The Edgar Awards were presented by Mystery Writers of America on Thursday night. Below are the winners and nominees. Don’t forget to check the Web Store for the titles. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Best Novel: Five Decembers, by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)
Also nominated: The Venice Sketchbook, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union); Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); How Lucky, by Will Leitch (Harper); and No One Will Miss Her, by Kat Rosenfield (Morrow)
Best First Novel by an American Author: Deer Season, by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)
Also nominated: Never Saw Me Coming, by Vera Kurian (Park Row); Suburban Dicks, by Fabian Nicieza (Putnam); What Comes After, by JoAnne Tompkins (Riverhead); and The Damage, by Caitlin Wahrer (Viking/Pamela Dorman)
Best Paperback Original:
Bobby March Will Live Forever, by Alan Parks (World Noir)
Also nominated: Kill All Your Darlings, by David Bell (Berkley); The Lighthouse Witches, by C.J. Cooke (Berkley); The Album of Dr. Moreau, by Daryl Gregory (Tor); Starr Sign, by C.S. O’Cinneide (Dundurn Press); and The Shape of Darkness, by Laura Purcell (Penguin)
Best Short Story: “The Road to Hana,” by R.T. Lawton (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], May/June 2021
Also nominated: “Blindsided,” by Michael Bracken and James A. Hearn (AHMM, September/October 2021); “The Vermeer Conspiracy,” by V.M. Burns (from Midnight Hour, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane); “Lucky Thirteen,” by Tracy Clark (from Midnight Hour); “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2021); and “The Dark Oblivion,” by Cornell Woolrich (EQMM, January/February 2021)
Best Fact Crime: Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green (Celadon)
Also nominated: The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History, by Margalit Fox (Random House); Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away, by Ann Hagedorn (Simon & Schuster); Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice, by Ellen McGarrahan (Random House); The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade, by Benjamin T. Smith (Norton); and When Evil Lived in Laurel: The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer, by Curtis Wilkie (Norton)
Best Critical/Biographical: The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense, by Edward White (Norton)
Also nominated: Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, by Mark Aldridge (Harper360); The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene, by Richard Greene (Norton); Tony Hillerman: A Life, by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma Press); and The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science, by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Best Young Adult:
Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley (Henry Holt)
Also nominated: Ace of Spades, by Faridah ÀbÃké-ÃyÃmÃdé (Feiwel & Friends); When You Look Like Us, by Pamela N. Harris (Quill Tree); The Forest of Stolen Girls, by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends); and The Girls I’ve Been, by Tess Sharpe (Putnam)
Best Juvenile:
Concealed, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic Press)
Also nominated: Cold-Blooded Myrtle, by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers); Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Dead Man in the Garden, by Marthe Jocelyn (Tundra); Kidnap on the California Comet: Adventures on Trains #2, by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman (Feiwel & Friends); and Rescue, by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic Press)
Best Television Episode Teleplay: “Boots on the Ground,” Narcos: Mexico, written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)
Also nominated: “Dog Day Morning,” The Brokenwood Mysteries, written by Tim Balme (Acorn TV); “Episode 1,” The Beast Must Die, written by Gaby Chiappe (AMC+); “The Men Are Wretched Things,” The North Water, written by Andrew Haigh (AMC+); and “Happy Families,” Midsomer Murders, written by Nicholas Hicks-Beach (Acorn TV)
Grand Master:Laurie R. King
Raven Award: Lesa Holstine, librarian, blogger, and book reviewer
Ellery Queen Award: Juliet Grames, associate publisher at Soho Press
Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“Analogue,” by Rob Osler (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January/February 2021)
The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
Runner, by Tracy Clark (Kensington)
Also nominated: Double Take, by Elizabeth Breck (Crooked Lane); Shadow Hill, by Thomas Kies (Poisoned Pen Press); Sleep Well, My Lady, by Kwei Quartey (Soho Crime); and Family Business, by S.J. Rozan (Pegasus Crime)
The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
Also nominated: The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet, by Katherine Cowley (Tule Mystery); Ruby Red Herring, by Tracy Gardner (Crooked Lane); The Sign of Death, by Callie Hutton (Crooked Lane); and Chapter and Curse, by Elizabeth Penney (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!