PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES 2010 NOMINEES FOR SHAMUS AWARDS

The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) is proud to announce the nominees for the 29^th annual Shamus Awards, given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. The 2010 awards cover works first published in the U.S. in 2009. The awards will be presented at the PWA banquet, to be held Friday evening Oct. 15, 2010, in San Francisco, during the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention.

Best First PI Novel

Loser’s Town by Daniel Depp (Simon & Schuster) 

The Last Gig by Norman Green (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

The Good Son by Russel D. McLean (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

Faces of the Gone by Brad Parks (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

Chinatown Angel by A.E. Roman (Minotaur/St. Martin's)

Buy Me!

 The central conceit of this extremely enjoyable book is ingeniously simple: Begin each chapter with a somewhat vague description of a historical figure — who may or may not be recognizable by name alone — and then fill in the remaining pages with the person's story, complete with the “Eureka!” event that changed lives and history.

The story of the author's moment of inspiration — the one that was the gestation of the book — is entertainingly told in the forward. Wagman-Geller also describes the criteria for the stories included in the book: Some stories fell to the wayside not because they were less than riveting, but because they lacked a “light bulb” moment. Other stories had the requisite “slap to the forehead” origins, but not enough verifiable information was available about the creators and their handiwork.

The disparate subjects included never fail to entertain: the name Anne Made Grosholz may be unfamiliar, but only a hermit would be unfamiliar with her life's work; Pierre de Coubertin created the most famous quadrennial event in the world, even if you didn't know it; uncover the connection between the allegedly treasonous Alfred Dreyfus and racing great Lance Armstrong; learn the shocking last request of Bill Wilson, self-described as “just another drunk” and yet a savior to millions; discover the daughter of immigrants who created one of America's most enduring icons; and learn the identity of the “boy born on the wrong side of the tracks...” and how his Eureka has “... changed the way (the world) does business.”

These are truly fascinating mini-biographies — 40 in all — that deftly condense reams of information into digestible chunks of a few pages in length. The subjects are disparate, so if one fails to entertain, the next surely will. The author indicates she is at work on a sequel, and such a book would be welcomed wholeheartedly.

Scott Coffman is a writer, cartoonist and bookseller who lives in Louisville.

Buy Me!