Mystery Writers of America today announced the nominees for the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021. The 76th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on April 28, 2022.

BEST NOVEL

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• The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)
• Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (Macmillan Publishers – Flatiron Books)
• Five Decembers by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)
• How Lucky by Will Leitch (HarperCollins – Harper)
• No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

• Deer Season by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)
• Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian (Harlequin Trade Publishing – Park Row)
• Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins (Penguin Random House – Riverhead Books)
• The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer (Penguin Random House – Viking Books/Pamela Dorman Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

• Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
• The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
• The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory (Tom Doherty Associates – Tordotcom)
• Starr Sign by C.S. O’Cinneide (Dundurn Press)
• Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks (Europa Editions – World Noir)
• The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

• The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History by Margalit Fox (Random House Publishing Group – Random House)
• Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (Celadon Books)
• 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 (Penguin Random House – Random House)
• The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade by Benjamin T. Smith (W.W. Norton & Company)
• When Evil Lived in Laurel:  The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer by Curtis Wilkie (W.W. Norton & Company

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

• Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper360)
• The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene by Richard Greene (W.W. Norton & Company)
• Tony Hillerman: A Life by James McGrath Morris (University of Oklahoma Press)
• The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White (W.W. Norton & Company)

 BEST SHORT STORY

• “Blindsided,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Michael Bracken & James A. Hearn (Dell Magazines)
• “The Vermeer Conspiracy,” Midnight Hour by V.M. Burns (Crooked Lane Books)
• “Lucky Thirteen,” Midnight Hour by Tracy Clark (Crooked Lane Books)
• “The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)
• “The Locked Room Library,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Gigi Pandian (Dell Magazines)
• “The Dark Oblivion,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Cornell Woolrich (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

• Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)
• Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)
• Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Dead Man in the Garden by Marthe Jocelyn (Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books)
• Kidnap on the California Comet: Adventures on Trains #2 by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends)
• Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

• Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends)
• Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Henry Holt and Company BFYR)
• When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris (HarperCollins – Quill Tree Books)
• The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)
• The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

• “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+)
• “Happy Families” – Midsomer Murders, Written by Nicholas Hicks-Beach (Acorn TV)
• “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)

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THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

• The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet by Katherine Cowley (Tule Publishing – Tule Mystery)
• Ruby Red Herring by Tracy Gardner (Crooked Lane Books)
• Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
• The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (Crooked Lane Books)
• Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)

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

• Double Take by Elizabeth Breck (Crooked Lane Books)
• Runner by Tracy Clark (Kensington Books)
• Shadow Hill by Thomas Kies (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
• Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
• Family Business by S.J. Rozan (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)

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The following Special Awards were previously announced:

GRAND MASTER

• Laurie R. King

RAVEN AWARD

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

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

• Juliet Grames – Soho Books