This year has been a bit of a stinker, turning everyone’s lives upside down, (and probably inside out), and various things we all planned to do inevitably got cancelled. Fortunately, that is not the case with the Reprint of the Year awards, which is back bigger than ever, with 10 bloggers taking part in the nomination process.
For those new to the awards here is what I wrote about it last year:
The number of publishers reprinting vintage mysteries is on the increase, meaning us lucky devotees are getting access to more and more of the books and authors we want to try. [This is ever more the case in 2020, which I feel had a bumper crop of reprints.] With so many novels and short story collections on offer, it can be hard to pick out the very best, which is where the Reprint of the Year Awards come in. Before you begin to imagine the swank of the Oscars, with beautiful dresses, smart tuxedos and red carpets, let me bring you back down to earth as to how the more humble Reprint of the Year Awards is going to work…
Like last year the awards will unfold in four stages…
12th December
Next Saturday me and 9 other bloggers, (Bev, Brad, John, Moira, Puzzle Doctor, Laurie, Aidan, JJ, Dead Yesterday), will begin by sharing one of our nominations for the award, putting forward our reasons for why you should vote for our nominee. This title has to be a reprint published this year and not a title released for the first time.
I will be posting later on this day and on the 19th, as I will be gathering in links to everyone else’s nominations, so you can track them all down more easily.
19th December
On the following Saturday we will reveal our second choices.
20th December
I will set up a poll for this award, listing the 20 titles my fellow bloggers and I have chosen, as well as 3 readers’ choices (more on that later). At this stage you will then be able to vote for your favoured titles.
30th December
As the year draws to a close I will reveal the results of the poll, announcing the title which has won the accolade of Reprint of the Year!
Note: Black tie is not mandatory, though if you wish to dress up to read the results post then don’t let me stop you!
If you’ve been reading carefully you will have noticed that I have mentioned that the poll will include 3 texts which are chosen by you guys. So if there is a mystery reprint which has been released this year, which you’ve loved put it the comments section below this post. If someone has already mentioned a title you love, then please do still second it or repeat it, as I will be selecting the 3 readers choices using a random name generator. Yet if a title has more than one recommendation, (from different people of course), then they will get extra entries added to the generator.
Important: When adding a nomination in the comments below, it would be really helpful if you could, in brackets, include the name of the publisher who reprinted them. If you’re at all unsure about whether a title is eligible feel free to check.
Any questions or queries let me know and of course may the best book win!
Rogers, The Red Right Hand (Penzler’s American Mystery Classics)
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Very quick nomination!
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Yes – I second that from Ken B. Joel Rogers’, The Red Right Hand, is a brilliant Penzler reprint.
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Hugh Fleetwood, The Godmother. Amazon has no name for the publisher, so I assume it’s self published.
Fleetwood is a Highsmith acolyte. Several books reprinted this year, that I have not read in almost 40 years. Hit and miss but sometimes brilliant. (His best book is The Order of Death, reprinted almost a decade ago.)
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Seishi Yokomizo’s The Inugami Curse, a retitled reprint of the classic The Inugami Clan (Pushkin Vertigo).
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Good choice. Still undecided whether to read these books. I don’t whether they would be too dry in writing style in combination with being a bit grizzly.
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Yokomizo was a class act who was neither dry or too grizzly. Don’t just take my word for it. The Inugami Clan is John’s favorite Japanese mystery.
By the way, how many titles can you nominate? I forgot E-pulp reprinted Een afgesloten huis (A Sealed House) by M.P.O. Books, which has no earthly chance of winning, but would still like to nominate it for obvious reasons. I assume Brian Flynn and The Woman in the Wardrobe are already covered.
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You can nominate and second as many as you like, as they all go into a random generator and the first three to come out will get put in the poll.
There are 10 Flynn titles to go at, so feel free to nominate any, as your preferred title may not be a blogger choice.
But you’re suspicions that TWITW is covered is certainly correct.
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I also nominate The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers (Published by American Mystery Classics)
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I definitely think TRRH is a strong contender this year.
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If Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen doesn’t get nominated, I’m boycotting the poll!!
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Well, I heard JJ say that if The Siamese Twin Mystery is nominated, he will boycott the poll !
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I second the nominations for The Red Right Hand and The Inugami Curse. Would also like to nominate Catt Out of the Bag by Clifford Witting (Galileo Publishers) Greatings from a librarian in Malmö, Sweden. I am a avid reader of GAD and of a number of your murderous blogs.
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Thank you for nomination and welcome! I read Catt out of the Bag last year – definitely apt for this time of year and it is probably my favourite Witting read to date.
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Thank you for all your great posts! I’ve discovered many new to me authors to try, love Alice Tilton to just name one. I read your blog and some others in the GAD gang but have never made a comment before. Thought it could be nice for you to know that your efforts are appreciated by more people than your immediate circle. There may be others silently lurking too… Keep up the good work and take care,
Scott: I hope you like the Witting! Cheers, Christina
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That’s so lovely to hear. Thank you. It’s always nice to know reviews and posts are being enjoyed and are helping people discover new-to-them authors. Tilton is a great one. It’s a shame I’ve read them all now.
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Christina – thanks for your post. GAD blogs like Kate’s continue to highlight books that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. I have never read Clifford Wittig so ordered Catt Out of the Bag today to give him a try based on your recommendation. Looking forward to reading it.
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‘The Edge of Terror’ by Brian Flynn (1932) – an unusual one to add to the list with an excellent plot!
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Thank you for your nomination! It will be added to the random generator draw.
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[…] the obvious question in light of this entry into the Reprint of the Year Awards 2020 as organised by Kate at CrossExaminingCrime is: can these stories originally published between 1954 and 1961 be considered a reprint if […]
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[…] For more information on this year’s Reprint of the Year awards check out Kate’s blog, CrossExaminingCrime. The post announcing the award and seeking nominations can be found here. […]
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[…] that time again…Reprint of the Year time!!! Kate at Crossed Examining Crime, has set several of us with the task of giving you our humble opinions on what books we think are […]
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[…] can’t really vote for this as the reprint of the year if you’ve never read it, so if you haven’t already, get yourself a copy, set aside an […]
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[…] It’s that time of year again: the ROY Awards! This is when Kate Jackson of Cross-Examining Crime invites ten or so reputable bloggers – and accepts a sizable bribe from JJ to include him (don’t blame her, the money goes toward feeding the goats) – to post reviews of some of their favorite classic mysteries that were republished, usually by fantastic small presses, for the enjoyment of all of us GAD fans. This Saturday and next, we will each post two options, and then on Boxing Day you get to vote for your favorite over at Kate’s place. […]
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The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly. Also Death of a Frightened Editor by E. & M.A. Radford
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Thank you for your suggestions they will both get entered into the random generator.
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The Further Misadventures of Ellery Queen published in September 2020 by Wildside press deserves to be nomimated.
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Thanks for the suggestion!
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It’s the Roy award. The winner must be Rogers!
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[…] Week Two of the ROY Awards, Kate Jackson’s brainstorm in which a number of chummy bloggers each nominate two classic works of crime fiction that saw anew […]
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I should like to nominate “Seventeen Cards” by E Charles Vivian (Black Heath Editions)
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[…] For more information on this year’s Reprint of the Year awards check out Kate’s blog, CrossExaminingCrime. The post announcing the award and seeking nominations can be found here. […]
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