The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) announced it Edgar Award Nominations for 2022 this morning. Below you will find the adult fiction nominations. For a full list of all nominations click on the above link.

Best Novel

THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK, Rhys Bowen (1)
RAZORBLADE TEARS, S. A. Cosby (44)
FIVE DECEMBERS, James Kestrel (14)
HOW LUCKY, Will Leach (0)
NO ONE WILL MISS HER, Kat Rosenfeld (0)

Best First Novel by an American Author

DEER SEASON, Erin Flanagan (0)
NEVER SAW ME COMING, Vera Kurian (6)
SUBURBAN DICKS, Fabian Nicieza (1)
WHAT COMES AFTER, JoAnne Tompkins (0)
THE DAMAGE, Caitlin Wahrer (0)

Best Paperback Original

KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS, David Bell (0)
THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES, C. J. Cooke (0)
THE ALBUM OF DR. MOREAU, Darvi Gregory (0)
STARR SIGN, C. S. O’Cinneide (0)
BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, Alan Parks (0)
THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS, Laura Purcell (0)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award

THE SECRET LIFE OF MISS MARY BENNET, Katherine Cowley (0)
RUBY RED HERRING, Tracy Gardner (1)
CLARK AND DIVISION, Naomi Hirahara (12)
THE SIGN OF DEATH, Callie Hutton (0)
CHAPTER AND CURSE, Elizabeth Penney (0)

The G. P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award

DOUBLE TAKE, Elizabeth Breck (0)
RUNNER, Tracy Clark (0)
SHADOW HILL, Thomas Kies (0)
SLEEP WELL, MY LADY, Kwei Quartey (2)
FAMILY BUSINESS, S. J. Rozan (0)

Editor’s comments: I was glad to see that RAZORBLADE TEARS by S.A. Cosby (the best book of the year, in my opinion) and FIVE DECEMBERS by James Kestrel (my favorite read of the year) are in contention for the Best Novel Edgar Award.

I was surprised to see SUBURBAN DICKS by Fabian Nicieza on the Best First list because no other critic (besides me) rated it highly enough to put in on their best of the year lists. I thought it was a hoot!

As is the case in most years, many of the titles selected are unknown to me. I compiled a list of 85 “best of the year” lists and correlated them to see how many times a certain title appeared on those lists. I have put in parenthesis the number of times each of the above titles appeared on 85 of the best of the year lists from critics, experts, publications and websites (see the next issue of DP for a complete analysis).

What is quite apparent to me is that the Edgar Award nominating committees don’t pay much attention to which crime novels are highly praised by other critics (except in the case of RAZORBLADE TEARS, FIVE DECEMBERS, CLARK AND DIVISION and NEVER SAW ME COMING). The Edgar Award nomination lists are often most notable for the outstanding crime novels NOT on the list, rather than the good crime novels that made the short lists of nominations. So take a look at the following list I compiled from 85 best lists (thus gaining some consensus of opinion) as to what are the best 21 crime novels of 2021. Only three received Edgar Award nominations.

CRITIC’S TOP PICKS from the BEST LISTS of 2021
by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

44 Mentions
RAZORBLADE TEARS, S.A. Cosby – Crime Novel of the Year

17 Mentions
BILLY SUMMERS, Stephen King
HARLEM SHUFFLE, Colson Whitehead

14 Mentions
FIVE DECEMBERS, James Kestrel
THE DARK HOURS, Michael Connelly

13 Mentions
DREAM GIRL, Laura Lippman
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL, Zakiya Dalila Harris

12 Mentions
THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE, Richard Osman
CLARK AND DIVISION, Naomi Hirahara
THE TURNOUT, Megan Abbott
THE PLOT, Jean Hanff Korelitz

11 Mentions
VELVET WAS THE NIGHT, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave
SILVERVIEW, John le Carre’

10 Mentions
THE SURVIVORS, Jane Harper
THE PUSH, Ashley Audrain

9 Mentions
SLOUGH HOUSE, Mick Herron
WE BEGIN AT THE END, Chris Whitaker
GIRL A, Abigail Dean
WHO IS MAUDE DIXON?, Alexandra Andrews
ARSENIC AND ADOBO, Mia P. Manansala
THE DARK REMAINS, William McIlvanney & Ian Rankin

When the Barry Award nominations come out in a week or so, you will see a more balanced list that coincides more than the Edgar nominations with what experts (including the Barry Award nominating committee members) say are the “best books of 2021.” Of course, that is all according to my humble opinion and Larry Gandle’s less-than-humble opinion.