THE 2016 EDGAR ALLEN POE AWARDS

My G.P. says I am recovering well from the stroke I had earlier this month, so I’m back at work again, and posting my Blog. This year, the Nominations of the Mystery Writers of America are:

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 207th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allen Poe, the 2016 nominees for the Edgar Allen Poe Awards in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2015. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at our Banquet on April 28, 2016, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, NYC.

BEST NOVEL

THE STRANGLER VINE, M. J. Carter. Penguin Random House
THE LADY FROM ZAGREB, Philip Kerr. Penguin Random House
LIFE OR DEATH, Michael Robotham, Hachette Book Group
LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS, Lori Roy. Penguin Random House
CANARY, Duane Swierczyski. Hachette Book Group
NIGHT LIFE, David C. Taylor. Forge Books


BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

PAST CRIMES, Glen Erik Hamilton. Harper Collins Publishers
WHERE ALL LIGHT TENDS TO GO, David Joy. Pengin Random House
LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, Jessica Knoll. Simon & Schuster
THE SYMPATHIZER, Viet Thanh Nguyen. Grove Atlantic
UNBECOMING, Rebecca Scherm. Penguin Random House.

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

THE LONG AND FARAWAY GONE, Lou Berney. Harper Collins
THE NECESSARY DEATH OF LEWIS WINTER, Malcom Mackay. Hachette
WHAT SHE KNEW, Gilly MacMillan. Harper Collins.
WOMAN WITH A BLUE PENCIL, Gordon McAlpine. Prometheus Books
GUN STREET GIRL, Adrian McKinty. Prometheus Books
THE DAUGHTER, Jane Shemilt. Harper Collins

BEST FACT CRIME

OPERATION NEMESIS: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the
American Genocide. Eric Bogosian. Hachette Book Group
WHERE THE BODIES WERE BURIED. Whitey Bulger and the World that Made Him.    T. J. English. Harper-Collins.

WHIPPING BOY. The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully.
Allen Kurzwell. Harper-Collins.
FORENSICS. What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell us About Crime.
Val McDermid. Grove Atlantic.
AMERICAN PAIN. How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed   America’s Deadliest Drug Epidermic.  John Temple. Bowman &   Littlefield. (Lyons Press)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

THE GOLDEN AGE OF MURDER. Martin Edwards. Harper-Collins.
THE OUTSIDER: My Life in Intrigue. Frederick Forsyth. Penguin Random House.
MEANWHILE THERE ARE LETTERS. The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross   MacDonald. Susanne Marrs & Tom Nolan. Arcade Publishing.
GOLDENEYE, WHERE BOND WAS BORN. Ian Fleming’s Jamaica. Matthew Parker.
Pegasus Books.
THE LOST DETECTIVE. Becoming Dashiell Hammett. Nathan Ward. Bloomsbury.


BEST SHORT STORY

THE LITTLE MEN. Martin Edwards. Mysterious Bookshop.
ON BORROWED TIME. Mat Coward. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
THE SATURDAY NIGHT BEFORE EASTER SUNDAY. Peter Farrelly. Providence Noir.
FAMILY TREASURES. Shirley Jackson. Random House.
OBITS. Stephen King. Bazaar of Bad Dreams.
EVERY SEVEN YEARS. Dennis Mina. Mysterious Bookshop.


BEST JUVENILE

CATCH YOU LATER. Avi. Algonquin Young Readers
IF YOU FIND THIS. Matthew Baker. Hachette Book Group
CURIOSITY HOUSE. Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester. Harper Collins.
BLACKTHORN KEY. Kevin Sands. Simon & Schuster
FOOTER DAVIS PROBABLY IS CRAZY. Susan Vaught. Simon & Schuster.


BEST YOUNG ADULT

ENDANGERED. Lamar Giles. Harper Collins
A MADNESS SO DISCREET. Mindy McGinnis. Harper Collins.
THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER. Melinda Salsbury. Scholastic
THE WALLS AROUND US. Nova Ren Suma. Algonquin Young Readers
ASK THE DARK. Henry Turner. Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

EPISODE 7. BROADCHURCH. Chris Chibnall. BBC America.
GENTLY WITH THE WOMEN. GEORGE GENTLY. Peter Flannery. Acorn TV
ELISE - THE FINAL MYSTERY. FOYLE’S WAR. Anthony Horowitz. Acorn TV
TERRA INCOGNITA. Erik Mountain & Melissa Scrivner. Love, CBS.
THE BEATING OF HER WINGS. RIPPER STREET. Richard Warlow. BBC America


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

A WOMAN UNKNOWN. Frances Brody. Minotaur Books
THE MASQUE OF A MURDERER.  Suanne Calkins. Minotaur Books
NIGHT NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT. Hallie Ephron. Harper Collins
THE CHILD GARDEN. Catriona McPherson. Midnight Ink.
LITTLE PRETTY THINGS. Lori Rader-Day. Prometheus Books


As you, my readers, can plainly see, almost all the publishers of these books are large (Big 5) publishers. Not an Indie book in the bunch. Or even Coffeetown Press who published EYEWITNESS, the mystery Carole and I wrote and entered. That might be because of the rules by the host company. Oh well, maybe next year. Meanwhile, for those who care, the most books were Harper-Collins (11 books) Next were published by Penguin Random House, who had seven books. Next was Hachette with 4, then Simon & Schuster and Prometheus, with 3, Grove Atlantic (and others) with 2.

Finding women authors was easier. There were 21 out of the total of 53 authors, but that’s still only 40%. I’d have preferred to see 50%.  Again, maybe next year.  I can dream, can’t I?