The 23 best Edgar Award winners
The 23 highest-ranked Edgar Award winners in our ranking of 3,056, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 23 Edgar Award winners in all. How we rank
- 1
The Day of the Jackal86.9Must-Read ScoreThe Day of the Jackal
France, 1963.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1972)#1 New York Times bestseller (7 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1971 and 1972 (Publishers Weekly)BBC's The Big Read - 2
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold84.9Must-Read ScoreThe Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Alec Leamas is tired.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1965)#1 New York Times bestseller (34 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1964 (Publishers Weekly)TIME All-TIME 100 Novels - 3
Five Decembers80.9Must-Read ScoreFive Decembers
In late 1941, Honolulu police detective Joe McGrady takes on a brutal double murder, and the trail leads him across the Pacific toward Hong Kong.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2022) - 4
The Long Goodbye79.9Must-Read ScoreThe Long Goodbye
Private eye Philip Marlowe befriends Terry Lennox, a scarred, down-on-his-luck war veteran married to a very wealthy woman.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1955)Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read - 5
The Last Child78.5Must-Read ScoreThe Last Child
A year after his twin sister disappeared, thirteen-year-old Johnny Merrimon's family has fallen apart: his father has left and his mother is sinking.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2010)25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2009Anthony Award finalist (2010) - 6
The Bottoms76.4Must-Read ScoreThe Bottoms
In 1930s East Texas, eleven-year-old Harry Collins and his little sister find the mutilated body of a Black woman tied to a tree in the river bottoms.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2001)Anthony Award finalist (2001) - 7
Mr. Mercedes76.3Must-Read ScoreMr. Mercedes
Before dawn, a stolen Mercedes plows into a crowd of people waiting at a job fair, killing eight.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2015)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2014 - 8
Eye of the Needle76.3Must-Read ScoreEye of the Needle
His code name is the Needle: a German aristocrat, brilliant and ruthless, and Hitler's most valuable spy in Britain.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1979)One of the ten best-selling books of 1978 (Publishers Weekly) - 9
Blue Heaven75.0Must-Read ScoreBlue Heaven
In the woods of northern Idaho, a twelve-year-old girl and her little brother see a man murdered by a group of men who then come after them.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2009) - 10
Ordinary Grace73.7Must-Read ScoreOrdinary Grace
William Kent Krueger's novel is about a young man, a small Minnesota town and murder in the summer of 1961, as a series of deaths changes a family, and a boy's understanding of grace, forever.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2014)Anthony Award winner (2014) - 11
Bluebird, Bluebird73.6Must-Read ScoreBluebird, Bluebird
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules, as Darren Mathews, a Black Texas Ranger, knows well.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2018)Anthony Award winner (2018) - 12
Dance Hall of the Dead70.3Must-Read ScoreDance Hall of the Dead
A Zuni boy preparing for an important religious ceremony is found murdered, and his Navajo friend has disappeared.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1974) - 13
Notes on an Execution68.6Must-Read ScoreNotes on an Execution
Ansel Packer is on death row in Texas for murder, with twelve hours left to live.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2023)Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 14
Resurrection Men68.3Must-Read ScoreResurrection Men
Inspector John Rebus has messed up so badly he's been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops, the 'resurrection men'.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2004) - 15
Promised Land66.8Must-Read ScorePromised Land
Boston private eye Spenser is hired by Harvey Shepard, out on Cape Cod, whose wife has left him, and who is in deep with a loan shark over a real estate deal.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1977) - 16
A Dark-Adapted Eye65.6Must-Read ScoreA Dark-Adapted Eye
In 1949, Vera Hillyard was hanged for murder.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1987)Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read - 17
The Lock Artist65.5Must-Read ScoreThe Lock Artist
Mike stopped speaking at eight, after a terrible event, and he hasn't spoken since.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2011)Anthony Award finalist (2011) - 18
Live by Night64.7Must-Read ScoreLive by Night
In 1926, at the height of Prohibition, Joe Coughlin, youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, rejects his upbringing and climbs the ladder of organized crime, from Boston to Cuba, among a dangerous cast all fighting for their piece of the American dream.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2013) - 19
Down River64.5Must-Read ScoreDown River
Five years ago Adam Chase was acquitted of a murder in his North Carolina hometown, but his family and the town still believe he did it, and he fled to New York.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2008) - 20
The Sculptress63.3Must-Read ScoreThe Sculptress
Olive Martin is serving a life sentence for killing her mother and sister and arranging their bodies in a horrifying pattern.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (1994)Anthony Award finalist (1994) - 21
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line63.1Must-Read ScoreDjinn Patrol on the Purple Line
In a sprawling Indian city, a young boy ventures into its most dangerous corners to find a missing classmate.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2021) - 22
The Stranger Diaries62.1Must-Read ScoreThe Stranger Diaries
Clare Cassidy, a high school teacher, specializes in the gothic writer R.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2020) - 23
Before the Fall61.7Must-Read ScoreBefore the Fall
From the creator of TV's Fargo, Noah Hawley's thriller begins with a private plane crashing into the sea.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2017)
