The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, presented each year by the Mystery Writers of America, are the most prestigious honours in crime and mystery fiction, and Best Novel is their flagship category. Named for the writer often credited with inventing the detective story, the award has recognised the finest crime novel of the year since 1954. Its winners run from Raymond Chandler and John le Carré to Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane and Stephen King, and take in the whole range of the genre, from hard-boiled detection and espionage to the modern literary thriller. This list collects the winning novels by year.
The Big Empty
Robert Crais
2026
The In Crowd
Charlotte Vassell
2025
Flags on the Bayou
James Lee Burke
2024
Notes on an Execution
Danya Kukafka
2023
Five Decembers
James Kestrel
2022
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
Deepa Anappara
2021
The Stranger Diaries
Elly Griffiths
2020
Down the River Unto the Sea
Walter Mosley
2019
Bluebird, Bluebird
Attica Locke
2018
Before the Fall
Noah Hawley
2017
Let Me Die in His Footsteps
Lori Roy
2016
Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges #1)
Stephen King
2015
Ordinary Grace
William Kent Krueger
2014
Live by Night
Dennis Lehane
2013
Gone
Mo Hayder
2012
The Lock Artist
Steve Hamilton
2011
The Last Child
John Hart
2010
Blue Heaven
C. J. Box
2009
Down River
John Hart
2008
The Janissary Tree
Jason Goodwin
2007
Citizen Vince
Jess Walter
2006
California Girl
T. Jefferson Parker
2005
Resurrection Men
Ian Rankin
2004
Winter and Night
S. J. Rozan
2003
Silent Joe
T. Jefferson Parker
2002
The Bottoms
Joe R. Lansdale
2001
Bones
Jan Burke
2000
Mr. White's Confession
Robert Clark
1999
Cimarron Rose
James Lee Burke
1998
The Chatham School Affair
Thomas H. Cook
1997
Come to Grief
Dick Francis
1996
The Red Scream
Mary Willis Walker
1995
The Sculptress
Minette Walters
1994
Bootlegger's Daughter
Margaret Maron
1993
A Dance at the Slaughterhouse
Lawrence Block
1992
New Orleans Mourning
Julie Smith
1991
Black Cherry Blues
James Lee Burke
1990
A Cold Red Sunrise
Stuart M. Kaminsky
1989
Old Bones
Aaron Elkins
1988
A Dark-Adapted Eye
Barbara Vine
1987
The Suspect
L. R. Wright
1986
Briarpatch
Ross Thomas
1985
LaBrava
Elmore Leonard
1984
Billingsgate Shoal
Rick Boyer
1983
Peregrine
William Bayer
1982
Whip Hand
Dick Francis
1981
The Rheingold Route
Arthur Maling
1980
Eye of the Needle
Ken Follett
1979
Catch Me: Kill Me
William H. Hallahan
1978
Promised Land
Robert B. Parker
1977
Hopscotch
Brian Garfield
1976
Peter's Pence
Jon Cleary
1975
Dance Hall of the Dead
Tony Hillerman
1974
The Lingala Code
Warren Kiefer
1973
The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth
1972
The Laughing Policeman
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
1971
Forfeit
Dick Francis
1970
A Case of Need
Michael Crichton
1969
God Save the Mark
Donald E. Westlake
1968
King of the Rainy Country
Nicolas Freeling
1967
The Quiller Memorandum
Adam Hall
1966
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré
1965
The Light of Day
Eric Ambler
1964
Death and the Joyful Woman
Ellis Peters
1963
Gideon's Fire
J. J. Marric
1962
The Progress of a Crime
Julian Symons
1961
The Hours Before Dawn
Celia Fremlin
1960
The Eighth Circle
Stanley Ellin
1959
Room to Swing
Ed Lacy
1958
A Dram of Poison
Charlotte Armstrong
1957
Beast in View
Margaret Millar
1956
The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler
1955
Beat Not the Bones
Charlotte Jay
1954