Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
Note: the link is to a database, a query must be entered to find this specific work.-winning
suspense
Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by American author
Joe R. Lansdale
Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor.
A prose writer in a variety of genres - Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense - he's also written comic books and screenplays. Se ...
.
Plot summary
This story takes place during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
in
East Texas
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...
. Young Harry Crane discovers the mutilated body of a black woman that sets off a mystery involving rising violence and
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. Despite the efforts of
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
, the killing continues. Harry and his younger sister, Thomasina, fix their suspicions on a local horror legend, The Goat Man, who lives deep in the
Big Thicket
The Big Thicket is the name given to a somewhat imprecise region of a heavily-forested area of Southeast Texas in the United States. This area represents a portion of the mixed pine-hardwood forests of southeast US. The National Park Service esta ...
. Together they set out to solve the mystery of who the real killer is.
Awards
*The 2001
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
for best novel.
*A
New York Times Notable Book of the Year
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
(2000)
*The 2000 Herodotus Award for The First US Historical Novel
*A 2000 Dashiell Hammett Award for "Best Novel" (nominated)THE HAMMETT PRIZE: PAST WINNERS, NOMINEES, AND JUDGES retrieved 8/1/13
*The 2001 Mystery Readers International's
Macavity Awards
The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...
for best mystery novel. (nominated)
Editions
This book was published as
lettered edition
A limited-edition book is a book released in a limited-quantity print run, usually fewer than 1000 copies (much smaller than publishing-industry standards). The term connotes scarcity or exclusivity. The higher the quantity printed the less lik ...
and a
limited edition
The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...
by
Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novels, short stor ...
and as a
trade hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occas ...
by
Mysterious Press
The Mysterious Press is an American publishing company specializing in mystery fiction based in New York City. The company, founded in 1975 by Otto Penzler, has been associated with various publishing companies over the years, most recently with Gr ...
. It was re-issued as a
trade paperback Trade paperback may refer to:
* Trade paperback, a higher-quality softcover version of a book
* Trade paperback (comics)
In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published ...
by
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard is the corporate amalgamation of Random House's Vintage Crime, and Random House's 1990 acquisition, Black Lizard, a major publisher of classic crime fiction.
History
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard was founded in June 1 ...
Publications on 7 December 2010. As of August 2012, all hardcover editions are out of print.
Film adaptation
As of 2014 the book was being co-produced for a film by Joe R. Lansdale,
Bill Paxton
William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and filmmaker. He appeared in films such as '' Weird Science'' (1985), ''Aliens'' (1986), ''Near Dark'' (1987), '' Tombstone'' (1993), ''True Lies'' (1994), '' Apollo 13 ...
, and
Brad Wyman
Brad Hibbs Wyman (born May 13, 1963) is an American film producer, best known for producing '' Monster'' (2003). His first film was ''White of the Eye'', and later worked on ''Freeway'', ''Trees Lounge'', ''The Dark Backward'', '' The Chase'', a ...
. Paxton died in 2017, making any further plans uncertain.