Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel

The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel was established in 1946.

Only debut novels written by authors with United States citizenship are eligible and may be published in hardcover, paperback, or e-book. If an American author has published a novel of any genre or under any name previously, they are ineligible for the award, unless the novel was self-published. Authors ineligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel may be eligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel or the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original.

Winners for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel are listed below.

Recipients

1940s

Year Author Title
1946 Julius Fast Watchful at Night
1947 Helen Eustis The Horizontal Man
1948 Fredric Brown The Fabulous Clipjoint
1949 Mildred B. Davis The Room Upstairs

1950s

Year Author Title
1950 Alan Green What A Body
1951 Thomas Walsh Nightmare in Manhattan
1952 Mary McMullen Strangle Hold
1953 William Campbell Gault Don't Cry for Me
1954 Ira Levin A Kiss Before Dying
1955 Jean Potts Go, Lovely Rose
1956 Lane Kauffman The Perfectionist
1957 Donald McNutt Douglass Rebecca's Pride
1958 William Rawle Weeks Knock and Wait a While
1959 Richard Martin Stern The Bright Road to Fear

1960s

Year Author Title
1960 Henry Slesar The Grey Flannel Shroud
1961 John Holbrooke Vance The Man in the Cage
1962 Suzanne Blanc The Green Stone
1963 Robert L. Fish The Fugitive
1964 Cornelius Hirschberg Florentine Finish
1965 Harry Kemelman Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
1966 John Ball In the Heat of the Night
1967 Ross Thomas The Cold War Swap
1968 Michael Collins Act of Fear
1969 E. Richard Johnson Tie: Silver Street
Dorothy Uhnak The Bait

1970s

Year Author Title
1970 Joe Gores A Time of Predators
1971 Lawrence Sanders The Anderson Tapes
1972 A. H. Z. Carr Finding Maubee
1973 R. H. Shimer Squaw Point
1974 Paul Erdman The Billion Dollar Sure Thing
1975 Gregory Mcdonald Fletch
1976 Rex Burns The Alvarez Journal
1977 James Patterson The Thomas Berryman Number
1978 Robert Ross A French Finish
1979 William L. DeAndrea Killed in the Ratings

1980s

Year Author Title
1980 Richard North Patterson The Lasko Tangent
1981 K. Nolte Smith The Watcher
1982 Stuart Woods Chiefs
1983 Thomas Perry The Butcher's Boy
1984 Will Harriss The Bay Psalm Book Murder
1985 R. D. Rosen Strike Three, You're Dead
1986 Jonathan Kellerman When the Bough Breaks
1987 Larry Beinhart No One Rides for Free
1988 Deidre S. Laiken Death Among Strangers
1989 David Stout Carolina Skeletons

1990s

Year Author Title
1990 Susan Wolfe The Last Billable Hour
1991 Patricia Cornwell Postmortem
1992 Peter Blauner Slow Motion Riot
1993 Michael Connelly The Black Echo
1994 Laurie R. King A Grave Talent
1995 George Dawes Green The Caveman's Valentine
1996 David Housewright Penance
1997 John Morgan Wilson Simple Justice
1998 Joseph Kanon Los Alamos
1999 Steve Hamilton A Cold Day in Paradise

2000s

Year Author Title Ref.
2000 Eliot Pattison The Skull Mantra
2001 David Liss A Conspiracy of Paper
2002 David Ellis Line of Vision
2003 Jonathon King The Blue Edge of Midnight
2004 Rebecca Pawel Death of a Nationalist
2005 Don Lee Country of Origin
2006 Theresa Schwegel Officer Down
2007 Alex Berenson The Faithful Spy
2008 Tana French In the Woods
2009 Francie Lin The Foreigner

2010s

Year Author Title Result Ref.
2010 Stefanie Pintoff In the Shadow of Gotham Winner
2011 Bruce DeSilva Rogue Island Winner
2012 Lori Roy Bent Road Winner
Edward Conlon Red on Red Shortlist
David Duffy Last to Fold
Leonard Rosen All Cry Chaos
Steve Ulfelder Purgatory Chasm
2013 Chris Pavone The Expats Winner
2014 Jason Matthews Red Sparrow Winner
Matthew Guinn The Resurrectionist Shortlist
Roger Hobbs Ghostman
Becky Masterman Rage Against the Dying
Kimberly McCreight Reconstructing Amelia
2015 Tom Bouman Dry Bones in the Valley Winner
Julia Dahl Invisible City Shortlist
Allen Eskens The Life We Bury
C. B. McKenzie Bad Country
Adam Sternbergh Shovel Ready
Ashley Weaver Murder at the Brightwell
2016 Viet Thanh Nguyen The Sympathizer Winner
2017 Flynn Berry Under the Harrow Winner
2018 Jordan Harper She Rides Shotgun Winner
2019 James A. McLaughlin Bearskin Winner
Bradley Harper A Knife in the Fog Shortlist
Debra Jo Immergut The Captives
Nova Jacobs The Last Equation of Isaac Severy
Delia Owens Where the Crawdads Sing

2020s

Year Author Title Result Ref.
2020 Angie Kim Miracle Creek Winner
Samantha Downing My Lovely Wife Shortlist
John McMahon The Good Detective
Lara Prescott The Secrets We Kept
John Vercher Three-Fifths
Lauren Wilkinson American Spy
2021 Caitlin Mullen Please See Us Winner
Nev March Murder in Old Bombay Shortlist
Caitlin Mullen Please See Us
Elisabeth Thomas Catherine House
David Heska Wanbli Weiden Winter Counts
Stephanie Wrobel Darling Rose Gold
2022 Erin Flanigan Deer Season Winner
Vera Kurian Never Saw Me Coming Shortlist
Fabian Nicieza Suburban Dicks
JoAnne Tompkins What Comes After
Caitlin Wahrer The Damage
2023 Eli Cranor Don’t Know Tough Winner
Erin E. Adams Jackal Shortlist
Ramona Emerson Shutter
Katie Gutierrez More Than You’ll Ever Know
Grace D. Li Portrait of a Thief

See also