.  I can't imagine that this book won't be nominated for next year's Edgar Award and probably be the winner.    

2022 Edgar Nominee Five Decembers by James Kestrel

 

Five Decembers

Author: James Kestrel

Publisher: Titan

Date of Publication: October 26, 2021

Pages: 428

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the fourth of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews.  

     This book is terrific.  It combines a fine noir murder mystery, a love story, and a well-researched historical narrative.  The settings of Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Manila, Hong Kong, and Tokyo are essential to the story and are brilliantly rendered.  The plot is complex but keeps the reader locked in.  The story starts in Honolulu in early December, 1941.  A young couple is found in an isolated shed brutally murdered.  The young woman is Japanese and the young man is a nephew of the Admiral in command of Pearl Harbor.  Detective Joe McGrady of the Honolulu Police Department is the lead investigator and follows the primary suspect across the Pacific to Manila and Hong Kong.  Before he can make an arrest, Joe is captured by the Japanese and spends the rest of the war in Tokyo.  After the armistice is signed on the U.S.S. Missouri, Joe returns to Honolulu and attempts to resurrect what is now a cold case.  Stephen King calls this "An electrifying read.  The last chapter is a real stunner."  These are, believe it or not, gross understatements.  

   I enjoyed this book for many reasons.  The large cast of characters are all well developed.  Joe McGrady is a classic 1940s gumshoe who is very sympathetic and mostly plays by the rules until he doesn't.  Gloves come off when Joe returns to Honolulu in 1945 and realizes he has been betrayed by former colleagues and things aren't what they seemed in 1941.  The plot moves along with many twists and turns.  The settings as I mentioned above, are great.  This author has done an amazing amount of research to bring these locales to life.  The descriptions of the fire bombing of Tokyo and the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are worth reading the whole book for.   This is a very worthy nominee for the 2022 Edgar Award.   

  

Edgar Nominee: No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield

 

No One Will Miss Her

Author: Kat Rosenfield

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Date of Publication: October 12, 2021

Pages: 304

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the third of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews.  

     This book has a lot of positive aspects.  The characters are unique and while not particularly endearing, they are well developed by the author.  The settings include rural Maine and Boston.  The author's descriptions of place are excellent, and add a tremendous amount to the story,  

     The plot opens with the discovery of a local woman named Lizzy Ouellette in Copper Falls, Maine who has been brutally murdered and disfigured.  Her husband is missing and becomes the primary suspect.  Lizzy grew up with her single father in a junkyard which he owned and ran.  She fixed up an isolated old cottage and rents it out to vacationers from the city.  One of her most frequent renters is a social media influencer and her high society husband.  They were to be renting the cabin where Lizzy's body is found.

     A state police investigator joins the murder inquiry, much to the consternation of the local police.  The list of folks who either resented or had arguments with Lizzy and/or her husband gets longer the more the detective digs into the case.  The investigator uncovers the curious relationship between the "wrong side of the tracks" Lizzie and the big city influencer/renter, Adrienne Richards.  Designer clothes as well as jewelry and other items formerly belonging to Adreinne are found in Lizzie's home.  The relationship between the poor, lower class country girl and the sophisticated, world-wise socialite is found to be more and more peculiar.

     The plot of this novel is fast-paced and keeps you guessing and keeps the pages turning.  There is a startling twist of plot about mid-way through the story which ratchets up the tension and mystery quite dramatically.  This is a very worthy nominee for the Edgar Award and I enjoyed it very much.  

Edgar Nominee: How Lucky by Will Leitch

How Lucky

Author: Will Leitch

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date of Publication: May 11, 2021

Pages: 304

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the second of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlink above to read the previous review.

     This nominee combines a totally unique narrator, a tricky plot, great secondary characters, and a satisfying (although explosively violent) conclusion.  The main character is Daniel Leads, a young adult with Type II Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  SMA is a genetic neuromuscular disorder which causes progressive muscular degeneration and weakness.  Despite his handicap Daniel lives independently with the help of caregivers and a few close friends.  Daniel's courage, tenacity, independence, and humor make him a tremendously sympathetic character.  While telling a great story, Daniel also gives the reader a terrific insight into the life of a person living with a frightful handicap.  

     The plot involves the disappearance of a foreign student from the campus of the University of Georgia.  The setting of Athens, Georgia, also lends a distinct uniqueness to this novel.  While sitting in his wheelchair on his front porch one morning, Daniel sees the young Chinese woman get into a Camaro.  He also had a good view of the driver.  Daniel has difficulty reporting these details to the police, so he enters an online chat room to describe what he saw.  He quickly gets a communication from someone claiming to be the driver who has abducted the young woman.  Multiple e-mails follow, the police finally get involved, and the mystery is eventually solved.  

 

     Much like Razorblade Tears, this book is more than the usual mystery novel.  It makes a bold statement regarding the lives of handicapped people and how they must deal with the ignorance and insensitivity of the non-handicapped population.  Much like the racial prejudices faced by the characters in S. A. Cosby's fine novel, Daniel has to learn to live with people's preconceived notions regarding people in wheelchairs and the discrimination which results.  

     This book has been criticized as a mere modern retelling of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" but it is so much more than that.  The similarities end with the main characters being in wheelchairs.  How Lucky opens a window into the life of a feisty, independent, and courageous handicapped person who manages to contribute mightily to society despite his difficulties.  This is a marvelous book, well worthy of the Edgar Nomination it has received.   

Edgar Award Nominee: Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

 

Razorblade Tears

Author: S.A. Cosby

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Date of Publication: July 6, 2021

Pages: 336

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the first of my reviews for this list of books.

     I immediately became engrossed in this book since it is set in my new (and old) hometown of Richmond, Virginia.  One scene even takes place in a strip mall about two miles from my new home!  There are references to many Richmond landmarks including the recently removed Civil War statues on Monument Avenue.  Even if you are not familiar with our area, the descriptions of the city and surrounding counties are vivid and add to the depth of this story.

     The story itself is intriguing.  Two fathers, one black and one white, dissatisfied with the lack of progress of a police investigation, join forces to find the killer of their married, gay sons.  Both fathers are ex-cons and each had rejected their sons for their lifestyle.  Poking around their sons' workplaces and acquaintances they become entangled with a large biker gang.  Violence and mayhem ensue.  

     The writing in this book is very good.  The characters are well developed and the dialogue is superb.  The exchanges between the two main characters are particularly crisp.   The action moves the story along at a brisk pace.  The brutal encounters with the bikers are not for the faint-hearted!  The story is a good one and gives the author a platform to examine contemporary aspects of race relations as well as LGBTQ issues.  In many regards this novel evokes favorable comparisons to Joe R. Lansdale's Hap Collins and Leonard Pine novels.  

   Razorblade Tears is a worthy nominee for the Edgar Award.  I enjoyed it very much.