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2009 Edgar® Nominees

Winners are listed in Red.

 •  Novel  •  First Novel  •  Paperback Original  •  Critical/Biographical  •  Fact Crime  •  Short Story
 •  Young Adult  •  Juvenile  •  Play  •  TV Episode  •  Motion Picture
 •  Robert L. Fish Memorial •  Mary Higgins Clark  •  Grand Master  •  Raven


Best Fact Crime

Best Fact Crime

  • For The Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz (HarperCollins)
  • American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Crown Publishers)
  • Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To The Revolution by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
  • The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren by Jonathan Lopez (Harcourt)
  • The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Company)
Best Short Story

Best Short Story

  • "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" - Hardcore Hardboiled by Sean Chercover (Kensington Publishing)
  • "Skin and Bones" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by David Edgerley Gates (Dell Magazines)
  • "Scratch a Woman" - Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
  • "La Vie en Rose" - Paris Noir by Dominique Mainard (Akashic Books
  • "Skinhead Central" - The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Best Young Adult

Best Young Adult

  • Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd (Random House Children’s Books – David Fickling Books)
  • The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Harry N. Abrams Books – Amulet Books)
  • Paper Towns by John Green (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)
  • Getting the Girl by Susan Juby (HarperCollins Children’s Books - HarperTeen)
  • Torn to Pieces by Margot McDonnell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Best Juvenile

Best Juvenile

  • The Postcard by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • Enigma: A Magical Mystery by Graeme Base (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
  • Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff (Random House Children’s Books – Wendy Lamb Books)
  • The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow by Riford McKenzie (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books)
  • Cemetery Street by Brenda Seabrooke (Holiday House)

Best Play

  • The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza (Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL)
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the story by Robert Lewis Stevenson (Arizona Theatre Company)
  • Cell by Judy Klass (International Mystery Writers’ Festival)

Best Television Episode Teleplay

  • “Streetwise” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Paul Grellong (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
  • “Prayer of the Bone” – Wire in the Blood, Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (BBC America)
  • “Signature” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Judith McCreary (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
  • “You May Now Kill the Bride” – CSI: Miami, Teleplay by Barry O’Brien (CBS)
  • “Burn Card” – Law & Order, Teleplay by Ed Zuckerman and David Wilcox (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)

Best Motion Picture Screen Play

  • The Bank Job, Screenplay by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (Lionsgate)
  • Burn After Reading, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Focus Features)
  • In Bruges, Screenplay by Martin McDonagh (Focus Features)
  • Tell No One, Screenplay by Guillaume Canet and Philippe Lefebvre, based on the book by Harlan Coben (Music Box Films)
  • Transsiberian, Screenplay by Brad Anderson & Will Conroy (First Look International)


Robert L. Fish Memorial Award

"Buckner's Error" - Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli (Akashic Books)


The Simon & Schuster -
Mary Higgins Clark Award

  • Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton (St. Martin's Minotaur)
  • The Killer’s Wife by Bill Floyd (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
  • Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer (Random House - Doubleday)
  • A Song for You by Betsy Thornton (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
  • The Fault Tree by Louise Ure (St. Martin’s Minotaur)