Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Eager for the Edgars

Earlier today, the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) announced the nominees for its 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. There are nine categories of contenders. The winners will be revealed and their commendations presented during a special ceremony on Saturday, May 1, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

Best Novel:
The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)
Rough Trade, by Katrina Carrasco (MCD)
Things Don’t Break on Their Own, by Sarah Easter Collins (Crown)
My Favorite Scar, by Nicolás Ferraro (Soho Crime)
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera (Celadon)
The In Crowd, by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)

Best First Novel by an American Author:
Twice the Trouble, by Ash Clifton (Crooked Lane)
Cold to the Touch, by Kerri Hakoda (Crooked Lane)
The Mechanics of Memory, by Audrey Lee (CamCat)
A Jewel in the Crown, by David Lewis (John Scognamiglio)
The President’s Lawyer, by Lawrence Robbins (Atria)
Holy City, by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Paperback Original:
The Paris Widow, by Kimberly Belle (Park Row)
The Vacancy in Room 10, by Seraphina Nova Glass (Graydon House)
Shell Games, by Bonnie Kistler (Harper Paperbacks)
A Forgotten Kill, by Isabella Maldonado (Thomas & Mercer)
The Road to Heaven, by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson (Dundurn Press)

Best Fact Crime:
Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers, by Frank
Figliuzzi (Mariner)
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective, by Steven Johnson (Crown)
A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton, by Deb Miller Landau (Pegasus Crime)
The Amish Wife: Unraveling the Lies, Secrets, and Conspiracy that Let a Killer Go Free, by Gregg Olsen (Thomas & Mercer)
Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America's Second Slavery, by Earl Swift (Mariner)
The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age, by Michael Wolraich (Union Square)

Best Critical/Biographical:

James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, by Nathan
Ashman (McFarland)
American Noir Film: From The Maltese Falcon to Gone Girl, by M. Keith Booker (Rowman & Littlefield)
Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows, by David Geherin (McFarland)
On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett, by Ashley Lawson (Ohio State University Press)
Ian Fleming; The Complete Man, by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harper)

Best Short Story:
“Cut and Thirst,” by Margaret Atwood (Amazon Original Stories)
“Everywhere You Look,” by Liv Constantine (Amazon
Original Stories)
“Eat My Moose,” by Erika Krouse (from Conjunctions, Spring 2024 “Works and Days” issue; Bard College)
“Barriers to Entry,” by Ariel Lawhon (Amazon Original Stories)
“The Art of Cruel Embroidery,” by Steven Sheil (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July-August 2024)

Best Juvenile:
The Beanstalk Murder, by P.G. Bell (Feiwel & Friends)
Mystery of Mystic Mountain,by Janet Fox (BFYR)
Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Stolen Key, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Quill Tree)
The Spindle of Fate, by Aimee Lim (Feiwel & Friends)
Find Her, by Ginger Reno (Holiday House)

Best Young Adult:
Looking for Smoke, by K.A. Cobell (Heartdrum)
The Bitter End, by Alexa Donne (Random House Books for
Young Readers)
A Crane Among Wolves, by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends)
Death at Morning House, by Maureen Johnson (Harper Teen)
49 Miles Alone, by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks Fire)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:
“Episode Five,” Rebus, written by Gregory Burke (Viaplay)
“Episode One,” Monsieur Spade, written by Tom Fontana and
Scott Frank (AMC)
“Episode One,” Moonflower Murders, written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece PBS)
“Mirror,” Murderesses, written by Wiktor Piatkowski, Joanna Kozłowska, and Katarzyna Kaczmarek (Viaplay)
“Episode Two,” The Marlow Murder Club, written by Robert Thorogood (Masterpiece PBS)

* * *

The MWA also gives out several additional annual prizes, for which this year’s contenders were also made known this morning.

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“The Legend of Penny and the Luck of the Draw Casino,” by Pat Gaudet (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May-June 2024)
“Head Start,” by Kai Lovelace (EQMM, September-October 2024)
“Murder Under Sedation,” by Lawrence Ong (EQMM,
March-April 2024)
“The Jews on Elm Street,” by Anna Stolley Persky (EQMM, September-October 2024)
“Sparrow Maker,” by Jake Stein (EQMM, November-December 2024)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
The Rose Arbor, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union)
The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, by Michelle
Chouinard (Minotaur)
The Mystery Writer, by Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press)
Return to Wyldcliffe Heights, by Carol Goodman (Morrow Paperbacks)
Death in the Details, by Katie Tietjen (Crooked Lane)

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
Disturbing the Dead, by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur)
A Game of Lies, by Clare Mackintosh (Sourcebooks Landmark)
Proof, by Beverly McLachlin (Simon & Schuster Canada)
A World of Hurt, by Mindy Mejia (Atlantic Monthly Press)
All the Way Gone, by Joanna Schaffhausen (Minotaur)
The Comfort of Ghosts, by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Crime)

The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award:
The Murders in Great Diddling. by Katarina Bivald
(Poisoned Pen Press)
Death and Fromage, by Ian Moore (Poisoned Pen Press)
Booked for Murder, by P.J. Nelson (Minotaur)
Murder on Devil’s Pond, by Ayla Rose (Crooked Lane)
The Treasure Hunters Club, by Tom Ryan (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Laura Lippman and John Sandford (aka John Roswell Camp) were already chosen as this year’s MWA Grand Masters, while the 2025 Raven Award will go to Face in a Book Bookstore & Gifts, in El Dorado Hills, California. Peter Wolverton, executive editor and vice president of St. Martin’s Press, has picked up the 2025 Ellery Award.

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