Recommended Reads: Edgar Awards

Mystery is something that appeals to most everybody. - Angela Lansbury

Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book. - Mickey Spillane

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (Edgar Awards, for short) has been one of the most prestigious awards given out by the Mystery Writers of America since 1946. The number of awards given each year has grown from one award the first year it was given to twelve awards currently.  The very first award given to Watchful at Night by Julius Fast was for best first novel by an American author.

The actual presentation of these awards is the last step in a year long process, involving 68 judges considering over 1,000 books, 500 short stories, numerous television programs, several movies and a few plays.

Recorded cassette (RC), digital book (DB), braille (BR), and large print (LT) copies of these books are available from the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.

Prepared by Vicki Vogt, Reader's Advisor
Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library

The Last Child by John Hart.
DB/RC 69264, LT 9754
2010 Edgar Award for Best Novel. After twelve-year-old Alyssa disappeared on her way home a year ago, her guilt-ridden father left town and her mother fell into a drugged daze with an abusive boyfriend. As Alyssa's twin brother Johnny and obsessed detective Hunt continue to search, another girl is snatched. Violence and strong language. 2009.

Columbine by Dave Cullen.
DB/RC 68856, LT 10591
2010 Edgar Award for True Crime. Journalist uses eyewitness testimony, police reports, and the killers' writings to dispel myths that the Columbine shooters were bullied, isolated kids who targeted victims.  The authors argue Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had friends, good grades--and plans to blow up the school. Discusses the murderers' psychological assessments. Violence and strong language. Bestseller.  2009.

Blue Heaven by C.J. Box.
BR 17714, DB 66474 In Process/RC 66474, LT 8240
2009 Edgar Award for Best Novel. When twelve-year-old Annie and her ten-year-old brother witness a man's murder near their north Idaho town, they are spotted and become the next targets. The shooters are retired L.A. cops who deviously volunteer to head up the search party and find the hiding kids. Violence and strong language. 2007.

American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum.
DB/RC 68656, LT 9283
2009 Edgar Award for True Crime. Examines the October 1, 1910, bombing of the Los Angeles Times offices that killed twenty-one workers. Chronicles the violent labor disputes that preceded the attack. Discusses the roles of PI Billy Burns, filmmaker D.W. Griffith, and Clarence Darrow, who defended the two brothers accused of the crime. Some violence. 2008.

Down River by John Hart.
DB/RC 67467, LT 7875
2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Five years ago Adam Chase was acquitted of murder charges, despite his stepmother's accusations, and hounded out of town. When he returns to North Carolina to help a friend, he's confronted with family troubles and dangerous long-held secrets. Violence, some descriptions of sex, and some strong language. 2007.

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin.
RC 64325, BR 17160 (DB 64325 BARD Download Only)
2007 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Istanbul, 1836. Court eunuch Yashim Togalu has orders from Sultan Mahmut II to find out who is killing military cadets. He scours the city, suspicious that the outcast Janissary corps soldiers are planning an insurrection. Violence and strong language. 2006.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James  L. Swanson.
RC 62040 (DB 62040 BARD Download Only)
2007 Edgar Award for True Crime. Chronicles the days after the April 14, 1865, assassination of Abraham Lincoln as Union cavalry searched the city and surrounding countryside for John Wilkes Booth. Covers the capture of Booth, the trial of the co-conspirators, and the fight over the reward money. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2006.

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter.
BR 16842
2006 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Spokane, Washington; 1980. Vince Camden is working as a baker in the Witness Protection Program and debating whether to vote for Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan. When another gangster recognizes him, Vince heads to New York to make amends with the mob. Violence and strong language. 2005.

Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick.
RC 61523 (DB 61523 BARD Download Only)
2006 Edgar Award for True Crime. Chronicles the 1994 theft and recovery of Edvard Munch's The Scream, a painting valued at seventy-two million dollars. Describes the heist from Norway's National Gallery in Oslo and the subsequent three-month investigation by half-English, half-American undercover detective Charley Hill of Scotland Yard's elite Art and Antiques Unit. Strong language. 2005.

