Tag Archives: Edgar Allan Poe Awards

MWA Withdraws Linda Fairstein Grand Master Award

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The pushback against yesterday’s Mystery Writers of America announcement of Linda Fairstein as a 2019 Grand Master has led to cancellation of the award.

Linda Fairstein’s selection was protested by one of last year’s Edgar-winning writers, Attica Locke, who reminded MWA members that while Fairstein was working for the Manhattan District Attorney, her office supervised the prosecution in 1990 of the Central Park Jogger case, which ended in the conviction of five teenagers who were later exonerated of any part in the crime.

Prior to MWA’s action, Fairstein and Locke jousted on Twitter –

https://twitter.com/LindaFairstein/status/1067556116735897607

https://twitter.com/LindaFairstein/status/1067560623272271878

https://twitter.com/LindaFairstein/status/1067560789597392897

Today MWA withdrew the honor — “Mystery Writers of America Withdraws Fairstein Award”:

On Tuesday, November 27, Mystery Writers of America announced the recipients of Grand Master, Raven & Ellery Queen Awards, special awards given out annually. Shortly afterwards, the MWA membership began to express concern over the inclusion of Linda Fairstein as a Grand Master, citing controversy in which she has been involved.

When the MWA Board made its selection, it was unaware of Ms. Fairstein’s role in the controversy.

After profound reflection, the Board has decided that MWA cannot move forward with an award that lacks the support of such a large percentage of our members. Therefore, the Board of Directors has decided to withdraw the Linda Fairstein Grand Master award. We realize that this action will be unsatisfactory to many. We apologize for any pain and disappointment this situation has caused.

MWA will be reevaluating and significantly revising its procedures for selecting honorary awards in the future. We hope our members will all work with us to move forward from this extremely troubling event and continue to build a strong and inclusive organization.

The Los Angeles Times published a piece about the controversy on November 27 by Steph Cha, a novelist, editor and attorney, and a member of Mystery Writers of America since 2013 — “Writer Linda Fairstein’s past as a prosecutor overseeing the Central Park Five case causes award controversy”.

…The Five served six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were vacated following the confession of a serial rapist, confirmed by DNA evidence, in 2002. Fairstein has never apologized or changed her position on their guilt. (Nor has Donald Trump, who in 1989 took out full-page newspaper ads in New York City calling for the return of the death penalty after the teens were arrested.) Only four months ago, in a letter to the editor of the New York Law Journal, Fairstein maintained that “the questioning [of the Central Park Five] was respectful, dignified, carried out according to the letter of the law and with sensitivity to the young age of the men.”

… Her presence among us should be the scandal of every conference — it probably would’ve been earlier if there had been more crime writers of color when the Five were exonerated in 2002. But at some point, her background must have become old news, an uncomfortable thing the larger crime world has been happy to ignore. How many of us have been polite to her on accident because the rest of us were polite to her on purpose?

Tacit approval is one thing, of course; the Grand Master Award is another. Mystery Writers of America has made a lot of fuss about diversity over the last few years, and I do believe that the mystery community has made some meaningful strides toward inclusion. But we’re apparently still at a place where the board of Mystery Writers of America thinks calling the white prosecutor who oversaw the conviction of innocent black boys “Grand Master” is a good idea. It’s also worth noting that the Edgar Awards banquet will take place in April, almost exactly 30 years after the Five were wrongfully arrested and imprisoned….

Attica Locke’s comment on MWA’s action was:

Fairstein has not tweeted a response to the withdrawal.

[Thanks to Mark Hepworth and Andrew Porter for the story.]

MWA’s 2019 Special Edgar Awards Include Protested Grand Master

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Mystery Writers of America has named two new Grand Masters – Linda Fairstein and Martin Cruz Smith — plus the winners of several other awards: “MWA Announces 2019 Special Edgar Awards – Grand Master, Raven and Ellery Queen Award Recipients”. However, Fairstein’s selection is being protested by one of last year’s Edgar-winning writers.

