Current and historical winners of the Edgar Awards, with links to further information at BookBrowse.

Edgar Awards

Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. MWA is dedicated to promoting higher regard for crime writing and recognition and respect for those who write within the genre. Each Spring, Mystery Writers of America present the Edgar® Awards, widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre.

Current and Previous Award Winners:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010

• 2024

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Flags on the Bayou  by  James Lee Burke
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  The Peacock and the Sparrow  by  I.S. Berry
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers  by  Jesse Q. Sutanto
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Crooked  by  Nathan Masters

• 2023

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Notes on an Execution  by  Danya Kukafka
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  Don't Know Tough  by  Eli Cranor
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Or Else  by  Joe Hart
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Tell Me Everything  by  Erika Krouse
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  The Life of Crime  by  Martin Edwards
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  The Red Palace  by  June Hur

• 2022

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Five Decembers  by  James Kestrel
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  Deer Season  by  Erin Flanagan
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Bobby March Will Live Forever  by  Alan Parks
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Last Call  by  Elon Green
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock  by  Edward White
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Firekeeper's Daughter  by  Angeline Boulley

• 2021

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line  by  Deepa Anappara
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  Please See Us  by  Caitlin Mullen
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  When No One Is Watching  by  Alyssa Cole
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Death in Mud Lick  by  Eric Eyre
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Phantom Lady  by  Christina Lane
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  The Companion  by  Katie Alender

• 2020

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  The Stranger Diaries  by  Elly Griffiths
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  Miracle Creek  by  Angie Kim
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Hotel Neversink  by  Adam O'Fallon Price
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  The Less People Know About Us  by  Axton Betz-Hamilton
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Hitchcock and the Censors  by  John Billheimer
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Catfishing on CatNet  by  Naomi Kritzer

• 2019

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Down the River unto the Sea  by  Walter Mosley
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  Bearskin  by  James A McLaughlin
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  If I Die Tonight  by  Alison Gaylin
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Tinderbox  by  Robert W. Fieseler
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s  by  Leslie S. Klinger
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Sadie  by  Courtney Summers

• 2018

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Bluebird, Bluebird  by  Attica Locke
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author:
  She Rides Shotgun  by  Jordan Harper
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Unseeing  by  Anna Mazzola
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Killers of the Flower Moon  by  David Grann
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Chester B. Himes  by  Lawrence P. Jackson
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Long Way Down  by  Jason Reynolds

• 2017

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Before the Fall  by  Noah Hawley
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  Under the Harrow  by  Flynn Berry
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Rain Dogs  by  Adrian McKinty
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  The Wicked Boy  by  Kate Summerscale
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Shirley Jackson  by  Ruth Franklin
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Girl in the Blue Coat  by  Monica Hesse

• 2016

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Let Me Die in His Footsteps  by  Lori Roy
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  The Sympathizer  by  Viet Thanh Nguyen
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Long and Faraway Gone  by  Lou Berney
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Whipping Boy  by  Allen Kurzweil
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  The Golden Age of Murder  by  Martin Edwards
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  A Madness So Discreet  by  Mindy McGinnis

• 2015

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Mr. Mercedes  by  Stephen King
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  Dry Bones in the Valley  by  Tom Bouman
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Secret History of Las Vegas  by  Chris Abani
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Tinseltown  by  William J. Mann
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Poe-Land  by  J. W. Ocker
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  The Art of Secrets  by  James Klise

• 2014

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Ordinary Grace  by  William Kent Krueger
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  Red Sparrow  by  Jason Matthews
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Wicked Girls  by  Alex Marwood
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  The Hour of Peril  by  Daniel Stashower
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  America Is Elsewhere  by  Erik Dussere
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Ketchup Clouds  by  Annabel Pitcher

• 2013

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Live by Night  by  Dennis Lehane
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  The Expats  by  Chris Pavone
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Last Policeman  by  Ben Winters
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Last Policeman  by  Ben Winters
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Midnight in Peking  by  Paul French
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  The Scientific Sherlock Holmes  by  James O'Brien

• 2012

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  The Lock Artist  by  Steve Hamilton
  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  Gone  by  Mo Hayder
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  Bent Road  by  Lori Roy
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  The Company Man  by  Robert Jackson Bennett
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Destiny of the Republic  by  Candice Millard
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  On Conan Doyle  by  Michael Dirda
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  The Silence of Murder  by  Dandi Daley Mackall

• 2011

  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  Rogue Island  by  Bruce DeSilva
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Long Time Coming  by  Robert Goddard
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Scoreboard, Baby  by  Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  Charlie Chan  by  Yunte Huang
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  The Interrogation of Gabriel James  by  Charlie Price

• 2010

  
  Edgar Award for Best Novel:
  The Last Child  by  John Hart
  
  Edgar Award for Best First Novel:
  In the Shadow of Gotham  by  Stefanie Pintoff
  
  Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original:
  Body Blows  by  Marc Strange
  
  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime:
  Columbine  by  Dave Cullen
  
  Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical:
  The Lineup  by  Otto Penzler (Editor)
  
  Edgar Award for Young Adult:
  Reality Check  by  Peter Abrahams