Announcing the 2020 Edgar Award Winners

This year marks the 74th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America’s gala celebrating the Edgar Awards—one of the crime fiction world’s highest honors. Under normal circumstances, the mystery community would be convening for a black-tie affair at a midtown Manhattan hotel, but this year—with a deadly pandemic still spreading and countries around the world on lockdown—the event has gone virtual. The winners have been announced on social media, and we’re following all the action here. Let’s take the day to celebrate these authors—and the weeks and months ahead to read their work.

Here are your 2020 Edgar Award winners.

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BEST NOVEL

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Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland (Grand Central Publishing)
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The River by Peter Heller (Alfred A. Knopf)
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Books)
Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

WINNER: THE STRANGER DIARIES, by Elly Griffiths

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Read Barbara Bourland on class-conscious detectives.

Read Elly Griffiths on empty estates and abandoned spaces.

Read an excerpt from Abir Mukherjee’s Smoke and Ashes.

Read an excerpt from Michael Robotham’s Good Girl, Bad Girl.

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BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

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My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (Berkley)
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (Farrar Straus and Giroux)
The Good Detective by John McMahon (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott (Alfred A. Knopf)
Three-Fifths by John Vercher (Agora Books)
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

WINNER: MIRACLE CREEK, BY ANGIE KIM

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Read Angie Kim on writing courtroom scenes.

Read John Vercher on social justice and the graphic novel.

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BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

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Dread of Winter by Susan Alice Bickford (Kensington Publishing)
Freedom Road by William Lashner (Thomas & Mercer)
Blood Relations by Jonathan Moore (Mariner Books)
February’s Son by Alan Parks (Europa Editions)
The Hotel Neversink by Adam O’Fallon Price (Tin House Books)
The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin (Cinco Puntos Press)

WINNER: THE HOTEL NEVERSINK, by Adam O’Fallon Price

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Read Alan Parks on Glasgow, city of crime and culture.

Read Lisa Sandlin on the experience of learning to shoot.

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BEST FACT CRIME

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The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott (Crown)
The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton (Grand Central Publishing)
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan (Viking)
Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History by Peter Houlahan (Counterpoint Press)
Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin (Counterpoint Press)

WINNER: THE LESS PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT US, by Axton Betz-Hamilton

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Read Karen Abbott on a lawyer’s fight against the bourbon king.

Read Maureen Callahan on interviewing a serial killer.

Read Peter Houlahan on why L.A. became the bank robbery capital of the world.

Read James Polchin on the history of queer true crime.

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BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

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Hitchcock and the Censors by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky)
Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club by John Curran (Collins Crime Club)
Medieval Crime Fiction: A Critical Overview by Anne McKendry (McFarland)
The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women by Mo Moulton (Basic Books)

WINNER: HITCHCOCK AND THE CENSORS, by John Billheimer

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Read Ursula Buchan on her grandfather’s literary legacy.

Read Mo Moulton on Oxford’s secret society of women writers.

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BEST SHORT STORY

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“Turistas,” from Paque Tu Lo Sepas by Hector Acosta (Down & Out Books)
“One of These Nights,” from Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers by Livia Llewellyn (Akashic Books)
“The Passenger,” from Sydney Noir by Kirsten Tranter (Akashic Books)
“Home at Last,” from Die Behind the Wheel: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan by Sam Wiebe (Down & Out Books)
“Brother’s Keeper,” from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Dave Zeltserman (Dell Magazine)

WINNER: “ONE OF THESE NIGHTS,” by Livia Llewllyn

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BEST JUVENILE

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The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan (Tundra Books)
Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu (Katherine Tegen Books)
The Whispers by Greg Howard (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)
All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker (Viking BFYR)
Me and Sam-Sam Handle the Apocalypse by Susan Vaught (Paula Wiseman Books)

WINNER: ME AND SAM-SAM HANDLE THE APOCALYPSE, by Susan Vaught

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BEST YOUNG ADULT

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Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
Killing November by Adriana Mather (Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (Kokila)
The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen)
Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury Publishing)

WINNER: CATFISHING ON CATNET, by Naomi Kritzer

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BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

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“Season 5, Episode 3” – Line of Duty, Teleplay by Jed Mercurio (Acorn TV)
“Season 5, Episode 4” – Line of Duty, Teleplay by Jed Mercurio (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” – Dublin Murders, Teleplay by Sarah Phelps (STARZ)
“Episode 1” – Manhunt, Teleplay by Ed Whitmore (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” – The Wisting, Teleplay by Katherine Valen Zeiner & Trygve Allister Diesen (Sundance Now)

WINNER: “Season 5, Episode 4” 

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ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

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“There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” from Milwaukee Noir by Derrick Harriell (Akashic Books)

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THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

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The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman (William Morrow)
One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)
Strangers at the Gate by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books)
Where the Missing Go by Emma Rowley (Kensington Publishing)
The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)

WINNER: THE NIGHT VISITORS, by Carol Goodman

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Read Carol Goodman on the birth and resurrection of the gothic thriller.

Read Tara Laskowski on ghost stories and grieving.

Read an excerpt from Emma Rowley’s Where the Missing Go. 

Read Hank Philippi Ryan on suspenseful jury verdicts in fiction and film.

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THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

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Shamed by Linda Castillo (Minotaur Books)
Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark (Kensington Publishing)
The Missing Ones by Edwin Hill (Kensington Publishing)
The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Alchemist’s Illusion by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)
Girl Gone Missing by Marcie R. Rendon (Cincos Puntos Press)

WINNER: BORROWED TIME, by Tracy Clark

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Read Linda Castillo on crime in closed societies.

Read Tracy Clark on Chicago, and choosing a setting for your crime novel.

Read Edwin Hill on decades of true crime writing in Boston.

Read Gigi Pandian on the tradition of locked-room mysteries.

Read an excerpt from Marcie R. Rendon’s Girl Gone Missing.