Edgar Awards announced May 1, 2008

The 62nd Annual Edgar® Awards banquet was held on Thursday May 1, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Click here for the official Mystery Writers of America blog from the awards ceremony.

Best Novel winner: DOWN RIVER by John Hart. Find this book in our catalog
Summary from our catalog: "Adam Chase has a violent streak, and not without reason. As a boy in Rowan County, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred him. The trauma left him passionate and misunderstood - a fighter. After being narrowly acquitted of a murder charge, Adam is hounded out of the only home he's ever known, exiled for a sin he did not commit. For five long years he disappears, fading into the faceless gray of New York City. Now he's back and nobody knows why - not his family or the cops, not the enemies he left behind. But Adam has his reasons." "Within hours of his return, he is accosted and beaten, confronted by his and the woman he still holds dear. No one knows what to make of Adam's return, but when bodies start turning up, the small town rises against him, and Adam again finds himself embroiled in the fight of his life - not just to prove his own innocence, but to reclaim the only life he's ever wanted."

Best First Novel winner: IN THE WOODS by Tana French. Find this book in our catalog
Summary from our catalog: "As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home from play. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent wood. When the police arrive, they find only one child, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours." "Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same wood, he and Detective Cassie Maddox - his partner and closest friend - find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past."

Best Paperback Original winner: winner: QUEENPIN by Megan Abbott. Find this book in our catalog
Summary from our catalog: "A young woman hired to keep the books at a down-at-the-heels nightclub is taken under the wing of the infamous Gloria Denton, a mob luminary who reigned during the Golden Era of Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Notoriously cunning and ruthless, Gloria shows her eager young protegee the ropes, ushering her into a glittering demimonde of late-night casinos, racetracks, betting parlors, inside heists, and big, big money. Suddenly, the world is at her feet - as long as she doesn't take any chances, like falling for the wrong guy. As the roulette wheel turns, both mentor and protegee scramble to stay one step ahead of their bosses and each other."

The Grandmaster Award: Bill Pronzini

Best Fact Crime winner: RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY by Vincent Bugliosi. Find this book in our catalog