Popular Mystery Writers - Edgar Award Winners of the 21st Century By K. Murdock

First let me explain that the Edgars, named for Edgar Allan Poe, are awarded by a membership vote of The Mystery Writers of America. The awards have changed over the years, and there can be as many as twenty of them presented in a given year. The little statues of Poe are not only for book authors, but include writers of television screenplays, theater plays, short stories, a non-fiction or true crime work, a biographical or critical study in the mystery field, along with works aimed at the juvenile and young adult audiences.

But I want to focus on the three areas that are of the most interest to mystery readers: Best Novel, Best First Novel and Best Paperback Original from the years 2000 through 2011. My mind runs to the analytical, so here are some interesting facts. Seventeen winning titles belong to a mystery series, and nineteen are stand-alone novels. Thirteen winners are female and twenty-three are male. Two of the men have won twice for Best Novel: John Hart (2008 and 2010) and T. Jefferson Parker (2002 and 2005).

I consider myself a fairly avid reader of mysteries. Yet there are only a few authors, all who write series, that I recognize. These include C. J. Box (2009), Jan Burke (2000), Jonathon King (2003), Ian Rankin (2004) and S. J. Rozan (2003). All have won Edgars for Best Novel, except King, who won for Best First Novel.

So if you find that many of the series you have been reading are getting predictable, or you would like to add a few "new" authors to your treasure chest, than look no further. Here are the other Best Novel winners picked by writers, who should recognize a good book when they read one. Not including the ones already mentioned, they are: Jason Goodwin (2007), Steve Hamilton (2011), Joe R. Lansdale (2001) and Jess Walter (2006). The Best First Novel annual winners beginning with the year 2000 are Alex Berenson, Bruce DeSilva, David Ellis, Tana French, Jonathon King, Don Lee, Francie Lin, David Liss, Eliot Pattison, Rebecca Pawel, Stefanie Pintoff and Theresa Schwegel.

I think I will leave the Best Original Paperback winners for another time. But feel free to look them up yourself on the Mystery Writers of America website. Many of these authors have written both stand alones and mystery series. Because of their status as Edgar winners and their relatively current publishing dates, you have no excuse. Go and treat yourself to some fresh, new talent. You will find that although they may be new to you, many of these mystery writers have been trying to attract your attention for years.

Copyright 2011 by Linda K. Murdock. Linda wrote Mystery Lover's Puzzle Book, Crosswords with Clues from Your Favorite Mystery Series. In it she reviews 29 mystery writers, lists all of their book titles and creates a puzzle for each series. Download a FREE sample crossword on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series or sign up for more mystery book reviews under Author Bio at [http://bellwetherbooks.com/]http://bellwetherbooks.com.

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