California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker.
RC 59239, LT 4841 (DB  59239 BARD Download Only)
2005 Edgar Award for Best Novel. In 1968 Playboy centerfold Janelle Vonn is murdered in Orange County, California. Her neighbors, the Becker boys--a minister, a reporter, and a detective--each does his part to bring the killer to justice. Decades later the brothers must face their mistakes. Strong language and some violence. Bestseller. 2004

Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin.
RC 57947 (DB 57947 BARD Download Only)
2004 Edgar Award for Best Novel. When insubordinate Edinburgh detective inspector John Rebus is sent for retraining at the police college, he is also recruited to obtain evidence of crimes by other troublemaking class members. The group researches a cold murder case that becomes entwined with a current investigation embroiling the suspected cops. Violence and strong language. 2002.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
RC 55748
2004 Edgar Award for True Crime. The author of Isaac's Storm (RC 48811) traces the crimes of Dr. H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who preyed on young women during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair in the amazing landscape that architect Daniel H. Burnham created in a mere two years. Bestseller. 2003.

Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan.
BR 14368
2003 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Private investigator Bill Smith and his partner Lydia Chin leave Manhattan to help Smith's fifteen-year-old runaway nephew, Gary. Gary's family lives in the New Jersey suburbs where he is suspected of killing his drug-dealing girlfriend. But Gary's dad also has a secret. Violence and strong language. 2002.

Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh.
RC 54668, LT 3393 (DB 54669 BARD Download Only)
2003 Edgar Award for True Crime. Analyzes the personality and crimes of a Glendale, California, fire investigator who was also a serial arsonist. John Orr's fingerprint on an incendiary device, a novel he wrote, and other circumstantial evidence ultimately convicted him in the deaths of four innocent victims.  Strong language. 2002.

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker.
RC 52111
2002 Edgar Award for Best Novel. When Orange County, California, supervisor Will Trona is murdered, his disfigured adopted son, Joe, blames himself.  But Joe is also a county cop.  While seeking revenge, he learns more about Will and the shady political deals he was involved in. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2001.

Son of a Grifter by Kent Walker.
RC 53341
2002 Edgar Award for True Crime. The elder son of Sante Kimes, a con artist and murderess, recalls growing up in a criminal household with a sociopath mother. Sante and the author's half-brother, Kenny, were arrested for the murder of wealthy Irene Silverman. Strong language. 2001.

The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale.
RC 57393 (DB 57393 BARD Download Only)
2001 Edgar Award for Best Novel. East Texas, 1930s. Young Harry Collins and his sister discover the body of a brutally murdered African American woman in a riverbed. When their father, a constable, investigates a string of killings, local racial tensions hinder him. Strong language and some violence.

Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI, & A Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr.
RC 55068, RCM 667, LT 2133
2001 Edgar Award for True Crime. Investigative journalists expose FBI corruption. In 1975 Boston FBI agent John Connolly began using Irish mobster Jim "Whitey" Bulger as an informant. Though Bulger committed outrageous crimes, the state police and federal drug agents were never able to get a conviction, and authorities became suspicious of a fix. Violence and strong language. 2000.

Bones by Jan Burke.
RC 50393, LT 5037 (DB 50393 BARD Download Only)
2000 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Four years ago, reporter Irene Kelly was approached by teenager Gillian Sayre, whose mother was missing. Now Kelly is part of a group traveling with suspected serial killer Nick Parrish to find Mrs. Sayre's grave--and Parrish has a plan to escape. Violence and strong language. 1999.

Blind Eye by James B. Stewart.
RC 48832 (DB 48832 BARD Download Only)
2000 Edgar Award for True Crime. Questions why Dr. Michael Swango was allowed to continue practicing medicine despite clear evidence that he was a serial psychopathic killer and a convicted felon--for poisoning his fellow workers. Criticizes the medical establishment's "code of silence." Some strong language. Bestseller.