A Pretty Impressive Line-up

Right on schedule, the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) this morning announced its contenders for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, “honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in 2010.” Congratulations to all of the nominees.

Best Novel:
• Caught, by Harlan Coben (Dutton)
• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin (Morrow)
• Faithful Place, by Tana French (Viking)
• The Queen of Patpong, by Timothy Hallinan (Morrow)
• The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur)
• I’d Know You Anywhere, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

Best First Novel by an American Author:
• Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva (Forge)
• The Poacher’s Son, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)
• The Serialist, by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)
• Galveston, by Nic Pizzolatto (Scribner)
• Snow Angels, by James Thompson (Putnam)

Best Paperback Original:
• Long Time Coming, by Robert Goddard (Bantam)
• The News Where You Are, by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)
• Expiration Date, by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur)
• Vienna Secrets, by Frank Tallis (Random House)
• Ten Little Herrings, by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

Best Fact Crime:
• Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity, by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press-Bison)
• The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South, by Alex Heard (HarperCollins)
• Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery, by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz (Scribner)
• Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin, by Hampton Sides (Doubleday)
• The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science, by Douglas Starr (Knopf)

Best Critical/Biographical:
• The Wire: Truth Be Told, by Rafael Alvarez (Grove Press)
• Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, by John Curran (HarperCollins)
• Sherlock Holmes for Dummies, by Steven Doyle and
David A. Crowder (Wiley)
• Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History, by Yunte Huang (Norton)
• Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)

Best Short Story:
• “The Scent of Lilacs,” by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2010)
• “The Plot,” by Jeffery Deaver (from First Thrills, edited by
Lee Child; Forge)
• “A Good Safe Place,” by Judith Green (from Thin Ice, edited by Mark Ammons, Kat Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best Books)
• “Monsieur Alice Is Absent, by Stephen Ross (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, October 2010)
• “The Creative Writing Murders,” by Edmund White (from Dark End of the Street, edited by Jonathan Santlofer and S.J. Rozan; Bloomsbury)

Best Juvenile:
• Zora and Me, by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
• The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy, by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)
• The Haunting of Charles Dickens, by Lewis Buzbee (Feiwel & Friends)
• Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol, by Jim Krieg (Razorbill)
• The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, by Ben H. Winters (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Best Young Adult:
• The River, by Mary Jane Beaufrand (Little, Brown Books for
Young Readers)
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• 7 Souls, by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
• The Interrogation of Gabriel James, by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers)
• Dust City, by Robert Paul Weston (Razorbill)

Best Play:
• The Psychic, by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre, Burbank, California)
• The Tangled Skirt, by Steve Braunstein (New Jersey Repertory Co.)
• The Fall of the House, by Robert Ford (Alabama Shakespeare Festival)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:
• “Episode 1,” Luther, teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
• “Episode 4,” Luther, teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
• “Full Measure,” Breaking Bad, teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
• “No Mas,” Breaking Bad, teleplay by Vince Gilligan (AMC/Sony)
• “The Next One’s Gonna Go In Your Throat,” Damages, teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)

The Simon & Schuster-Mary Higgins Clark Award (presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 27, 2010):
• Wild Penance, by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime)
• Blood Harvest, by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur)
• Down River, by Karen Harper (Mira)
• The Crossing Places, by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Live to Tell, by Wendy Corsi Staub (Avon)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award: “Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man,” by Evan Lewis (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, February 2010)

Grand Master: Sara Paretsky

Raven Awards: Centuries & Sleuths (owned by Augie Alesky) in Chicago, and Once Upon a Crime (owned by Pat Frovarp and Gary Schulze) in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Winners will receive their acclaim and commendations during the 65th Edgar Awards Banquet, which is to be held on April 28 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.