One of the reasons I mentioned Elizabeth Peters above is that Veronica Speedwell is a true heir to Peters’ beloved Amelia Peabody series, and I’d be shocked if Raybourn didn’t count her as an influence. There was obviously a ton of backstory there, and while it was smoothly laid out for the first-timer, I had the luxury of not being obligated to plow through stacks and stacks of books by a certain deadline, so I could delve into A Curious Beginning and A Perilous Undertaking. After reading the first couple of chapters, not only did I want to keep going, but I realized that I wanted to start at the beginning of the series. The first of the Edgar nominees I picked up was Deanna Raybourn’s A Treacherous Curse, third in her Veronica Speedwell series of historical mysteries. I asked her how she could possibly read so many books, and she told me that she could generally tell 2-3 chapters in whether or not a novel would be worth reading all the way through. She was in the midst of her year as an Edgars judge, and there were piles of books everywhere.
Many years ago, I had the honor of visiting the late Barbara Mertz (better known by her pen name, Elizabeth Peters) at her Maryland home. I have known plenty of writers who have served as Edgar judges over the years, and the amount of work they put in is almost overwhelming. The people on these committees are anonymous (and sign non-disclosure agreements), but they are all active status members of the MWA (Mystery Writers of America). But for the Edgars, each year, a small panel is selected to judge each award (Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Fact Crime, etc.), and those folks have to read every single book that is submitted to them.
The other awards are basically all popularity contests. The interesting thing about the Edgars is that they are the only mystery award where the nominees and winners are chosen by a panel of peers. My friend Janet, who reads even more mysteries than I do, was in the same boat, so we decided we should read them and see what we were missing out on. This year, however, I had not read any of the six Best Novel nominees, and I was only familiar with one of the nominated authors (Walter Mosley). Each year when the Edgar Award nominations are announced, I quickly skim the list to see which of this year’s nominees I’ve read.
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