Re: RARA-AVIS: Burke wins Edgar

Reed Andrus (randrus@home.com)
Fri, 01 May 1998 20:01:31 -0700 Anthony Smith wrote:
>
> > I just read in rec.arts.mystery that James Lee Burke's "Cimarron Rose"
> > won the Edgar for best novel. This is the second best-novel Edgar for
> > this veteran, singularly gifted writer - who started writing mysteries
> > after the age of 50.
>
> I don't want to sound overly fussy, but even though I am a big JLB admirer,
> and have read all his crime novels, as well as a couple literary short
> stories and the Lost Get Back Boogie, I don't think Cimmaron Rose was the
> best crime novel of the year. So it's not just me rooting for another
> writer here, but honestly saying that I don't see how this novel could be
> considered the best one. But I will continue to read James Lee Burke and
> enjoy his future work, I hope. This one seemed wrong to me, though.
> However, I join you in offering congrats.
> a.smith

There is a very strong contingent in horror fiction who maintains that
many of Burke's later works should be nominated in that field rather
than mystery. This hue and cry originated with CONFEDERATE DEAD, and
includes CIMARRON ROSE due to the protagonists conversations with L.Q.
Navarro. With ROSE at least, I believe that Burke is pulling a Henry
James, using ambiguity to define the manifestation of either crushing
guilt or actual supernatural occurrence. CONFEDERATE DEAD is somewhat
similar -- Robicheaux either talks to a ghost, or suffers drug-induced
flashbacks.

I found ROSE to be better than the last two Robicheaux novels, but
perhaps not Edgar quality. So what. Remember, this is the committee who
gave an award to BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN. A couple of years later, Mary
Willis Walker won for THE RED SCREAM, then wasn't even nominated the
next year for the far superior IN THE BEETLE'S CELLAR.

... Reed Andrus
Phoenix, AZ (rising)
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