2026 EDGAR AWARD NOMINEES
Mystery Writers of America announced the winners for the 2026 Edgar Awards as follows:
BEST NOVEL: (7)
The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Fagin the Thief, by Allison Epstein (Doubleday)
The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami (Pantheon Books)
Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books)
Hard Town, by Adam Plantinga (Grand Central Publishing)
The Inheritance, by Trisha Sakhlecha (Pamela Dorman Books)
Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Grand Central Publishing)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: (5)
Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch (William Morrow)
All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam Books)
Johnny Careless, by Kevin Wade (Celadon Books)
History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: (5)
Listen, by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin Books)
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, by Holly Kennedy (Amazon Publishing - Lake Union)
Broke Road, by Matthew Spencer (Thomas & Mercer)
The Backwater, by Vikki Wakefield (Poisoned Pen Press)
One Death at a Time, by Abbi Waxman (Berkley)
BEST FACT CRIME: (5)
They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, by Mariah Blake (Crown)
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, by Michael Cannell (Minotaur Books)
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home, by Gregg Olsen (Thomas & Mercer)
Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Dutton)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL: (5)
V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury - Sigma)
The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness, by Andrew Klavan (HarperCollins - Zondervan)
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)
Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins (Mariner Books)
Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock's Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train, by Stephen Rebello (Running Press)
BEST SHORT STORY: (6)
"Reading at Night," by Graham Greene (The Strand Magazine)
"The One That Got Away," by Charlaine Harris (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2025)
"Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile," by Gregg Hurwitz (Mysterious Press)
"Lucky Heart," by Tim Maleeny (in Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed; Down & Out Books)
"The Kill Clause," by Lisa Unger (Amazon Original Stories)
"Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush," by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)
BEST JUVENILE: (6)
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum, by Alasdair Beckett-King (Candlewick Press)
What Happened Then, by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press)
A Study in Secrets, by Debbi Michiko Florence (Simon & Schuster - Aladdin)
Blood in the Water, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)
The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls, by Judith Rossell (Dial)
Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press)
BEST YOUNG ADULT: (5)
Under the Same Stars, by Libba Bray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Catch Your Death, by Ravena Guron (Sourcebooks Fire)
This is Where We Die, by Cindy R.X. He (Sourcebooks Fire)
The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree Books)
Codebreaker, by Jay Martel (Wednesday Books)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY: (5)
"End of the Line," Written by Michael Alaimo & Kendall Sherwood (in Ballard; Amazon/Fabel)
"Pilot," Written by Dan Fogelman (in Paradise; Hulu)
"Episode 101," Written by Sterlin Harjo (in The Lowdown; FX on Hulu)
"These Girls," Written by Nikki Toscano & Liz Moore (in Long Bright River; Peacock)
"Ye'iitsoh (Big Monster)," Written by John Wirth & Steven Paul Judd (in Dark Winds; AMC)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD: (5)
"A Textbook Example," by Luis Avalos (in Sacramento Noir; Akashic Books)
"How It Happened," by Billie Kay Fern (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July/August 2025)
"Baggage," by Rick Marcou (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2025)
"Bloodsurf," by Tiffany D. Plunkett (in Hollywood Kills; Level Short)
"Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland," by Robert Rotstein (in Hollywood Kills; Level Short)
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD: (5)
Five Found Dead, by Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press)
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Minotaur Books)
No Comfort for the Dead, by R.P. O'Donnell (Crooked Lane Books)
All This Could Be Yours ,by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur Books)
Last Dance Before Dawn, by Katharine Schellman (Minotaur Books)
THE G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD: (5)
Cold as Hell, by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur Books)
Rage: A Novel, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur Books)
Fallen Star, by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)
The Red Letter, by Daniel G. Miller (Poisoned Pen Press)
Gone in the Night, by Joanna Schaffhausen (Minotaur Books)
THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD: (5)
Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library, by Amandah Chapman (Berkley)
A Senior Citizen's Guide to Life on the Run, by Gwen Florio (Severn House)
The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, by Jo Nichols (Minotaur Books)
Murder Two Doors Down, by Chuck Storla (Crooked Lane Books)
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man), by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)
Two Grand Master Award Recipients:
Donna Andrews
Lee Child
Raven Award Recipient:
Book Passage, Bookstore & Cafe, in Corte Madera, California
Ellery Queen Award Recipient:
John Scognamiglio, Editor-in-Chief at Kensington Books
The Edgar Award winners were announced at the Edgar Awards Ceremony held on Wednesday, April 29 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City.
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