The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. They honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theatre published or produced in the previous year. Here are some highlights; but click here for the complete list of nominees and winners.
This year's best novel is The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton. After surviving an act of violence as a child, Michael stops talking and grows up with the ability to open any lock or safe, a talent he sells to any buyer in the crime world, until a botched heist forces him to go home to face the secret that has kept him so quiet. 
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva won the best first novel award. When journalist Liam Mulligan realizes that someone is systematically burning down his childhood neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island, he ignores his bosses and his budding relationship to figure out the firebug's identity.
Best paperback original was awarded to Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard. Astonished to learn that the uncle he believed was killed in the Blitz has been in prison for nearly four decades, Stephen Swan finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving forged Picassos and the disinherited family an Antwerp diamond dealer.
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry is this years winner in the best fact crime category. Go behind the scenes of the 2000 Huskies' Cinderella story to discover a timeless morality tale about the price of obsession, the creep of fanaticism, and the ways in which a community can lose even when its team wins.
Best Critical Biography was awarded to Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvouz with American History by Yunte Huang. A biography of cinematic hero Charlie Chan, based on the real-life Chinese immigrant detective, Chang Apana, whose bravado inspired mystery writer Earl Derr Biggers to depict his fictional sleuth as a wisecracking and wise investigator rather than a stereotype.
Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central
