Spotlighting Our 2026 Edgar Award Nominees
Mystery Writers of America recently announced the nominees for the 2026 Edgar Allen Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2025. We’re proud to share that 15 Penguin Random House titles are recognized across six categories.
This year celebrates the 80th Edgar Awards and the 217th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. Make sure to get to the bottom of these mysteries before we celebrate at the award ceremony on April 29, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square Hotel.
Warm congratulations to the nominees and their publishers on these incredible recognitions!
Our 2026 Edgar Allen Poe Awards
BEST NOVEL
THE BIG EMPTY by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
FAGIN THE THIEF by Allison Epstein (Doubleday)
THE DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami (Pantheon Books)
THE INHERITANCE by Trisha Sakhlecha (Pamela Dorman Books)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
ALL THE OTHER MOTHERS HATE ME by Sarah Harman (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
DEAD MONEY by Jakob Kerr (Bantam Books)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
LISTEN by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin Books)
ONE DEATH AT A TIME by Abbi Waxman (Berkley)
BEST FACT CRIME
THEY POISONED THE WORLD: LIFE AND DEATH IN THE AGE OF FOREVER CHEMICALS by Mariah Blake (Crown)
MURDERLAND: CRIME AND BLOODLUST IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
STORY OF A MURDER: THE WIVES, THE MISTRESS, AND DR. CRIPPEN by Hallie Rubenhold (Dutton)
BEST JUVENILE
THE MIDWATCH INSTITUTE FOR WAYWARD GIRLS by Judith Rossell (Dial)
MYSTERY JAMES DIGS HER OWN GRAVE by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press)
OTHER AWARDS
THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD
Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun
MRS. CHRISTIE AT THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY by Amanda Chapman (Berkley)
VERA WONG’S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)