The Top Book List

Award year

2021 Edgar Awards

Sources: official announcement 1, official announcement 2, official announcement 3, official announcement 4, official announcement 5, official announcement 6, official announcement 7, official announcement 8

Best Novel

Winner
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
Deepa Anappara
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Before She Was Helen
Caroline B. Cooney
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Distant Dead
Heather Young
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
These Women
Ivy Pochoda
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
Edgar Awards Finalist

Also recognized

The Missing American by Kwei QuarteyFinalist

Best First Novel by an American Author

Winner
Please See Us
Caitlin Mullen
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Catherine House
Elisabeth Thomas
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Darling Rose Gold
Stephanie Wrobel
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Winter Counts
David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Edgar Awards Finalist

Also recognized

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev MarchFinalist

Best Paperback Original

Winner
When No One is Watching
Alyssa Cole
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
East of Hounslow
Khurrum Rahman
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Deep, Deep Snow
Brian Freeman
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Keeper
Jessica Moor
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Unspeakable Things
Jess Lourey
Edgar Awards Finalist

Best Fact Crime

Winner
Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic
Eric Eyre
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America
Mark A. Bradley
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia
Emma Copley Eisenberg
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country
Sierra Crane Murdoch
Edgar Awards Finalist

Also recognized

Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife by Ariel SabarFinalist

Best Juvenile

Winner
Premeditated Myrtle
Elizabeth C. Bunce
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Coop Knows the Scoop
Taryn Souders
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
From the Desk of Zoe Washington
Janae Marks
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Ikenga
Nnedi Okorafor
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Me and Banksy
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Nessie Quest
Melissa Savage
Edgar Awards Finalist

Best Young Adult

Winner
The Companion
Katie Alender
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Silence of Bones
June Hur
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Cousins
Karen M. McManus
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Inheritance Games
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Went Left
Monica Hesse
Edgar Awards Finalist

Best Critical/Biographical Work

Winner
Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock
Christina Lane
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Guilt Rules All: Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction
Elizabeth Mannion and Brian Cliff
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club
Martin Edwards
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction
Erin E. MacDonald
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing
Jacqueline Winspear
Edgar Awards Finalist

Mary Higgins Clark Award

Winner
The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne
Elsa Hart
Edgar Awards Winner

Edgar
Cold Wind
Paige Shelton
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
Death of an American Beauty
Mariah Fredericks
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The First to Lie
Hank Phillippi Ryan
Edgar Awards Finalist
Edgar
The Lucky One
Lori Rader-Day
Edgar Awards Finalist

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