This morning, as I lay twitching from jet lag, I started thinking about the suspense that lies ahead this evening at the Edgar Awards. That is: will I climb the stairs to the stage to present Best Paperback Original, wearing heels, without tripping and taking a Jackie Chan-style header into the table where the Edgar statuettes are lined up? At which point the Husband brought in the morning paper and said: “You’re in trouble.”
He handed me the Wall Street Journal.
On page one of Greater New York section, along the banner at the top, was a color picture of Edgar Allan Poe and the headline: “Winner’s Curse At Edgar Awards.”
Sweet Jeebus. What happens to Edgar winners? Do we go insane? End up working as Walmart greeters, struggling to welcome people to the store with with just the right words? I grabbed the paper from him.
Winners at tonight’s annual Edgar Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, should relish the victory–the first Edgar is often the last.
Do winners spontaneously combust, like Spinal Tap drummers? What happens if more than one winner is at a table tonight? If I sit across from Harlan Coben, could there be a reaction, like matter and anti-matter colliding, that destroys the table in a flash of exploding plates and flowers and rubber chicken and editors?
The group has doled out awards to crime and mystery novelists since 1946, but few writers collect multiple awards in major categories during the course of their careers.
That’s it? It’s rare to win an Edgar? It’s difficult to win even once, which makes the award even more treasured? Thank God. Now I can go back to worrying that if I trip on the stairs and careen off the stage, I don’t take out Lee Child and Laura Lippman.
Whew! I thought it was going to turn out to be like King Tut’s curse, or the Hope diamond curse….or worse yet, the Seinfeld curse…
The curse of mediocrity. How sad.
“Winner’s Curse At Edgar Awards”
Thank goodness for that apostrophe; otherwise, the headline takes on a whole new meaning.
I wonder what happens to those of us who were mere non-winning nominees? I’m hoping it’s Susan Lucci-esque longevity.