Mystery Writers of America 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

 

Mystery Writers of America 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2025. 
 
BEST NOVEL

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
 
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

 BEST FACT CRIME:

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

 BEST SHORT STORY

“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine – September-October 2025 by Dave Zeltserman (Must Read Books Publishing)

 BEST JUVENILE

Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

 “Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

 OTHER AWARDS 

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the family of Robert L. Fish. “How It Happened,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July-August 2025 by Billie Kay Fern (Must Read Books Publishing)

 THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster. 

 All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

 THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD – Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

 Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

 THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.

 A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

 SPECIAL AWARDS -- PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ON JANUARY 13, 2026

GRAND MASTER

Donna Andrews

Lee Child

RAVEN AWARD

Book Passage, Corte Madera CA

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books

Congratulations to all the winners.

2024 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations

 

Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2023. The 78th Annual Edgar® Awards will be presented on May 1, 2024, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

BEST NOVEL

Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster – Simon Element – Marysue Rucci Books)

An Honest Man by Michael Koryta (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Mulholland Books)

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Macmillan Publishing – Minotaur Books)

Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski (Macmillan Publishing – Henry Holt and Co.)

The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (Simon & Schuster)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Boomtown by A.F. Carter (Penzler Publishers - Mysterious Press)

Hide by Tracy Clark (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House - Berkley)

Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)

BEST FACT CRIME

In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child by Kim Cross (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux (Penguin Random House – Crown Currency)

Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders by John Glatt (Macmillan Publishers – St. Martin’s Press)

Crooked: The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal by Nathan Masters (Hachette Book Group Hachette Books)

I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter (Penguin Random House Ballantine Books)

The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy by Joe Sexton (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder by David Bordwell (Columbia University Press)

Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)

A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak (Macmillan Publishing - St. Martin's Press)

Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Robert Morgan (LSU Press)

Love Me Fierce in Danger - The Life of James Ellroy by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Publishing - Bloomsbury Academic)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Hallowed Ground," by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

"Thriller," Thriller by Heather Graham (Blackstone Publishing)

"Miss Direction," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2023 by Rob Osler (Dell Magazines)

“The Rise," Amazon Original Stories by Ian Rankin (Amazon Publishing)

“Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand," Amazon Original Stories by Lisa Scottoline (Amazon Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE

Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Hachette Book Group – Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)

The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto by Adrianna Cuevas (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)

Epic Ellisons: Cosmos Camp by Lamar Giles (HarperCollins Publishers – Versify)

The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz & Iva-Marie Palmer (Hachette Book Group Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski (HarperCollins Publishers – Quill Tree Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Girl Forgotten by April Henry (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Star Splitter by Matthew J. Kirby (Penguin Young Readers – Dutton Books for Young Readers)

The Sharp Edge of Silence by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum (HarperCollins Publishers – Quill Tree Books)

My Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon (HarperCollins Publishers – Katherine Tegen Books)

Just Do This One Thing for Me by Laura Zimmerman (Penguin Young Readers – Dutton Books for Young Readers)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Time of the Monkey" – Poker Face, Written by Wyatt Cain & Charlie Peppers (Peacock)

“I’m a Pretty Observant Guy” – Will Trent, Written by Liz Heldens (ABC)

“Dead Man’s Hand" – Poker Face, Written by Rian Johnson (Peacock)

“Hózhó Náhásdlii (Beauty is Restore)" – Dark Winds, Written by Graham Roland & John Wirth (AMC)

“Escape from Shit Mountain" – Poker Face, Written by Nora Zuckerman & Lilla Zuckerman (Peacock)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the family of Robert L. Fish.

"Errand for a Neighbor," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January-February 2023 by Bill Bassman (Dell Magazines)

"The Body in Cell Two,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May-June 2023 by Kate Hohl (Dell Magazines)

“The Soiled Dove of Shallow Hollow,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January-February 2023 by Sean McCluskey (Dell Magazines)

“It’s Half Your Fault,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July-August 2023 by Meghan Leigh Paulk (Dell Magazines)

“Two Hours West of Nothing,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2023 by Gabriela Stiteler (Dell Magazines) 

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster.

Play the Fool by Lina Chern (Penguin Random House – Bantam)

The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard by Kate Robards (Crooked Lane Books)

Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

An Evil Heart by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Bad, Bad Seymour Brown by Susan Isaacs (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)

Past Lying by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)

A Stolen Child by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.

Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)

Misfortune Cookie by Vivien Chien (Macmillan – St. Martin’s Paperbacks)

Hot Pot Murder by Jennifer J. Chow (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

Murder of an Amish Bridegroom by Patricia Johns (Crooked Lane Books)

The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell (Crooked Lane Books)

2022 Edgar Awards announced

 

Mystery Writers of America have announced the Winners for the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021 

Best Novel

Five Decembers by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)

Best First Novel by an American Author 

Deer Season by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)

Best Paperback Original

Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks (Europa Editions – World Noir)

Best Fact Crime

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (Celadon Books)

Best Critical/Biography

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White (W.W. Norton & Company)

Best Short Story

“The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)

Best Juvenile

Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)

Best Young Adult

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Henry Holt and Company BFYR)

Best Television Episode Teleplay

“Boots on the Ground” – Narcos: Mexico, Written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award 

“Analogue,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Rob Osler (Dell Magazines)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award 

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

The G.P Putnam's & Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award. 

Runner by Tracy Clark (Kensington Books)

Special Awards

GRAND MASTER

Laurie R. King

RAVEN AWARD

Lesa Holstine – Lesa’s Book Critiques; Library Journal Reviewer

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Juliet Grames – Soho Press – Soho Crime

Congratulations to all the winners and nominated authors. 

