Edgar Nominees: Mystery Unveiled

The Mystery Writers of America has released its nominations for this year's Edgar Awards. The winners will be announced Thursday, April 29, at the 58th annual Edgar Awards dinner gala at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. For more information about the awards and organization, go to the Mystery Writers' Web site (http://www.mysterywriters.org ).

Best Novel

* The Guards by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
* Out by Natsuo Kirino (Kodansha International)
* Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown)
* Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press)

[Note: Lost Light by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) was also nominated in this category, but Connelly withdrew his book from consideration because he's president of MWA.]

Best First Novel by an American Author

* 12 Bliss Street by Martha Conway (St. Martin's Minotaur)
* Offer of Proof by Robert Heilbrun (Morrow)
* Night of the Dance by James Hime (St. Martin's Minotaur)
* Death of a Nationalist by Rebecca Pawel (Soho Press)
* The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original

* Cut and Run by Jeff Abbott (NAL-Penguin)
* The Last Witness by Joel Goldman (Pinnacle)
* Wisdom of the Bones by Christopher Hyde (NAL-Penguin)
* Southland by Nina Rovoyr (Akashic Books)
* Find Me Again by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (Dundurn Group)

Best Critical/Biographical

* Mystery Women, Volume 3 by Colleen Barnett (Poisoned Pen Press)
* Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium edited by Elizabeth Peters and
Kristen Whitbread (Morrow)
* Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light by Patrick
McGilligan (HarperCollins)
* The American Police Novel: A History by Leroy Lad Panek (McFarland)
* Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson
(Bloomsbury)

Best Fact Crime

* Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder by Steve Hodel (Arcade)
* The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Random/Crown)
* Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders by Dick
Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff (HarperCollins)
* And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching
of Leo Frank by Steve Oney (Pantheon)
* Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who
Fixed the 1919 World Series by David Pietrusza (Carroll & Graf)

Best Short Story

* "Bet on Red" in High Stakes by Jeff Abbott (NAL-Penguin)
* "Black Heart & Cabin Girl" in Blood on Their Hands by Shelly Costa
(Berkley Prime Crime)
* "Aces and Eights" by David Edgerley Gates (AHMM, December 2003)
* "The Maids" in Blood on Their Hands by G. Miki Hayden (Berkley
Prime Crime)
* "Cowboy Grace" in The Silver Gryphon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(Golden Gryphon)