The Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of its Edgar Allan Poe Awards, given annually to “the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television,” at a ceremony Thursday in New York.
Danya Kukafka won the best novel prize for her novel Notes on an Execution, about a serial killer on death row and three women who knew him. Kukafka is the author of a previous novel, Girl in Snow.
Winning the award for best first novel by an American author was Eli Cranor for Don’t Know Tough, his book about a star high school running back in Arkansas whose mother’s abusive boyfriend is found murdered.
Joe Hart won the best paperback original award for Or Else, while the best fact crime prize went to Erika Krouse for Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation.
Marthe Jocelyn took home the best juvenile book award for Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse, and June Hur won the best young adult book prize for The Red Palace.
The best critical/biographical book prize went to Martin Edwards for The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators. Gregory Fallis took home the best short story award for “Red Flag,” published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
A full list of winners is available at the Mystery Writers of America website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
