Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work

The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work, established in 1977, is a literary award presented as part of the Edgar Awards for a nonfiction critical or biographical hardcover, paperback, or electronic book.

To be eligible, biographical books should be "biographies of mystery writers or other notable practitioners of the genre, not to criminals."[1] Criminal biographies are eligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime.[1]

The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work winners are listed below.

Recipients

2000s

2000s Best Critical/Biographical Work winners[2]
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2008 Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters Winner [3]
2009 Dr. Harry Lee Poe Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to his Tell-Tale Stories Winner [4]

2010s

2010s Best Critical/Biographical Work winners[2]
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2010 Otto Penzler The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives Winner
2011 Yunte Huang Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History Winner
Rafael Alvarez The Wire: Truth Be Told Shortlist
John Curran Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making Shortlist
Stephen Doyle and David A. Crowder Sherlock Holmes for Dummies Shortlist
David Morrell and Hank Wagner (editors) Thrillers: 100 Must Reads Shortlist
2012 Michael Dirda On Conan Doyle; or, The Whole Art of Storytelling Winner [5][6]
Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer, and John-Henri Holmberg The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of our Time Shortlist [6]
John Curran Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making Shortlist [6]
Philippa Gates Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film Shortlist [6]
Walter Raubicheck and Walter Srebnick Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds and Marnie Shortlist [6]
2013 James O'Brien The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics Winner [7]
John Paul Athanasourelis Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: The Hard-Boiled Detective Transformed Shortlist
John Connolly (editor) Books To Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels Shortlist
Otto Penzler (editor) In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero Shortlist
2014 Erik Dussere America Is Elsewhere: The Noir Tradition in the Age of Consumer Culture Winner [8][9]
Bill Alder Maigret, Simenon and France: Social Dimensions of the Novels and Stories Shortlist [9]
Justin Gifford Pimping Fictions: African American Crime Literature and the Untold Story of Black Pulp Publishing Shortlist [9]
Andrew Lycett Ian Fleming Shortlist [9]
Melissa Schaub Middlebrow Feminism in Classic British Detective Fiction Shortlist [9]
2015 J. W. Ocker Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe Winner [10][11]
Charles Brownson The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis Shortlist [10]
Jim Mancall James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction Shortlist [10]
Robert Miklitsch Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: Classic Film Noir Shortlist [10]
Francis M. Nevins Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film Shortlist [10]
2016 Martin Edwards The Golden Age of Murder Winner [12][13]
Frederick Forsyth The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue Shortlist
Suzanne Marrs and Tom Nolan Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald Shortlist
Matthew Parker Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica Shortlist
Nathan Ward The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett Shortlist
2017 Ruth Franklin Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life Winner [14]
Peter Ackroyd Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life Shortlist
Mitzi M. Brunsdale Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967 Shortlist
David J. Skal Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula Shortlist
2018 Lawrence P. Jackson Chester B. Himes: A Biography Winner [15]
Mattias Bostrom From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women who Created an Icon Shortlist
Tatiana de Rosnay Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier Shortlist
Curtis Evans Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall Shortlist
Michael Sims Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes Shortlist
2019 Leslie S. Klinger Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s Winner [16]
Laird R. Blackwell The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction Shortlist
Alice Bolin Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession Shortlist
Yasuhiro Takeuchi Mark X: Who Killed Huck Finn’s Father? Shortlist
Laura Thompson Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life Shortlist

