Looking for a great mystery? Below, we’ve created a special literary mixtape linking to free samples of books nominated for the 2011 Edgar Awards–the Mystery Writers of America’s newly revealed picks for the best books of the year.
If you want more books, we made similar mixtapes linking to free samples of 2011 Edgar Awards finalists, the 2011 ALA Youth Media Awards winners, and the Best Books of 2010.
This alphabetical list combines the Edgar nominees from these categories: Best Novel, Best First Novel by an American Author, Best Paperback Original, Best Fact Crime, Best Critical/Biographical, Best Juvenile, and Best Young Adult. The Best Novel nominees are listed in bold.
Best Mystery Books of 2010
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity
by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee
Caught by Harlan Coben
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron
Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Faithful Place by Tana French
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendevouz with American History by Yunte Huang
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis
Snow Angels by James Thompson
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters