Edgars All Around

During a banquet held last evening in New York City, the Mystery Writers of America declared the winners of its 2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, “honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in 2017.” Congratulations are owed to the victors as well as to the other nominees.

Best Novel: Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke (Mulholland)

Also nominated: The Dime, by Kathleen Kent (Mulholland); Prussian Blue, by Philip Kerr (Putnam); A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus); and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, by Hannah Tinti (Dial Press)

Best First Novel by an American Author: She Rides Shotgun,
by Jordan Harper (Ecco)

Also nominated: Dark Chapter, by Winnie M. Li (Polis); Lola, by Melissa Scrivner Love (Crown); Tornado Weather, by Deborah E. Kennedy (Flatiron); and Idaho, by Emily Ruskovich (Random House)

Best Paperback Original: The Unseeing, by Anna Mazzola (Sourcebooks Landmark)

Also nominated: In Farleigh Field, by Rhys Bowen (Thomas & Mercer); Ragged Lake, by Ron Corbett (ECW Press); Black Fall, by Andrew Mayne (Harper); Penance, by Kanae Minato (Mulholland); and The Rules of Backyard Cricket, by Jock Serong (Text)

Best Fact Crime: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann (Doubleday)

Also nominated: 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 (Liveright); The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery, by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James (Scribner); and 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: Chester B. Himes: A Biography,
by Lawrence P. Jackson (Norton)

Also nominated: From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon, by Mattias Bostrom (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); and Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes,
by Michael Sims (Bloomsbury USA)

Best Short Story: “Spring Break,” by John Crowley (from New Haven Noir, edited by Amy Bloom; Akashic)

Also nominated: “Hard to Get,” by Jeffery Deaver (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2017); “Ace in the Hole,” by Eric Heidle (from Montana Noir, edited by James Grady and Keir Graff; Akashic); “A Moment of Clarity at the Waffle House,” by Kenji Jasper (from Atlanta Noir, edited by Tayari Jones; Akashic); and “Chin Yong-Yun Stays at Home,” by S.J. Rozan (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2017)

Best Juvenile: Vanished! by James Ponti (Aladdin)

Also nominated: Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson (Scholastic Press); The Assassin’s Curse, by Kevin Sands (Aladdin); First Class Murder, by Robin Stevens (Simon & Schuster); and NewsPrints, by Ru Xu (Graphix)

Best Young Adult: Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum)

Also nominated: The Cruelty, by Scott Bergstrom (Feiwel & Friends); Grit, by Gillian French (HarperTeen); The Impossible Fortress, by Jason Rekulak (Simon & Schuster); and The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)

Best Television Episode Teleplay: “Somebody to Love,” Fargo, teleplay by Noah Hawley (FX Networks/MGM)

Also nominated: “Episode 1,” Loch Ness, teleplay by Stephen Brady (Acorn TV); “Something Happened,” Law & Order: SVU, teleplay by Michael Chernuchin (NBC Universal/Wolf Entertainment); “Gently and the New Age,” George Gently, teleplay by Robert Murphy (Acorn TV); and “The Blanket Mire,” Vera, teleplay by Paul Matthew Thompson and Martha Hillier (Acorn TV)

The Simon & Schuster/Mary Higgins Clark Award: The Widow’s House, by Carol Goodman (Morrow)

Also nominated: The Vineyard Victims, by Ellen Crosby (Minotaur); You’ll Never Know, Dear, by Hallie Ephron (Morrow); Uncorking a Lie, by Nadine Nettmann (Midnight Ink); and The Day I Died, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

In addition, authors Jane Langton, Peter Lovesey, and William Link (who attended this affair in a wheelchair) received the 2018 Grand Master Awards; Kristopher Zgorski of BOLO Books and The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas, were both honored with Raven Awards; Robert Pépin was this year’s recipient of the Ellery Queen Award; and “The Queen of Secrets,” by Lisa D. Gray (from New Haven Noir; Akashic), won the winner of the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award.

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)