2019 Grand Masters

MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality.

Martin Cruz Smith, the son of a jazz musician and a Native American chanteuse, is perhaps best known for his eight-novel series featuring Arkady Renko, who first appeared in Gorky Park. That book was turned into an award-winning motion picture starring William Hurt and Lee Marvin. Even before his breakout with the Arkady series, Smith had received two Edgar nominations for books in his Roman Gray series, Gypsy in Amber (1971) and Canto for a Gypsy (1972). Both books were originally published under his birth name, Martin Smith, but when he learned that there were six other Martin Smiths who wrote novels he adopted Cruz, his paternal grandmother’s surname, to differentiate himself. Smith also received an Edgar nomination in 1978 for Nightwing, a standalone that drew upon his own tribal ancestry, and has written more than thirty novels in a career that spans nearly five decades.

“When I was a mere strip of a ‘gunsel’, I attended the 1971 Mystery Writers Edgar Award dinner,” Smith said when informed of the honor. “I was overwhelmed to be in the presence of talents like Dick Francis, Donald Westlake and Ross McDonald. Once again, I find myself in the company of wonderful mystery writers at the height of their talent. I’m knocked out, floored and honored. Spasibo.”

Linda Fairstein became a sex-crimes prosecutor during a time when sex crimes were almost impossible to prosecute. In her 30-year tenure at the Manhattan DA’s Office, she was a pioneer in the war against rape, fighting for historic changes to the criminal justice system and for justice on behalf of victims of the most heinous crimes. When she left the District Attorney’s office in 2002, she became a novelist – writing about her alter-ego, Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. Ms. Fairstein’s first novel, Final Jeopardy, was a New York Times bestseller and made into an ABC Movie of the Week starring Dana Delaney. Ms. Fairstein has since written twenty Alexandra Cooper mysteries, most of which have become instant New York Times bestsellers, and which have been translated into dozens of languages. Her novels draw on Ms. Fairstein’s legal expertise as well as her knowledge of and affection for the rich history of the city of New York.

Attica Locke, who won a 2018 Edgar Award for her novel Bluebird, Bluebird, a mystery featuring a black Texas Ranger as protagonist, is calling on MWA to withdraw Fairstein’s honors. Locke’s thread starts here.

MWA has responded, saying they are “Addressing concerns about a Grand Master recipient” —

We are taking seriously the issues raised by Attica Locke. Our Board is going to discuss these concerns as soon as possible and make a further statement soon.

Paraphrasing the Wikipedia:

Linda Fairstein’s office supervised the prosecution in 1990 of the Central Park Jogger case, which ended in the conviction of five teenagers who were later exonerated of any part in the crime. In a settlement lawsuit it was claimed that Fairstein, with the assistance of the detectives at the 20th precinct, coerced false confessions from the five arrested teenagers following thirty straight hours of interrogation and intimidation, of both the youths and their supporting adults. …Fairstein’s behavior seemed so outrageous that in the 1993 appeals decision on Salaam’s case then appellate court judge Vito Titone specifically named her in his dissenting opinion and said in an interview, “I was concerned about a criminal justice system that would tolerate the conduct of the prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, who deliberately engineered the 15-year-old’s confession. … Fairstein wanted to make a name. She didn’t care. She wasn’t a human.” All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime…

Three of the defendants sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress. A proposed settlement in the case was reached on June 19, 2014.

Ken Burns made a film about The Central Park Five (2012), and Ava DuVernay is producing a miniseries for Netflix, Central Park Five (2019).

Raven Award

The Raven Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.

Marilyn Stasio will receive the 2019 Raven Award. Ms. Stasio has been the mystery critic for the New York Times Book Review (and other magazines) for thirty years—since 1988—with hundreds of books coming under her loving, unforgiving, eye.  Whether her judgment is elegiac or brutal, when it comes to the mystery genre, a Stasio review is a thing to be treasured or feared, but always learned from.

