Search
Edgar Best Paperback Original
​2021
Nominations
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey
The Keeper by Jessica Moor
East Of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman
2020
Winner
The Hotel Neversink by Adam O'Fallon Price

Nominations
​Dread of Winter by Susan Alice Bickford
Freedom Road by William Lashner
Blood Relations by Jonathan Moore
February’s Son by Alan Parks
The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin
2019
Winner
If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin

Nominations
Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara
Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger

2018
Winner
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola
 
Shortlist
In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen
Ragged Lake by Ron Corbett
Black Fall by Andrew Mayne
Penance by Kanae Minato
The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong
 
2017
Winner
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty
 
Shortlist
Come Twilight by Tyler Dilts
The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni
A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum
Heart of Stone by James W Ziskin
 
2016
Winner
The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
 
Shortlist
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay
What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
Woman with a Blue Pencil by Gordon McAlpine
Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty
Daughter by Jane Shemilt
 
2015
Winner
The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani
 
Shortlist
Stay With Me by Alison Gaylin
The Barkeep by William Lashner
The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson
The Gone Dead Train by Lisa Turner
World of Trouble by Ben H Winters
 
2014
Winner
The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
 
Shortlist
The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne
Almost Criminal by ER Brown
Joe Victim by Paul Cleave
Joyland by Stephen King
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey
 
2013
Winner
The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters
 
Shortlist
Complication by Isaac Adamson
Whiplash River by Lou Berney
Bloodland by Alan Glynn
Blessed are the Dead by Malla Nunn
 
2012
Winner
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett
 
Shortlist
The Faces of Angels by Lucretia Grindle
The Dog Sox by Russell Hill
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley
Vienna Twilight by Frank Tallis
 
2011
Winner
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
 
Shortlist
The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis
Ten Little Herrings by LC Tyler
 
2010
Winner
Body Blows by Marc Strange
 
Shortlist
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill
The Herring-Sellers Apprentice by LC Tyler
2009
Winner
China Lake by Meg Gardiner
 
Shortlist
The Prince of Bagram Prison by Alex Carr
Money Shot by Christa Faust
Enemy Combatant by Ed Gaffney
The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli
 
2008
Winner
Queenpin by Megan Abbott
 
Shortlist
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall
 
2007
Winner
Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara
 
Shortlist
The Goodbye Kiss by Massimo Carlotto
The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson
The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine
City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate
 
2006
Winner
The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford
 
Shortlist
Homicide My Own by Anne Argula
The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman
Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston
 
2005
Winner
The Confession by Domenic Stansberry
 
Shortlist
The Librarian by Larry Beinhart
Into the Web by Thomas H Cook
Dead Men Rise Up Never by Ron Faust
Twelve Step Fandango by Chris Haslam
 
2004
Winner
Find Me Again by Sylvia Maultash Warsh
 
Shortlist
Cut and Run by Jeff Abbott
The Last Witness by Joel Goldman
Wisdom of the Bones by Christopher Hyde
Southland by Nina Revoyr
 
2003
Winner
Out of Sight by TJ MacGregor
 
Shortlist
Black Jack Point by Jeff Abbott
The Night Watcher by John Lutz
Trauma by Graham Masterton
Prison Blues by Anna Salter
 
2002
Winner
Adios Muchachos by Daniel Chavarria
 
Shortlist
The Mother Tongue by Teri Holbrook
Hell's Kitchen by William Jefferies (Jeffery Deaver)
Dead of Winter by PJ Parrish
Straw Men by Martin J Smith
 
2001
Winner
The Black Maria by Mark Graham
 
Shortlist
Murder on St. Mark's Place by Victoria Thompson
Killing Kin by Chassie West
The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn by Eric Wright
Pursuit and Persuasion by Sally S Wright
 
2000
Winner
Fulton County Blues by Ruth Birmingham
 
Shortlist
Lucky Man by Tony Dunbar
The Resurrectionist by Mark Graham
The Outcast by Jose Latour
In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman
1999
Winner
The Widower's Two-Step by Rick Riordan
 
Shortlist
Atlanta Graves by Ruth Birmingham
Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman
Zen Attitude by Sujata Massey
Murder Manual by Steven Womack
 
1998
Winner
Charm City by Laura Lippman
 
Shortlist
The Prioress' Tale by Margaret Frazer
Tarnished Icons by Stuart M Kaminsky
Home Again, Home Again by Susan Rogers Cooper
Sunset and Santiago by Gloria White
 
1997
Winner
Fade Away by Harlan Coben
 
Shortlist
Silent Words by Joan M Drury
The Grass Widow by Teri Holbrook
Walking Rain by Susan Wade
Tribe by RD Zimmerman
 
1996
Winner
Tarnished Blue by William Heffernan
 
Shortlist
Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
High Desert Malice by Kirk Mitchell
Charged With Guilt by Gloria White
Hard Frost by RD Wingfield
 
1995
Winner
Final Appeal by Lisa Scottoline
 
Shortlist
The Broken-Hearted Detective by Milton Bass
Viper Quarry by Dean Feldmeyer
Power of Attorney by Walter Sorrells
Sunrise by Chassie West
 
1994
Winner
Dead Folk's Blues by Steven Womack
 
Shortlist
The Servant's Tale by Margaret Frazer
Tony's Justice by Eugene Izzi
Beyond Saru by Thomas A Roberts
Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline
 
1993
Winner
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
 
Shortlist
The Good Friday by Lee Harris
Principal Defense by Gini Hartzmark
Shallow Graves by William Jefferies (Jeffery Deaver)
Night Cruise by Billie Sue Mosiman
 
