Comments on A Follow Spot: Once Upon a Midnight Dreary There Were Edgar Nomin...

i don't know for the rest of the list, but &qu...

2012-01-20T14:45:30.048-06:00

i don't know for the rest of the list, but "Girl Wanted, the chase for Sarah Pender" certainly won't be a "good find".

The book is written with little respect for the truth and for the readers.

Steve Miller misquoted many documents. He hid important information to mislead the readers, as well as avoided the most controversial aspect of the case.

I can't think of a worst choice. If you want to find out more about this book, please read : Debunking Girl Wanted

The fact that a book is on the Edgar Nominee List doesn't mean that it's quality writing.

Did you know you can now reply to replies? I didn&...

2012-01-19T18:57:44.509-06:00

Did you know you can now reply to replies? I didn't! So, anyway... Cool.

That's wonderful, though it somewhat stretches...

2012-01-19T17:50:42.870-06:00

That's wonderful, though it somewhat stretches the notion of a "mystery." But then, so do a lot of these, of course. One that I'm surprised didn't win, short-lived though it was, was Tenspeed and Brownshoe, which really was a classic mystery each week. I see that the 2-hour pilot movie was nominated (as an episode, whereas it should've been in the "feature" category I think, as the series was created afterward), and it really was outstanding; but it lost to a Magnum episode.

Also surprising that none of the Jim Hutton Ellery Queen episodes were even nominated, as they were all in the classic mold, EQ is certainly one of the giants in the book genre, and one or two episodes were faithful adaptations from the books. Likewise, nothing from the William Conrad Nero Wolfe was nominated, and just one episode from the Tim Hutton one (without winning). And that should have had some respect as they used the books faithfully, and filmed it in a "repertory company" style. Not even a nomination for Wimsey either! -- neither Ian Carmichael nor Edward Petherbridge.

I would have thought that Columbo had cleaned up every year it was on, but just 3 noms, with one win. Not a thing for I Spy either.

And Pushing Daisies was nominated! For the "P...

2012-01-19T16:14:05.125-06:00

And Pushing Daisies was nominated! For the "Pie-lette." Sweet.

I knew "Law and Order" was a frequent wi...

2012-01-19T16:04:15.340-06:00

I knew "Law and Order" was a frequent winner and I was kind of wondering what they were going to do, with Criminal Intent and the mother ship no more. But SVU still got a nomination. From the list of current nominations, I would expect "Homeland" to win. I can definitely understand why episodes of Poirot and Sherlock Holmes would win. No Lord Peter Wimsey? That's an oversight. I will take delight in Remington Steele, however. :-)

A dash through the Edgars website reveals some of ...

2012-01-19T15:41:02.566-06:00

A dash through the Edgars website reveals some of the previous winners for Best Play: Detective Story, Dial M for Murder, Witness for the Prosecution, Write Me a Murder, Sleuth, Deathtrap, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, City of Angels, Accomplice. That's two each by Frederick Knott (wonder why they bypassed his Wait Until Dark, but there's a gap with no winners between 1962 and 1971, and another till 1980) and Rupert Holmes.

In TV, there's

"Feature or Miniseries," whose winners include The Night Stalker, The Law, Helter-Skelter, The Dain Curse, Shannon's Deal, Murder 101, 2 seasons of Prime Suspect, a Law & Order movie, and Season 4 of The Wire. (I omit some titles that I recall but probably nobody else will -- I dare say I pushed it, even so.)

and "Episode in a TV Series," which is overwhelming because there have been multiple winners in many years. But skimming some of the recognizable titles, we have episodes of: Dragnet, The Fugitive (for the whole series -- the other category didn't yet exist), Mission Impossible, Judd for the Defense, Mannix, McCloud, Police Story, Kojak, Streets of San Francisco, Quincy, Columbo, Magnum, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele, Philip Marlowe, Murder She Wrote, Amazing Stories, The Equalizer, Wiseguy, Quantum Leap, various Holmes & Poirot movies on Mystery!, NYPD Blue, Law & Order (all 3 series at various times), The Sopranos, The Practice, Burn Notice, Luther.