The annual Edgar Banquet of the Mystery Writers of America was held last night in New York City. It’s a black tie affair at which the Edgar Allan Poe Award winners are announced.

In recent years I haven’t been following literary awards all that closely, but the Edgars is one I usually keep an eye on. Last year I tried to read some of the short-listed titles. This year life has pulled my focus elsewhere, but I’ll definitely keep this list in mind when I’m looking for new mysteries to read.

Here is the shortlist for each category with the winner bolded and linked to Goodreads.

BEST NOVEL

• The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard (Blackstone Publishing)
• House Witness by Mike Lawson (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
• A Gambler’s Jury by Victor Methos (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
• Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland)
• Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne (Penguin Random House – Hogarth)
• A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

• A Knife in the Fog by Bradley Harper (Seventh Street Books)
• The Captives by Debra Jo Immergut (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)
• The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs (Simon & Schuster – Touchstone)
• Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

• If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park Books)
• Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
• Under My Skin by Lisa Unger (Harlequin – Park Row Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

• Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Robert W. Fieseler (W.W. Norton & Company – Liveright)
• Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack, Blood, and Betrayal by Jonathan Green (W.W. Norton & Company)
• The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure by Carl Hoffman (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Penguin Random House – Viking)
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
• The Good Mothers: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World’s Most Powerful Mafia by Alex Perry (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

• The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland Publishing)
• Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow Paperbacks)
• Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books)
• Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn’s Father? by Yasuhiro Takeuchi (Taylor & Francis – Routledge)
• Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson (Pegasus Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

• “Rabid – A Mike Bowditch Short Story” by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
• “Paranoid Enough for Two” – The Honorable Traitors by John Lutz (Kensington Publishing)
• “Ancient and Modern” – Bloody Scotland by Val McDermid (Pegasus Books)
• “English 398: Fiction Workshop” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Art Taylor (Dell Magazines)
• “The Sleep Tight Motel” – Dark Corners Collection by Lisa Unger (Amazon Publishing)

 THERE ARE MORE

There are more award categories. You can see the full list of nominees here and then the award winners here. Many of these titles have been on my radar this year, but the only one I’ve picked up to read so far is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which I’m currently reading. It is a unique and captivating story, beautifully written. Bearskin must be a hell of a novel to beat it out in the Best First Novel by an American Author category.

Have you read any of the above?