Here’s one that came up in conversation last week: How in the world can it be that Elmore has won an Edgar Award for best novel only once?
This, to me, is mind-boggling. He’s published 29 novels since 52 Pick-Up in ‘74. In the years that Swag, Unknown Man, City Primeval, Glitz, Bandits, Freaky Deaky, Killshot, Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out Of Sight, Pagan Babies, and Tishomingo Blues came out (to name a few), how can it be that books by others were judged even half as good, let alone better?
Smells like politics to me.
Elmore was nominated but didn’t win in ‘79 for The Switch, and ‘83 for Split Images and didn’t win, finally winning in ‘84 with LaBrava.
In all the other years he wasn’t even nominated. This is like voting Tiger Woods golfer of the year once then ignoring him thereafter, even though he’s the dominant ass-kicker in the game, winning consistently.
It’s pretty much universally acknowledged that books like Glitz and Freaky Deaky and Get Shorty, and Tishomingo Blues are unrivaled in any year, let alone the one in which they were published. What a crock. IMO, the Edgar Awards are a joke.