“Goodness, I feel like Sally Field.  (“Wow!  You like me!  You actually like me!”)  When I think of the great people the MWA has honored in the past — people like Edward Gorey and Vincent Price — I want to duck behind the door.  My only wish is that those great guys were still around to hand me the Raven, which I promise to treasure.”

Ellery Queen Award

The Ellery Queen Award was established in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.”

Linda Landrigan. Ms. Landrigan came to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in 1997 as an associate editor and has been its editor since 2002. Under her leadership, the magazine has not only continued to thrive but has also navigated dramatic changes in the publishing industry—she has overseen the introduction of AHHM in digital formats as well as the creation of a podcast series featuring audio recordings of stories from the magazine as well as interviews with authors.

The 73rd Annual Edgar Awards Banquet will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on April 25, 2019.

2018 Edgar Awards Winners

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The Mystery Writers of America named the winners of the 2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards on April 26. The awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced last year.

BEST NOVEL

  • Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper (HarperCollins – Ecco)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • Chester B. Himes: A Biography by Lawrence P. Jackson (W.W. Norton & Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Spring Break” – New Haven Noir by John Crowley (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

  • Vanished! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster – Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “Somebody to Love” – Fargo, Teleplay by Noah Hawley (FX Networks/MGM)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

  • “The Queen of Secrets” – New Haven Noir by Lisa D. Gray (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTER

  • Jane Langton
  • William Link
  • Peter Lovesey

RAVEN AWARD

  • Kristopher Zgorski, BOLO Books
  • The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence Kansas

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Robert Pépin

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

  • The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins – William Morrow Paperbacks)

2018 Edgar Awards Nominees

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The Mystery Writers of America have revealed the nominees for the 2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2016. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners on April 26.

BEST NOVEL

  • The Dime by Kathleen Kent (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)
  • Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr (Penguin Random House – Marian Wood Books/G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)
  • A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Books)
  • The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (Penguin Random House – The Dial Press)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper (HarperCollins – Ecco)
  • Dark Chapter by Winnie M. Li (Polis Books)
  • Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love (Penguin Random House – Crown)
  • Tornado Weather by Deborah E. Kennedy (Macmillan – Flatiron Books)
  • Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (Random House)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)
  • Ragged Lake by Ron Corbett (ECW Press)
  • Black Fall by Andrew Mayne (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper Paperbacks)
  • The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)
  • Penance by Kanae Minato (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)
  • The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong (Text Publishing)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
  • The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
    American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse (W.W. Norton & Company – Liveright)
  • The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill and Rachel McCarthy James (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
  • Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation by Brad Ricca (St. Martin’s Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women who Created an Icon by Mattias Bostrom (Grove/Atlantic – The Mysterious Press)
  • Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier by Tatiana de Rosnay (St. Martin’s Press)
  • Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall by Curtis Evans (McFarland Publishing)
  • Chester B. Himes: A Biography by Lawrence P. Jackson (W.W. Norton & Company)
  • Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes by Michael Sims (Bloomsbury USA)

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Spring Break” – New Haven Noir by John Crowley (Akashic Books)
  • “Hard to Get” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Jeffery Deaver (Dell Magazines)
  • “Ace in the Hole” – Montana Noir by Eric Heidle (Akashic Books)
  • “A Moment of Clarity at the Waffle House” – Atlanta Noir by Kenji Jasper (Akashic Books)
  • “Chin Yong-Yun Stays at Home” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by S.J. Rozan (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

  • Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)
  • Vanished! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
  • The Assassin’s Curse by Kevin Sands (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
  • First Class Murder by Robin Stevens (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
  • NewsPrints by Ru Xu (Scholastic – Graphix)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Feiwel & Friends)
  • Grit by Gillian French (HarperCollins Publishers – HarperTeen)
  • The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (Simon & Schuster)
  • Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster – Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins Publishers – Balzer + Bray)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “Episode 1” – Loch Ness, Teleplay by Stephen Brady (Acorn TV)
  • “Something Happened” – Law and Order: SVU, Teleplay by Michael Chernuchin (NBC Universal/Wolf Entertainment)
  • “Somebody to Love” – Fargo, Teleplay by Noah Hawley (FX Networks/MGM)
  • “Gently and the New Age” – George Gently, Teleplay by Robert Murphy (Acorn TV)
  • “The Blanket Mire” – Vera, Teleplay by Paul Matthew Thompson & Martha Hillier (Acorn TV)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

  • “The Queen of Secrets” – New Haven Noir by Lisa D. Gray (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTER

  • Jane Langton
  • William Link
  • Peter Lovesey

RAVEN AWARD

  • Kristopher Zgorski, BOLO Books
  • The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence Kansas

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Robert Pépin

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

  • The Vineyard Victims by Ellen Crosby (Minotaur)
  • You’ll Never Know Dear by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
  • The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins – William Morrow Paperbacks)
  • Uncorking a Lie by Nadine Nettmann (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
  • The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins – William Morrow Paperbacks)

2017 Edgar Awards

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Mystery Writers of America have announced the winners of the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2016. The awards were presented on April 27 in New York City.

BEST NOVEL

  • Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton – Liveright)

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)

BEST JUVENILE

  • OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “A Blade of Grass” – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD 

  • “The Truth of the Moment” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine  by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

  • Max Allan Collins
  • Ellen Hart

RAVEN AWARD

  • Dru Ann Love

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Neil Nyren

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

  • The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

2017 Edgar Awards Nominees

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The Mystery Writers of America have revealed the nominees for the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2016. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners on April 27.

BEST NOVEL

  • The Ex by Alafair Burke (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
  • Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
  • Dodgers by Bill Beverly (Crown Publishing Group)
  • IQ by Joe Ide (Little, Brown & Company – Mulholland Books)
  • The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Dancing with the Tiger by Lili Wright (Penguin Random House – Marian Wood Book/Putnam)
  • The Lost Girls by Heather Young (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • Shot in Detroit by Patricia Abbott (Polis Books)
  • Come Twilight by Tyler Dilts (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
  • The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
  • Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
  • A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
  • Heart of Stone by James W. Ziskin (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • Morgue: A Life in Death by Dr. Vincent DiMaio & Ron Franscell (St. Martin’s Press)
  • The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan by Laurence Leamer (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder That Shocked Victorian England by Paul Thomas Murphy (Pegasus Books)
  • While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man’s Descent into Madness by Eli Sanders (Penguin Random House – Viking Books)
  • The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd (Penguin Random House – Nan A. Talese)
  • Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967 by Mitzi M. Brunsdale (McFarland & Company)
  • Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton – Liveright)
  • Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula by David J. Skal (W.W. Norton – Liveright)

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “Oxford Girl” – Mississippi Noir by Megan Abbott (Akashic Books)
  • “A Paler Shade of Death” – St. Louis Noir by Laura Benedict (Akashic Books)
  • “Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)
  • “The Music Room” – In Sunlight or in Shadow  by Stephen King (Pegasus Books)
  • “The Crawl Space” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Joyce Carol Oates (Dell Magazines)

BEST JUVENILE

  • Summerlost by Ally Condie (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton BFYR)
  • OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
  • The Bad Kid by Sarah Lariviere by  (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
  • Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand  (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
  • Framed! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
  • Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger (Simon & Schuster – Simon Pulse)
  • The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Henry Holt BFYR)
  • Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
  • My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (Soho Press – Soho Teen)
  • Thieving Weasels by Billy Taylor (Penguin Random House – Penguin Young Readers – Dial Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “Episode 1 – From the Ashes of Tragedy” – The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Teleplay by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (FX Network)
  • “The Abominable Bride” – Sherlock, Teleplay by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat (Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
  • “Episode 1 – Dark Road” – Vera, Teleplay by Martha Hillier (Acorn TV)
  • “A Blade of Grass” – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)
  • “Return 0” – Person of Interest, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Denise The (CBS/Warner Brothers)
  • “The Bicameral Mind” – Westworld, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy (HBO/Warner Bros. Television)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