The Edgar® Awards were presented at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square and livestreamed on YouTube.

The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.

Mystery Writers of America would like to emphasize our commitment to diversity and fairness in the judging of the Edgar Awards. Judges are selected from every region of the country, from every sub-category of our genre, and from every demographic to ensure fairness and impartiality.

The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

 

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce the Winners for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2020. The Edgar® Awards were presented via a live presentation on Zoom and can be found here: YouTube or Facebook

BEST NOVEL

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (Penguin Random House – Random House)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen (Simon & Schuster – Gallery Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

BEST FACT CRIME

Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane (Chicago Review Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Dust, Ash, Flight,” Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

The Companion by Katie Alender (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Episode 1, Photochemistry” – Dead Still, Written by John Morton (Acorn TV)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“The Bite,” Tampa Bay Noir by Colette Bancroft (Akashic Books)

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart (Minotaur Books)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House Books)

Congratulations to all the nominated authors and winners.  The complete list of nominated authors can be found here.

Congratulations also go to Charlaine Harris and Jeffery Deaver who were named Grandmasters.

The Edgar® Award Winners

Mystery Writers of America announced the Winners for the 2019 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2018. The Edgar® Awards were presented to the winners at their 73rd Gala Banquet, held on 25 April 2019 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

The winners are :-

Best NovelDown the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland)

Best First Novel by an American Author
Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)

Best Paperback Original
If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

Best Fact CrimeTinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Robert W. Fieseler (W.W. Norton & Company – Liveright)

Best Critical/BiographicalClassic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books)

Best Short Story“English 398: Fiction Workshop” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Art Taylor (Dell Magazines)

Best JuvenileOtherwoodby Pete Hautman (Candlewick Press)

Best Young Adult
Sadieby Courtney Summers (Wednesday Books)

Best Television Episode Teleplay
“The One That Holds Everything” – The Romanoffs, Teleplay by Matthew Weiner & Donald Joh (Amazon Prime Video)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD“How Does He Die This Time?”– Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Nancy Novick (Dell Magazines)

* * * * * *

GRAND MASTER

Martin Cruz Smith

RAVEN AWARD

Marilyn Stasio, NY Times

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Linda Landrigan, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARDThe Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
Shell Game by Sara Paretsky (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

CHARLES TODD SERVICE AWARD

Frankie Y. Bailey, 

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominated authors.

Inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award

Presented by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, the award will be given at Mystery Writers of America’s 73rd Annual Edgar® Awards in New York City on April 25, 2019

Thirty-five years ago, Sue Grafton launched one of the most acclaimed and celebrated mystery series of all time with A is for Alibi, and with it created the model of the modern female detective with Kinsey Millhone, a feisty, whip-smart woman who is not above breaking the rules to solve a case or save a life. Like her fictional alter ego, Grafton was a true original, a model for every woman who has ever said the hell with this and struck out on her own independent way.

Sue Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017, but she and Kinsey will be remembered as international icons and treasured by millions of readers across the world. Sue was adored throughout the reading world, the publishing industry, and was a longtime and beloved member of MWA, serving as MWA President in 1994 and was the recipient of three Edgar nominations as well as the Grand Master Award in 2009. G.P. Putnam’s Sons is partnering with MWA to create the Sue Grafton Memorial Award honoring the Best Novel in a Series featuring a female protagonist in a series that hallmarks Sue’s writing and Kinsey’s character: a woman with quirks but also with a sense of herself, with empathy but also with savvy, intelligence and wit.

The inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award will be presented for the first time at the 73rd Annual Edgar Awards in New York City on April 25, 2019 – the day after what would have been Sue’s 79th birthday – and will be presented annually there to honor Sue’s life and work.

The nominees for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award were chosen by the 2019 Best Novel and Best Paperback Original Edgar Award judges from the books submitted to them throughout the year. The winner will be chosen by a reading committee made up of current National board members, and will be announced at this year’s Edgars Award banquet.

The nominees for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award are:

Lisa Black, Perish, Kensington
Sara Paretsky, Shell Game, HarperCollins – William Morrow
Victoria Thompson, City of Secrets, Penguin Random House - Berkley
Charles Todd, A Forgotten Place, HarperCollins – William Morrow
Jacqueline Winspear, To Die But Once, HarperCollins - Harper

ABOUT SUE GRAFTON:
#1 New York Times–bestselling author Sue Grafton is published in twenty-eight countries and in twenty-six languages—including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, beginning with A is for Alibi in 1982 are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, she also received many other honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award from Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic, the Anthony Award given by Bouchercon (most recently the 2018 Anthony /Bill Crider Award for Best Novel in a Series), and three Shamus Awards. Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017.

ABOUT G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS:
Putnam is home to many bestselling fiction authors including Ace Atkins, Chloe Benjamin, C.J. Box, Eleanor Brown, Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Robert Crais, Clive Cussler, Jeffery Deaver, Janet Evanovich, Lyndsay Faye, Frederick Forsyth, Karen Joy Fowler, Sue Grafton, W.E.B. Griffin, Jan Karon, Philip Kerr, Delia Owens, Robert B. Parker, Nick Petrie, John Sandford, Jill Santopolo, Lisa Scottoline, Kathryn Stockett, and Stuart Woods. Among its distinguished nonfiction list are Sophia Amoruso, A. Scott Berg, Cathy Guisewite, Spencer Johnson, Bobby Orr, Dolly Parton, and Eve Rodsky.

ABOUT MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA:
MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses more than 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents. For more information on Mystery Writers of America, please visit the website: www.mysterywriters.org