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Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.

The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.

It presents the Edgar Award, a small bust of Edgar Allan Poe, every year.

Contents 1 Grand Master Award 2 Best Novel Award 3 See also 4 External link

The Grand Master Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. It recognizes lifetime achievement and consistent quality. (The award was presented irregularly through 1978; it has been given to one writer annually since then.)

Year	Winner	Year	Winner	Year	Winner
1955	Agatha Christie	1978	Daphne du Maurier	1994	Lawrence Block
1958	Vincent Starrett		Dorothy B. Hughes	1995	Mickey Spillane
1959	Rex Stout		Ngaio Marsh	1996	Dick Francis
1961	Ellery Queen	1979	Aaron Marc Stein	1997	Ruth Rendell
1962	Erle Stanley Gardner	1980	W. R. Burnett	1998	Barbara Mertz
1963	John Dickson Carr	1981	Stanley Ellin	1999	P.D. James
1964	George Harmon Coxe	1982	Julian Symons	2000	Mary Higgins Clark
1966	Georges Simenon	1983	Margaret Millar	2001	Edward D. Hoch
1967	Baynard Kendrick	1984	John le Carré	2002	Robert B. Parker
1969	John Creasey	1985	Dorothy Salisbury Davis	2003	Ira Levin
1970	James M. Cain	1986	Ed McBain	2004	Joseph Wambaugh
1971	Mignon G. Eberhart	1987	Michael Gilbert	2005	Marcia Muller
1972	John D. MacDonald	1988	Phyllis A. Whitney	2006	Stuart Kaminsky
1973	Judson Philips	1989	Hillary Waugh	2007	Stephen King
	Alfred Hitchcock	1990	Helen McCloy
1974	Ross Macdonald	1991	Tony Hillerman
1975	Eric Ambler	1992	Elmore Leonard
1976	Graham Greene	1993	Donald E. Westlake

Since the 1940's, the MWA has presented many awards for mystery writing in print and drama. Since 1954, they have annual presented an award for Best Novel.

Best Novel winners:

• 2006 Citizen Vince by Jess Walter, Regan Books
• 2005 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker, Wm. Morrow
• 2004 Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin, Little, Brown
• 2003 Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan, St. Martin's Minotaur
• 2002 Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker, Hyperion
• 2001 The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale, Mysterious Press
• 2000 Bones (novel) by Jan Burke, Simon & Schuster
• 1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark, Picador USA
• 1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke, Hyperion
• 1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook, Bantam
• 1996 Come to Grief by Dick Francis, Putnam
• 1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker, Doubleday
• 1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters, St. Martin's Press
• 1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron, Mysterious Press
• 1992 A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block, Wm. Morrow
• 1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith, St. Martin's Press
• 1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke, Little, Brown
• 1989 A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky, Scribners
• 1988 Old Bones by Aaron Elkins, Mysterious Press
• 1987 A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine, Bantam
• 1986 The Suspect by L. R. