The 2023 Edgar Award Nominees were announced by the Mystery Writers of America. The announcement was sent on January 19, 2023, the 214th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death. The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual Edgar Awards on April 27, 2023.
The Edgar Awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2022. This is a great way to find the best in 2022 crime literature.
BEST NOVEL
Devil House by John Darnielle
(Farrar, Strauss and Giroux – MCD)
Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett
(Hatchette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
Gangland by Chuck Hogan
(Hatchette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
(Hatchettes Book Group – Little, Brown, & Co./Mulholland Books
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
(HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Maid by Nita Prose
(Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Jackal by Erin E. Adams
(Penguin Random House – Bantam)
Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor
(Soho Press – Soho Crime)
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
(Soho Press – Soho Crime)
More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez
(HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
(Penguin Random House – Tiny Reparations Books)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Quarry’s Blood by Max Allan Collins
(Hard Case Crime)
On a Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass
(Harlequin Trade Publishing – Graydon House)
Or Else by Joe Hart
(Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Cleopatra’s Dagger by Carole Lawrence
(Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
A Familiar Face by A. R. Torre
(Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
BEST FACT CRIME
Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale
(Grove Atlantic -Grove Press)
Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse
(Flatiron Books)
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles
(Hachette Book Group – Workman Publishing – Algonquin Books)
American Caliph: The True Story of a Muslim Mystic, a Hollywood Epic, and the 1977 Siege of Washington, D.C. by Shahan Mufti
(Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower
(Minotaur Books)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards
(HarperCollins – Collins Crime Club)
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie by Mary Anna Evans & J.C. Bernthal
(Bloomsbury – Bloomsbury Academic)
The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations by David Geherin
(McFarland)
The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story by Andrew Neiderman
(Simon & Schuster – Gallery Books)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
(Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)
BEST SHORT STORY
“Red Flag,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Gregory Fallis
(Dell Magazines)
“Backstory,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Charles John Harper
(Dell Magazines)
“Locked-In,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by William Burton McCormick
(Dell Magazines)
“The Amnesty Box,” Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms by Tim McLoughlin
(Akashic Books)
“First You Dream, Then You Die.” Black is the Night by Donna Moore
(Titan Books)
BEST JUVENILE
The Swallowtail Legacy: Wreck at Ada’s Reef by Michael D. Bell
(Holiday House – Pixel+Ink)
The Area 51 Files by Julie Buxbaum
(Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse by Marthe Jocelyn
(Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books)
Adventures on Trains: Murder on the Safari Star by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman
(Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friend)
Chester Keene Cracks the Code by Kekla Magoon
(Random House Children’s Books – Wendy Lamb Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne
(Random House Children’s Books – Crown BFYR)
Frightmares by Eva V. Gibson
(Random House Children’s Books – Underlined)
The Black Girls Left Standing by Juliana Goodman
(Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)
The Red Palace by June Hur
(Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)
Lock the Doors by Vincent Ralph
(Sourcebooks – Fire)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“One Mighty and Strong” – Under the Banner of Heaven, Written by Brandon Boyce (Hulu/FX)
“Episode 1” – Magpie Murders, Written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece/PBS)
“Episode 1” – Karen Pirie, Written by Emer Kenny (BritBox)
“When Harry Met Fergas” – Harry Wild, Written by David Logan (Acorn TV)
“The Reagan Way” – Blue Bloods, Written by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS)
“Eighteen Wheels A Predator” – Law & Order: SUV, Written by Brianna Yellen & Monet Hurst-Mendoza (NBC Universal)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
(This award has been awarded annually since 1984 for the best first story by an American Author.)
“Dogs in the Canyon,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Mark Harrison (Dell Magazines)
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGANS CLARK AWARD
(This award goes to the book most closely written in the Mary Higgins Clark tradition.)
Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower
(Penguin Random House – Berkley)
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
(Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
The Disinvited Guest by Carol Goodman
(HarperCollins – William Morrow)
A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers
(HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell
(Crooked Lane Books)
THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
(This award goes to the book that is at least the second in a series and features a female protagonist that has the hallmarks of Sue Grafton’s writing and Kinsey’s character.)
Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
(Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
An Unforgiving Place by Claire Kells
(Crooked Lane Books)
Hideout by Louisa Luna
(Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group – Doubleday)
Behind the Lie by Emilya Naymark
(Crooked Lane Books)
Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood
(Knopf Doubleday Publishing – Doubleday)
THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD
(Awarded to the best full-length, contemporary cozy mystery.)
The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry
(Crooked Lane Books)
Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry
(Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette
(Penguin Random House – Berkley)
Desert Getaway by Michael Craft
(Brash Books)
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
(Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
The 2023 MWA Edgar Awards nominees. #EdgarAwards @MWA @OpeningaMystery @TimSuddeth #awards #Mystery Click To Tweet
SPECIAL AWARDS
Grand Masters
Michael Connelly
Joanne Fluke
Raven Award
(This award recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.)
Crime Writers of Color
Eddie Muller for Noir Alley and the Noir Foundation
Ellery Queen Award
(This award was established in 1983 to honor outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry.)
The Strand Magazine