  • “The Truth of the Moment” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

RAVEN AWARD

  • Dru Ann Love

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Neil Nyren

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

  • The Other Sister by Dianne Dixon (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)
  • Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
  • Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Tor/Forge Books – Forge Books)
  • Blue Moon by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • [Thanks to Bill for the story.]

2017 Special Edgar Awards

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Mystery Writers of America has announced the recipients of the 2017 Special Edgar Awards.

GRAND MASTERS. Max Allan Collins and Ellen Hart have been chosen as the 2017 Grand Masters by Mystery Writers of America (MWA). They will receive their awards at the 71st Annual Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City on April 27.

  • Max Allan Collins sold his first two novels in 1972 while a student at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop.  More than one hundred novels have followed, including his award winning and groundbreaking Nathan Heller historical series, starting with True Detective (1983). His graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998) is the basis of the Academy Award winning 2002 film starring Tom Hanks.  His other comics credits include the syndicated strip “Dick Tracy”; his own “Ms. Tree”; and “Batman.”  For the hit TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, he wrote ten novels selling millions of copies worldwide, and his movie novels include Saving Private Ryan, Air Force One, and American Gangster.
  • Ellen Hart is the author of thirty-two crime novels.  She is the six-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, the four-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, and the three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award for mystery.

RAVEN AWARD. Dru Ann Love will receive the Raven Award for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. She is owner/editor of dru’s book musings, a blog where characters give a glimpse into a day in their life, as well as her musings. Her musings also appear in Crimespree Magazine. She is also a guest blogger at the Stiletto Gang.

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD. Neil Nyren will be honored with The Ellery Queen Award, established in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.” Nyren is the Executive VP, associate publisher and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Random House. He has been at Putnam for over 32 years, and before that, at E.P. Dutton, Little Brown, Random House, Arbor House, and Atheneum.

2016 Edgar Awards

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The Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of the 2016 Edgar Awards on April 28.

Among them is Stephen King’s “Obits,” which was just nominated for a Hugo in the Best Novelette category.

Best Novel

  • Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy (Penguin Random House – Dutton)

Best First Novel

  • The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)

Best Paperback Original

  • The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney (HarperCollin Publishers – William Morrow)

Best Fact Crime

  • Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully by Allen Kurzweil (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)

Best Juvenile

  • Footer Davis Probably is Crazy Susan Vaught (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

Best Young Adult

  • A Madness So Discreet by by Mindy McGinnis (HarperCollins Publishers – Katherine Tegen Books)

Best Short Story

  • “Obits” – Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

TV Episode Teleplay

  • “Gently with the Women” – George Gently, Teleplay by Peter Flannery (Acorn TV)

Robert L. Fish Memorial

  • “Chung Ling Soo’s Greatest Trick” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Russell W. Johnson (Dell Magazines)

Mary Higgins Clark

  • Little Pretty Things by Lori Rader-Day (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

Grand Master

  • Walter Mosley

Raven Awards

  • Margaret Kinsman, Sisters in Crime

Ellery Queen Award

  • Janet Rudolph, Founder of Mystery Readers International

2016 Edgar Award Nominees

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The 2016 Edgar Award nominees have been announced by the Mystery Writers of America. The awards will be presented April 28 in New York.

