2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations Announced

The name of Edgar Allan Poe has crossed our entertaining part of this week twice. The first mentioning surfaced in a new quarantine comedy-crime-romance movie Locked Down where the main character received a new ID under a fake name of Edgar Allan Poe, as a revenge by a mean co-worker, but nobody in the modern world seemed to question it anyway. Meanwhile the second, on the contrary, globally honored the famous mystery writer and the 212th anniversary of his birth: Mystery Writers of America have announced 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations.

The most prestigious awards of the genre will be giving away the 75th Annual Edgar® Awards, which will be celebrated on April 29, 2021.

The Awards are divided into different categories, the key one being The Best Novel, for which the following six novels were chosen this year:

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (Penguin Random House - Random House)

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney (Poisoned Pen Press)

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Penguin Random House - Pamela Dorman Books)

These Women by Ivy Pochoda (HarperCollins Publishers - Ecco)

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho Press - Soho Crime)

The Distant Dead by Heather Young (HarperCollins Publishers - William Morrow)

See the complete list of nominees here.

2020 Edgar Award for the Best Novel went to The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths.

The Edgar Awards, or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known, are named after MWA’s patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.

Source: 2021 Edgar Nominations Press Release