The Edgars Find Their Authors

During a “gala banquet” held this evening in New York City, the Mystery Writers of America announced its list of 2019 Edgar Award recipients. Congratulations to both the winners and other nominees.

Best Novel:
Down the River Unto the Sea, by Walter Mosley (Mulholland)

Also nominated: The Liar’s Girl, by Catherine Ryan Howard (Blackstone); House Witness, by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press); A Gambler’s Jury, by Victor Methos (Thomas & Mercer); Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth); and A Treacherous Curse, by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Best First Novel by an American Author:
Bearskin, by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

Also nominated: A Knife in the Fog, by Bradley Harper (Seventh Street); The Captives, by Debra Jo Immergut (Ecco); The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, by Nova Jacobs (Touchstone); and Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (Putnam)

Best Paperback Original:
If I Die Tonight, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)

Also nominated: Hiroshima Boy, by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park); Under a Dark Sky, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow); The Perfect Nanny, by Leila Slimani (Penguin); and Under My Skin, by Lisa Unger (Park Row)

Best Fact Crime:
Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge First and the Rise of Gay Liberation, by Robert W. Fieseler (Liveright)

Also nominated: Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack, Blood, and Betrayal, by Jonathan Green (Norton); The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure, by Carl Hoffman (Morrow); The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking); I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (Harper); and The Good Mothers: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World’s Most Powerful Mafia, by Alex Perry (Morrow)

Best Critical/Biographical:
Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books)

Also nominated: The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction, by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland); Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession, by Alice Bolin (Morrow); Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn’s Father? by Yasuhiro Takeuchi (Routledge); and Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life, by Laura Thompson (Pegasus)

Best Short Story:
“English 398: Fiction Workshop,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2018)

Also nominated: “Rabid,“ by Paul Doiron (Minotaur e-book); “Paranoid Enough for Two,” by John Lutz (from The Havana Game; Kensington); “Ancient and Modern,” by Val McDermid (from Bloody Scotland, edited by James Crawford; Pegasus); and “The Sleep Tight Motel,” by Lisa Unger (Amazon e-book)

Best Juvenile:
Otherwood, by Pete Hautman (Candlewick Press)

Also nominated: Denis Ever After, by Tony Abbott (Katherine Tegen); Zap! by Martha Freeman (Paula Wiseman); Ra the Mighty: Cat Detective, by A.B. Greenfield (Holiday House); Winterhouse, by Ben Guterson (Henry Holt); Charlie & Frog, by Karen Kane (Disney Hyperion); and Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground, by T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)

Best Young Adult:
Sadie, by Courtney Summers (Wednesday)

Also nominated: Contagion, by Erin Bowman (HarperCollins); Blink, by Sasha Dawn (Carolrhoda Lab); After the Fire, by Will Hill (Sourcebooks Fire); and A Room Away from the Wolves, by Nova Ren Suma (Algonquin)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:
“The One That Holds Everything,” The Romanoffs, teleplay by Matthew Weiner and Donald Joh (Amazon Prime Video)

Also nominated: “The Box,” Brooklyn Nine-Nine, teleplay by Luke Del Tredici (NBC/Universal TV); “Season 2, Episode 1,” Jack Irish, teleplay by Andrew Knight (Acorn TV); “Episode 1,” Mystery Road, teleplay by Michaeley O’Brien (Acorn TV); and “My Aim Is True,” Blue Bloods, teleplay by Kevin Wade (CBS Eye Productions)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“How Does He Die This Time?” by Nancy Novick (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2018)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: A Death of No Importance, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur); A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); Bone on Bone, by Julia Keller (Minotaur); and A Borrowing of Bones, by Paula Munier (Minotaur)

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
Shell Game, by Sara Paretsky (Morrow)

Also nominated: Perish, by Lisa Black (Kensington); City of Secrets, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley); A Forgotten Place, by Charles Todd (Morrow); and To Die But Once, by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

In addition, Martin Cruz Smith was named as this year’s sole Grand Master Award winner (after a second such prize was denied to fellow author Linda Fairstein). New York Times mystery-fiction columnist Marilyn Stasio received this year’s Raven Award (honoring “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing”). And Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan was presented with the 2019 Ellery Queen Award, which recognizes “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.”