2021 Edgar Award nominations

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Edgar Awards and the nominees have been selected.

Usually, the nominees for the Edgar Awards are announced on author Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday. this year, Poe’s birthday fell on Inauguration Day and the announcement was delayed slighted.

Here, by category, are the books in the running for a 2021 Edgar Award. Note the titles printed in red won the category.

Best Short Story

• “The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Leslie Elman (Dell Magazines)
• “Dust, Ash, Flight,” Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste (Akashic Books)
• “Fearless,” California Schemin’ by Walter Mosley (Wildside Press)
• “Etta at the End of the World,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Joseph S. Walker (Dell Magazines)
• “The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” In League with Sherlock Holmes by James W. Ziskin (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)

Best Juvenile

• PREMEDITATED MYRTLE by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)
• ME AND BANKSY by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Penguin Random House Canada – Puffin Canada)
• FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON by Janae Marks (HarperCollins Children’s Books – Katherine Tegen Books)
• IKENGA by Nnedi Okorafor (Penguin Young Readers – Viking BFYR)
• NESSIE QUEST by Melissa Savage (Random House Children’s Books – Crown BFYR)
• COOP KNOWS THE SCOOP by Taryn Souders (Sourcebooks Young Readers)

Best Young Adult

• THE COMPANION by Katie Alender (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR)
• THE INHERITANCE GAMES by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
• THEY WENT LEFT by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
• SILENCE OF BONES by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)
• THE COUSINS by Karen M. McManus (Penguin Random House – Delacorte Press)

Best TV Episode Teleplay

• “Episode 1, The Stranger” – Harlan Coben’s The Stranger, Written by Danny Brocklehurst (Netflix)
• “Episode 1, Open Water” – The Sounds, Written by Sarah-Kate Lynch (Acorn TV)
• “Episode 1, Photochemistry” – Dead Still, Written by John Morton (Acorn TV)
• “Episode 1” – Des, Written by Luke Neal (Sundance Now)
• “What I Know” – The Boys, Written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Amazon)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award

• DEATH OF AN AMERICAN BEAUTY by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur Books)
• THE CABINETS OF BARNABY MAYNE by Elsa Hart (Minotaur Books)
• THE LUCKY ONE by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• THE FIRST TO LIE by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)
• COLD WIND by Paige Shelton (Minotaur Books)

The G. P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award

• THE BURN by Kathleen Kent (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland Books)
• RIVIERA GOLD by Laurie R. King (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)
• VERA KELLY IS NOT A MYSTERY by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House Books)
• DEAD LAND by Sara Paretsky (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• THE SLEEPING NYMPH by Ilaria Tuti (Soho Press – Soho Crime)
• TURN TO STONE by James W. Ziskin (Start Publishing – Seventh Street Books)

Grand Master

• Jeffrey Deaver, a former journalist, folksinger and attorney, whose novels include the Lincoln Rhyme thriller series
• Charlaine Harris has been a published author for 40 years. Her work includes two stand-alone mysteries and seven series, several of which are urban fantasies or set in alternative history America.

Raven Awards

Ellery Queen Award

Every year, on the anniversary of writer Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday, the Mystery Writers of America announce their nominations for Edgar Awards.