Edgar Awards Nominees 2015

It's hard to believe, but it's awards season already. The Golden Globes have come and gone. We know the Oscar nominees and we'll learn the winners on February 24th. The finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards were in the headlines a few days ago.

This morning, the 2015 Edgar Awards nominees were announced by the Mystery Writers of America. The Edgars honor the best in crime fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced for the first time in the United States in 2014. (Self-published books are ineligible, even if they are later published by an eligible publisher.) Books from non-U.S. publishers are eligible "if they are widely distributed in the U.S. and are readily available on the shelves in brick-and-mortar stores for the first time during 2014."

The winners will be announced at the MWA banquet in New York on April 29th.

Here are the 2015 nominees:

Best Novel

     

Wiley Cash: This Dark Road to Mercy(HarperCollins/William Morrow)
Mo Hayder: Wolf (Grove/Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly)
Stephen King: Mr. Mercedes (Simon & Schuster/Scribner)
Stuart Neville: The Final Silence (Soho)
Ian Rankin: Saints of the Shadow Bible (Hachette/Little, Brown)
Karin Slaughter: Coptown (Penguin Randomhouse/Delacorte)

Best First Novel by an American Author

     

Tom Bouman: Dry Bones in the Valley (W.W. Norton)
Julia Dahl: Invisible City (Minotaur)
Allen Eskens: The Life We Bury (Prometheus/Seventh Street)
C. B. McKenzie: Bad Country (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne)
Adam Sternbergh: Shovel Ready (Crown)
Ashley Weaver: Murder at the Brightwell (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Book)

Best Paperback Original

     

Chris Abani: The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin Randomhouse/Penguin)
Alison Gaylin: Stay With Me (HarperCollins/William Morrow)
William Lashner: The Barkeep (Amazon/Thomas and Mercer)
Catriona McPherson: The Day She Died (Llewellyn Worldwide/Midnight Ink)
Lisa Turner: The Gone Dead Train (HarperCollins/William Morrow)
Ben H. Winters: World of Trouble (Quirk)

Best Fact Crime

    

Kevin Cook: Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America (W.W. Norton)
Carl Hoffman: The Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art (HarperCollins/William Morrow)
Lacy M. Johnson: The Other Side: A Memoir (Tin House)
William Mann: Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood (HarperCollins/Harper)
Harold Schechter: The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation (Amazon/New Harvest)

Best Critical/Biographical

    

Charles Brownson: The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis (McFarland)
Jim Mancall: James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (McFarland)
Robert Miklitsch: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: Classic Film Noir (University of Illinois)
Francis M. Nevins: Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film (Perfect Crime)
J. W. Ocker: Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe (W.W. Norton/Countryman)

Best Short Story

Doug Allyn: "The Snow Angel," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Dell Magazines)
John Floyd: "200 Feet," Strand Magazine (The Strand)
Gillian Flynn: "What Do You Do?," Rogues (Penguin Randomhouse/Bantam)
Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly: "Red Eye," Faceoff (Simon & Schuster)
Brian Tobin: "Teddy," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Dell Magazines)

Best Juvenile

     

Heather Bogel Frederick: Absolutely Truly (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Stuart Gibbs: Space Case (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Kate Milford: Greenglass House (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
"Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith: Nick and Tesla's Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove (Quirk)
N. H. Senzai: Saving Kabul Corner (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman)
Marcia Wells: Eddie Red, Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)

Best Young Adult

    

Paolo Bacigalupi: The Doubt Factory (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Elle Cosimano: Nearly Gone (Penguin Young Readers Group/Kathy Dawson)
Lamar Giles: Fake ID (HarperCollins Children's Books/Amistad)
James Klise: The Art of Secrets (Algonquin Young Readers)
Blake Nelson: The Prince of Venice Beach (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Best Television Episode Teleplay

"The Empty Hearse," Sherlock, teleplay by Mark Gatiss (Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
"Unfinished Business," Blue Bloods, teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O'Connor (CBS)
"Episode 1," Happy Valley, teleplay by Sally Wainwright (Netflix)
"Dream Baby Dream," The Killing, teleplay by Sean Whitesell (Netflix)
"Episode 6," The Game, teleplay by Toby Whithouse (BBC America)

The Simon & Schuster-Mary Higgins Clark Award (presented April 28, 2015)

    

Sharon Bolton: A Dark and Twisted Tide (Minotaur)
Jane Casey: The Stranger You Know (Minotaur)
Julia Dahl: Invisible City (Minotaur)
Julia Keller: Summer of the Dead (Minotaur)
Lori Rader-Day: The Black Hour (Prometheus/Seventh Street)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award

Zoë Z. Dean: "Getaway Girl," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Dell Magazines)

Grand Master

Lois Duncan
James Ellroy

Raven Awards

Ruth and Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
Kathryn Kennison, Magna Cum Murder

Ellery Queen Award

Charles Ardai, Editor and Founder, Hard Case Crime

Note: For more information about the Edgars and the database of past years' nominees and winners, see the Edgar Awards website here.