1992
Winner
Dark Maze by Thomas Adcock
 
Shortlist
Murder in the Dog Days by PM Carlson
Cracking Up by Ed Naha
Midtown North by Christopher Newman
Fine Distinctions by Deborah Valentine
 
1991
Winner
The Man Who Would Be F.Scott Fitzgerald by David Handler
 
Shortlist
Comeback by LL Enger
Not A Creature Was Stirring by Jane Haddam
SPQR by John Maddox Roberts
Dead in the Scrub by BJ Oliphant
 
1990
Winner
The Rain by Keith Peterson
 
Shortlist
Manhattan Is My Beat by Jeffery Deaver
King of the Hustlers by Eugene Izzi
Hot Wire by Randy Russell
A Collector of Photographs by Deborah Valentine
1989
Winner
The Telling of Lies by Timothy Findley
 
Shortlist
Judgement By Fire by Fredrick D Huebner
A Radical Departure by Lia Matera
Trapdoor by Keith Peterson
Preacher by Ted Thackrey Jr
 
1988
Winner
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb
 
Shortlist
The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais
Deadly Intrusion by Walter Dillon
The Long Way to Die by James N Frey
Bullshot by Gabrielle Kraft
 
1987
Winner
The Junkyard Dog by Robert Campbell
 
Shortlist
Hazzard by RD Brown
Ronin by Nick Christian
Shattered Moon by Kate Green
The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun
 
1986
Winner
Pigs Get Fat by Warren Murphy
 
Shortlist
Poverty Bay by Earl W Emerson
Broken Idols by Sean Flannery
Blue Heron by Philip Ross
Black Gravity by Conall Ryan
 
1985
Winner
Grandmaster by Molly Cochran & Warren Murphy
 
Shortlist
The Keys to Billy Tillio by Eric Blau
The Seventh Sacrament by Roland Cutler
Words Can Kill by Kenn Davis
Black Knight in Red Square by Stuart M Kaminsky
 
1984
Winner
Mrs. White by Margaret Tracy
 
Shortlist
False Prophets by Sean Flannery
Kill Factor by Richard Harper
Trace by Warren Murphy
Hunter by Eric Sauter
 
1983
Winner
Triangle by Teri White
 
Shortlist
Vital Signs by Ralph Burrows
Clandestine by James Ellroy
The Missing and the Dead by Jack Lynch
 
1982
Winner
The Old Dick by LA Morse
 
Shortlist
Deadline by John Dunning
The Unforgiven by Patricia J MacDonald
Pin by Andrew Neiderman
Dead Heat by Ray Obstfeld
 
1981
Winner
Public Murders by Bill Granger
 
Shortlist
Blood Innocents by Thomas H Cook
Looking for Ginger North by John Dunning
Tough Luck, L.A. by Murray Sinclair
 
1980
Winner
The Hog Murders by William L DeAndrea
 
Shortlist
The Kremlin Conspiracy by Sean Flannery
Vortex by David Heller
The Queen is Dead by Glen Keger
The Infernal Device by Michael Kurland
1979
Winner
Deceit and Deadly Lies by Frank Bandy
 
Shortlist
Stud Game by David Anthony
The Switch by Elmore Leonard
Heartstone by Philip Margolin
Charnel House by Graham Masterton
 
1978
Winner
The Quark Maneuver by Mike Jahn
 
Shortlist
Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block
The Terrorizers by Donald Hamilton
They've Killed Anna by Mark Olden
 
1977
Winner
Confess, Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald
 
Shortlist
The Captive City by Daniel Da Cruz
The Dark Side by Kenn Davis & John Stanley
The Retaliators by Donald Hamilton
Freeze Frame by RR Irvine
 
1976
Winner
Autopsy by John R Feegel
 
Shortlist
The Set-Up by Milt Machlin & Robin Moore
Charlie's Back in Town by Jacqueline Park
The Midas Coffin by Simon Quinn
The Assassination by David Vowell
 
1975
Winner
The Corpse That Walked by Roy Winsor
 
Shortlist
Who Killed Mr. Garland's Mistress? by Richard Forrest
Jump Cut by RR Irvine
The Gravy Train Hit by Curtis Stevens
Flats Fixed-Among Other Things by Don Tracy
 
1974
Winner
Death of an Informer by Will Perry
 
Shortlist
The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler
Deadlocked! by Leo P Kelley
Starling Street by Dinah Palmtag
The Big Fix by Roger L Simon
 
1973
Winner
The Invader by Richard Wormser
 
Shortlist
Not Dead Yet by Daniel Banko
The Smith Conspiracy by Richard Neely
Power Kill by Charles Runyon
 
1972
Winner
For Murder I Charge More by Frank McAuliffe
 
Shortlist
The White Wolverine Contract by Philip Atlee
Space for Hire by William F Nolan
Nor Spell, Nor Charm by Alicen White
And the Deep Blue Sea by Charles Williams
 
1971
Winner
Flashpoint by Dan J Marlowe
 
Shortlist
The Drowning by Jack Ehrlich
O.D. at Sweet Claude's by Matt Gattzden
After Things Fell Apart by Ron Goulart
Grave Descend by John Lange
Mafioso by Peter McCurtin
 
1970
Winner
The Dragon's Eye by Scott CS Stone
 
Shortlist
Assault on Ming by Alan Caillou
The Governess by Elsie Cromwell
A Plague of Spies by Michael Kurland
The Sour Lemon Score by Richard Stark