 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
The Edgar Awards, established in 1946, are named after Edgar Allan Poe, and honor creative works in the mystery genre. The award for Best Novel is presented each spring by the Mystery Writers of America. The list that follows shows the winners for Best Novel, except from 1946 to 1953 when the Novel category reflected "Best First Novel" only. 2008 Best Novel: Down River by John Hart. Best First Novel: In The Woods by Tana French. Buy on Amazon: Down River 2007 The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. A eunuch in Instanbul in 1836 must solve a series of political murders that threaten to tear the city apart. Best First Novel: The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. Buy on Amazon: The Janissary Tree 2006 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter. In Spokane WA in 1980, a guy in the witness protection program enjoys the simple life until his past (involving mobsters and hit men) catches up with him. Buy on Amazon: Citizen Vince 2005 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker. In California in 1968, three brothers (a cop, a minister, and a reporter) try to solve the murder of a young woman whom they knew from childhood. Buy on Amazon: California Girl 2004 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin. Inspector John Rebus is sent back, along with other disgraced cops, to the Scottish police college where he is pressured to infiltrate and expose a group of his fellow officers on the take. Buy on Amazon: Resurrection Men 2003 Winter And Night by S. J. Rozan. NYC PIs Bill Smith and Lydia Chin search for his runaway nephew who may end up the latest murder victim sacrificed to a small town's ruthless obsession with high-school football. Buy on Amazon: Winter and Night 2002 Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker. When a powerful California politician is murdered, his disfigured and lonely son who served throughout the years as his "enforcer" must bring his killer to justice. Buy on Amazon: Silent Joe 2001 The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale. In east Texas in 1933, a young boy discovers the body of a murdered black prostitute, which triggers a nightmarish investigation for his father the town constable who must contend with the Ku Klux Klan and seething racial tensions. Buy on Amazon: The Bottoms 2000 Bones by Jan Burke. Crime reporter Irene Kelly becomes the target of a bizarre serial killer. Buy on Amazon: Bones 1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark. In Depression-era Minnesota, a police lieutenant investigates the strange murder of two dancers, a case further complicated by the fact that the hapless suspect has no short-term memory. Buy on Amazon: Mr. White's Confession 1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke. Billy Bob Holland, an attorney in a small Texas town, takes the case when his troubled illegitimate son is falsely accused of rape and murder. Buy on Amazon: Cimarron Rose 1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas A. Cook. A young and beautiful art teacher comes to a boys' school in 1926 and is eventually driven to madness and murder. 1996 Come To Grief by Dick Francis. Private investigator Sid Halley must investigate why a friend who is blessed with every possible good fortune also has a sadistic streak that leads him to commit crimes. 1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker. Crime reporter Molly Cates becomes suspicious when pressured not to cover the execution of a convicted serial killer; when another murder happens, she wonders if the real killer has been at large all along. 1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters. Rosalind Leigh, a best-selling author, is assigned to interview a woman in prison for murder; increasingly convinced of the woman's innocence, Leigh begins to unravel a sinister cover-up. 1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron. Attorney Deborah Knott investigates the murder of a woman in the North Carolina hill country. This also won the Agatha Award for best cozy mystery in 1992. Buy on Amazon: Bootlegger's Daughter 1992 A Dance At The Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block. Private investigator and recovering alcoholic Matt Scudder descends into the nightmarish New York underworld of prostitution and snuff films to solve a murder mystery. 1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith. When the King of the Carnival is gunned down during Mardi Gras, a police woman who used to be a debutante must solve his murder. 1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke. In order to clear himself of a first-degree murder charge, Dave Robicheaux leaves his Louisiana home to investigate a mob-backed exploitation of tribal lands in Montana. Buy on Amazon: Black Cherry Blues 1989 A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky. Inspector Rostnikov travels to Siberia to investigate a strange murder but must cope with a sinister set of KGB rules designed to hinder his investigation. Buy on Amazon: A Cold Red Sunrise 1988 Old Bones by Aaron Elkins. Anthropologist Gideon Oliver is called in to examine a partial skeleton discovered in the cellar of a recently deceased French Resistance hero. 1987 A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine. A writer researches a 30 year-old murder case involving bitter sibling rivalry. 1986 The Suspect by L.R. Wright. In a town on Canada's coast near Vancouver, a man inexplicably murders an acquaintance after meeting him for just a few minutes. 1985 Briarpatch by Ross Thomas. The hero returns to his hometown to search for his sister's killer. 1984 LaBrava by Elmore Leonard. Joe LaBrava is an ex-Secret Service agent now working as a photographer in south Miami; he stumbles upon an extortion scheme involving many bizarre characters including a movie star on whom he had a crush as a teenager. 1983 Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer. Doc Adams must investigate the death of a friend: a scuba diver sent to explore a fishing boat wrecked off Cape Cod that turned out to contain stolen U.S. Army weaponry being smuggled by gun runners. 1982 Peregrine by William Bayer. 1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis. Private investigator Sid Halley used to be a jockey. As an insider in the world of horse racing, he investigates why his wealthy client's horses are performing badly. 1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling. 1979 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett. During WW II, a German master spy travels to England to find out the secrets of the planned D-Day invasion; driven underground to a small island, he gets involved with an Englishwoman trapped in a bad marriage. 1978 Catch Me Kill Me by William Hallahan. The hunt is on for a kidnapped Russian nuclear scientist. 1977 Promised Land by Robert Parker. Private investigator Spenser takes a case in Cape Cod to track down a man's missing wife; further complications occur when it turns out the man owes a loan shark a lot of money. 1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield. 1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary. The Irish Republican Army with the help of an Irish American journalist plots to kidnap the Pope. 1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police investigates the disappearance of a boy in a mystery set in the Navajo and Zuni lands in New Mexico. 1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer. 1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. Who can stop the Jackal, an international assassin hired to kill Charles de Gaulle? 1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. Swedish detective Martin Beck must search the Stockholm underworld for answers when the killing of one of his detectives seems linked with a much older, unsolved crime. 1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis. A London sports reporter tries to prove the murder of a fellow writer who drank too much and had an uncanny knack for picking winning race-horses who then failed to show up for the races. 1969 A Case of Need by Jeffrey Hudson. Written by Michael Crichton under the pseudonym Jeffrey Hudson. A doctor must search for the truth to clear his best friend, a physician charged with performing an illegal abortion that led to the death of his patient. 1968 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake. A gullible man inherits a fortune and suddenly can't trust anyone. 1967 King of the Rainy Country by Nicholas Freeling. 1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall. In west Berlin 15 years after the end of WW II, a British agent who works without firearms or contacts attempts to stop a neo-Nazi underground who plan to bring back the Third Reich. 1965 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre. When East Germans start killing the double agents under the care of British spy master Alec Leamas, he must pretend to be a disgraced agent while going on his own deep into Communist territory. 1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. A petty criminal has the choice of attempting to pull off a dangerous international jewel heist, or spending the rest of his life in a Turkish prison. 1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters. When a millionaire is murdered, Inspector Felse is forced to arrest a woman who was his own son's first love; now, his son turns against him and his investigation. 1962 Gideon's Fire by J.J. Marric. |
and 
and 