BEST NOVEL

  • The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • The Lady From Zagreb by Philip Kerr (Penguin Random House – A Marian Wood Book)
  • Life or Death by Michael Robotham (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland Books)
  • Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy (Penguin Random House – Dutton)
  • Canary by Duane Swierczynski (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland Books)
  • Night Life by David C. Taylor (Forge Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster)
  • The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)
  • Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm (Penguin Random House – Viking)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland Books
  • What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • Woman with a Blue Pencil by Gordon McAlpine (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
  • Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
  • The Daughter by Jane Shemilt (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide by Eric Bogosian (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
  • Where The Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him by T.J. English (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully by Allen Kurzweil (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
  • Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)
  • American Pain: How a Young Felon and his Ring of Doctors Unleashed America’s Deadliest Drug Epidemic by John Temple (Rowman & Littlefield – Lyons Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins Publishers – HarperCollins)
  • The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald by Suzanne Marrs and Tom Nolan (Arcade Publishing)
  • Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica by Matthew Parker (Pegasus Books)
  • The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett by Nathan Ward (Bloomsbury Publishing – Bloomsbury USA)

BEST SHORT STORY

  • “The Little Men” – Mysterious Bookshop by Megan Abbott (Mysterious Bookshop)
  • “On Borrowed Time” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Mat Coward (Dell Magazines)
  • “The Saturday Night Before Easter Sunday” – Providence Noir by Peter Farrelly (Akashic Books)
  • “Family Treasures” – Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson (Random House)
  • “Obits” – Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
  • “Every Seven Years” – Mysterious Bookshop by Denise Mina (Mysterious Bookshop)

BEST JUVENILE

  • Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi (Algonquin Young Readers – Workman)
  • If You Find This by Matthew Baker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C.Chester (HarperCollins Publishers – HarperCollins Children’s Books)
  • Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
  • Footer Davis Probably is Crazy by Susan Vaught (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • Endangered by Lamar Giles (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
  • A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (HarperCollins Publishers – Katherine Tegen Books)
  • The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)
  • The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (Algonquin Young Readers – Workman)
  • Ask the Dark by Henry Turner (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – Clarion Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “Episode 7,” – Broadchurch, Teleplay by Chris Chibnall (BBC America)
  • “Gently with the Women” – George Gently, Teleplay by Peter Flannery (Acorn TV)
  • “Elise – The Final Mystery” – Foyle’s War, Teleplay by Anthony Horowitz (Acorn TV)
  • “Terra Incognita” – Person of Interest, Teleplay by Erik Mountain & Melissa Scrivner Love (CBS/Warner Brothers)
  • “The Beating of her Wings” – Ripper Street, Teleplay by Richard Warlow (BBC America)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

  • “Chung Ling Soo’s Greatest Trick” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Russell W. Johnson (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

  • Walter Mosley

RAVEN AWARDS

  • Margaret Kinsman
  • Sisters in Crime

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Janet Rudolph, Founder of Mystery Readers International

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

  • A Woman Unknown by Frances Brody (Minotaur Books – A Thomas Dunne Book)
  • The Masque of a Murderer by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur Books)
  • Night Night, Sleep Tight by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
  • The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
  • Little Pretty Things by Lori Rader-Day (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

[Via Nick Mamatas.]

2015 Edgar Award Winners

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Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2015 Edgar Allan poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2014.

BEST NOVEL

  • Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

  • Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman (W.W. Norton)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

  • The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

  • Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

  • Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe by J.W. Ocker (W.W. Norton – Countryman Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

“What Do You Do?” – Rogues by Gillian Flynn (Penguin Random House Publishing – Bantam Books)

BEST JUVENILE

  • Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

  • The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Algonquin Young Readers)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

  • “Episode 1” – Happy Valley, Teleplay by Sally Wainwright (Netflix)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

  • “Getaway Girl” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine By Zoë Z. Dean (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

  • Lois Duncan
  • James Ellroy

RAVEN AWARDS

  • Ruth & Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
  • Kathryn Kennison, Magna Cum Murder

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

  • Charles Ardai, Editor & Founder, Hard Case Crime

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Tuesday, April 28, 2015)

  • The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)

[Via Nick Mamatas.]