2020s

2020s Best Critical/Biographical Work winners and shortlists[2]
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2020 John Billheimer Hitchcock and the Censors Winner [17][18]
Ursula Buchan Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan Shortlist
John Curran The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club Shortlist
Anne McKendry Medieval Crime Fiction: A Critical Overview Shortlist
Mo Moulton The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women Shortlist
2021 Christina Lane Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock Winner [19][20]
Martin Edwards Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club Shortlist [20]
Erin E. MacDonald Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery & Fiction Shortlist [20]
Elizabeth Mannion and Brian Cliff Guilt Rules All: Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction Shortlist [20]
Jacqueline Winspear This Time Next Year We’ll be Laughing Shortlist [20]
2022 Edward White The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense Winner [21]
Mark Aldridge Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World Shortlist
Richard Greene The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene Shortlist
James McGrath Morris Tony Hillerman: A Life Shortlist
John Tresch The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science Shortlist
2023 Martin Edwards The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators Winner [22]
Mary Anna Evans and J. C. Bernthal (editors) The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie Shortlist
David Geherin The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations Shortlist
Andrew Neiderman The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story Shortlist
Lucy Worsley Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman Shortlist
2024 Steven Powell Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy Winner [23][24]
David Bordwell Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder Shortlist [24]
Max Allan Collins and James L. Traylor Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction Shortlist [24]
Mark Dawidziak A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe Shortlist [24]
Robert Morgan Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Shortlist [24]
2025 Nathan Ashman James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction Winner [25]
M. Keith Booker American Noir Film: From The Maltese Falcon to Gone Girl Shortlist [26]
David Geherin Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows Shortlist [26]
Ashley Lawson On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett Shortlist [26]
Nicholas Shakespeare Ian Fleming: The Complete Man Shortlist [26]
2026 Richard Kopley Edgar Allan Poe: A Life Winner [27]
Kathryn Harkup V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death Shortlist [28]
Andrew Klavan The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness Shortlist [28]
C. M. Kushins Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard Shortlist [28]
Stephen Rebello Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train Shortlist [28]

References

  1. 1 2 "Edgar Award Category Information". Mystery Writers of America. Archived from the original on 2022-12-14. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  2. 1 2 3 "Edgar Awards". Stop, You're Killing Me. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  3. ↑ "Awards: The Edgars; Arthur C. Clarke Prize". Shelf Awareness. May 2, 2008. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  4. ↑ "Awards: Edgars; Arthur C. Clarke". Shelf Awareness. May 1, 2009. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  5. ↑ "2012 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cogdill, Oline. "2012 Edgar Award Winners". Mystery Scene Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  7. ↑ "2013 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02.
  8. ↑ "2014 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2014-11-10.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "The 2014 Edgar Award Nominations and Winners". Heights Libraries. Archived from the original on 2022-12-10. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "2015 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08.
  11. ↑ "Awards: Edgar Winners; Ridenhour Book". Shelf Awareness. May 1, 2015. Archived from the original on 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  12. ↑ "2016 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2016-11-05.
  13. ↑ "Awards: Edgar Winners". Shelf Awareness. May 2, 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-09-15. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  14. ↑ "2017 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07.
  15. ↑ "2018 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2018-11-10.
  16. ↑ "2019 Nominees and Winners". Edgar Awards. Archived from the original on 2019-08-18.
  17. ↑ "Edgar Award Nominees". www.theedgars.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  18. ↑ "Edgar Allan Poe Awards 2020 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 2020-05-05. Archived from the original on 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  19. ↑ "2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners". Mystery Writers of America. 29 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 "Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 Edgar Awards". CrimeReads. 2021-04-29. Archived from the original on 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  21. ↑ "2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners". Mystery Writers of America. 29 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  22. ↑ Schaub, Michael (2023-04-28). "Edgar Award Winners Are Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2023-04-30. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  23. ↑ Schaub, Michael (2024-05-02). "Winners of the 2024 Edgar Awards Are Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 "2024 Edgar Winners" (PDF). Edgar Awards. May 4, 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  25. ↑ "2025 Edgar Award Winners Announced - Mystery Writers of America". Mystery Writers of America. 2025-05-01. Archived from the original on 2025-07-12. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Edgar Allan Poe Awards 2025". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-24. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
  27. ↑ "Awards: Edgar Winners". Shelf Awareness . 2026-04-30. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
  28. 1 2 3 4 "MWA Announces the 2026 Edgar Award Winners". CrimeReads. 2026-04-30. Archived from the original on 2026-05-25. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
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