Meet the 2026 Edgar Award Nominees

The 2026 Edgar Award nominees are officially out, and it’s always a fun moment in the mystery world.

If you’re new to the Edgars, they’re basically the big deal when it comes to crime and mystery writing. The awards have been around since 1946 – so, a long-running tradition – and they’re presented each year by the Mystery Writers of America.

There’s a category for just about every corner of the genre: Best Novel, Best First Novel (for American authors), Best Paperback Original, Best Fact Crime, Best Critical/Biographical, Best Short Story, Best Juvenile, Best Young Adult… plus a handful of specialty awards like the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award (for a debut short story), the Mary Higgins Clark Award, the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and the Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award for contemporary cozy mysteries. There are also awards for Best Television Episode Teleplay and the Raven Award, and of course, the annual Grand Master honour.

Without further ado, here are the 2026 Edgar Award nominees!

Best Mystery Novel

• The Big Empty by Robert Crais
• Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein
• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• Hard Town by Adam Plantinga
• The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha
• Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow

Best First Novel

• Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch
• All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman
• Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
• Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade
• History Lessons by Zoe Wallbrook

Best Critical/Biographical Work

• V is for Venom by Kathryn Harkup
• The Kingdom of Cain by Andrew Klavan
• Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley
• Cooler Than Cool by C.M. Kushins
• Criss-Cross by Stephen Rebello

Best Fact Crime

• They Poisoned the World by Mariah Blake
• Blood and the Badge by Michael Cannell
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser
• Out of the Woods by Gregg Olsen
• Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold

Best Juvenile

• Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
• Blood in the Water by Tiffany Jackson
• A Study in Secrets by Debbi Michiko Florence
• The Midwatch / The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell
• Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave by Ally Russell
• What Happened Then by Erin Soderberg Downing

Best Paperback Original

• Listen by Sacha Bronwasser
• The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy
• Broke Road by Matthew Spencer
• The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield
• One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman

Best Short Story

• Reading at Night by Graham Greene
• The One That Got Away by Charlaine Harris
• Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
• Lucky Heart by Tim Maleeny
• The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger
• Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush by Dave Zeltserman

Best Young Adult

• Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
• Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron
• This Is Where We Die by Cindy He
• The Scammer by Tiffany Jackson
• Codebreaker by Jay Martel

Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award

• Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman
• A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio
• The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols
• Murder Two Doors Down by Chuck Storla
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Sutanto

Mary Higgins Clark Award

• Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill
• Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
• No Comfort for the Dead by R.P. O’Donnell
• All This Could Be Yours by Hank Ryan
• Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman

Sue Grafton Memorial Award

• Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong
• Rage by Linda Castillo
• Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg
• The Red Letter by Daniel Miller
• Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award

• A Textbook Example by Luis Avalos and John Freeman
• How It Happened by Billie Kay Fern
• Baggage by Rick Marcou
• Bloodsurf by Tiffany D. Plunkett
• Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland by Robert Rotstein

And speaking of that – huge congratulations to Donna Andrews and Lee Child, who were both named Grand Masters this year. It’s a well-earned spotlight for two writers who’ve shaped the genre in big, lasting ways.

Cheers to all the finalists (and the new Grand Masters)! It’s a genuinely strong lineup this year. If you want to dig deeper into any of the categories or titles, you can always head over to EdgarAwards.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Based near Toronto, Brandon is a news writer and Book Specialist for Book Notification who covers the world of books, maintains author pages, writes a variety of content, and is an avid reader of non-fiction and biographies.

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