"Ben, Ben, did you hear? " McDonald said.

"Hear what? " LeRoy mumbled.

"The Edgars! " McDonald said.

Now LeRoy was awake. "You mean you got an Edgar nomination? "

"Not just me," McDonald said. "You got three nominations. "

LeRoy, 32, a Madison native and publisher of Madison-based Bleak House Books, is back in Manhattan this week. McDonald is there, too -- they had dinner together Tuesday night -- as author of "Head Games, " one of five mysteries nominated for the best first novel in the 2008 Edgar Awards, the most prestigious competition in the mystery field.

The awards are presented by the Mystery Writers of America. The ceremony is tonight at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Park Avenue. It 's a black-tie affair, or as the invitation put it: "Dress to kill. "

LeRoy will be there, of course, at a table with McDonald and the other Bleak House author nominees -- Reed Farel Coleman, whose "Soul Patch " is nominated in the best novel category; and Stuart Kaminsky, whose story, "Blue Note, " from the Bleak House collection "Chicago Blues, " received a best short story nomination.

Bleak House senior editor Alison Janssen and a delegation from Big Earth Publishing, which acquired Bleak House in 2005, will also attend the ceremony. It is believed the three Edgar nominations for Bleak House authors is a first for a publisher of their relatively small size.

"It 's an honor to get one nomination, " LeRoy said Wednesday from New York. "We feel like we 've already won. "

By any measure, they have come a very long way. Bleak House had its genesis at Madison East High School. LeRoy is a lifelong North Sider, having attended Gompers Middle School before East. It was at East -- he graduated in 1994 -- that LeRoy and two friends formed a philosophy club that evolved into a multi-media arts company called Diversity.

The evolution was necessary, LeRoy noted, because "there wasn 't much of a market for teenage philosophers. "

LeRoy attended UW-Milwaukee -- commuting from Madison -- and the multi-media company eventually was pared down. Band management was an early casualty. "Glorified baby-sitting, " LeRoy called it.

The distillation process ended with LeRoy presiding over a publishing company devoted to literary mystery fiction. Since Diversity no longer fit as a name, some brainstorming ensued and LeRoy loved the name Bleak House Books the moment he heard it.

It has nothing to do with the Dickens book of that title -- LeRoy has yet to read the novel -- and everything to do with the noir territory explored in the best mystery fiction.

Bleak House 's first title, in 2001, was Madison writer John Galligan 's "Red Sky, Red Dragonfly. " LeRoy calls Galligan "a helluva writer, a writer 's writer, " but initially the novel generated little interest among established critics.

Publishing fiction can sometimes seem akin to stuffing a manuscript in a bottle and tossing it into the ocean, hoping somebody finds and reads it. But Galligan 's novel got a rave in an English language Japanese newspaper, and that gave LeRoy just enough moxie to continue.

It was a slow process, publishing only a few titles a year, and far from lucrative. But LeRoy had an eye for talent, and not just writers. He talked Alison Janssen into quitting her real job -- one that had such luxuries as health insurance and regular paychecks -- to come on full time at Bleak House.

The big break came in 2005 with the acquisition by Big Earth. LeRoy stayed as publisher, Janssen as editor, and for the first time they had capital to match their talent and ambition. They are now able to publish 15 to 20 titles annually, which helps get the Bleak House name out to book sellers and influential industry publications like Publishers Weekly.

As it happened, when LeRoy got the phone call in January about the Edgar nominations, he was in New York to meet with Publishers Weekly. One result of that was a March 17 profile of LeRoy in the magazine that raised the Bleak House profile higher yet.

LeRoy said Wednesday he has no plans to leave Madison permanently. He still likes having lunch with his mother and friends at the Avenue Bar. He has spent a busy week in New York, all the parties have taken a toll, and he 's anxious to get back.

Of course, there 's one more party tonight. That one he won 't mind attending.

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com.