Expiration at the 2011 Edgars

I'm extremely happy (and pleasantly stunned, to tell the truth) to report that my fifth novel, Expiration Date, was nominated for a 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category of Best Paperback Original.

You can check out all of the nominees at the Mystery Writers of America's official Edgars website (theEdgars.com).

I was checking my Twitter feed when I saw that MWA's Margery Flax had posted a pdf of this year's nominees. I clicked on it, wondering if I knew anybody who'd made the shortlist. And then I literally did one of those goofy Hollywood spit-takes (with Diet Coke) when I saw Expiration listed there.

The winner will be announced at the 65th annual Edgars banquet on April 28th. It's a cliche to say that it's an honor just to be nominated, but in this case it's absolutely true.

I'm also proud that Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner, has been nominated for a Best Critical/Biographical Edgar. My contribution, an essay on Donald Westlake/Richard Stark's The Hunter, was reprinted at the Mulholland Books site just the other day. (Interestingly, the essay details the one time I met Donald Westlake, at ... wait for it ... at an Edgars banquet.)

Congrats to all of the nominees, big thanks to the judges and the MWA. And if by some miracle Expiration pulls off a win, I'm hosting a kegger at my house. All of you are invited.

(Ulra cool Poe and Raven photo by Kevin Dooley, from his Flickr set.)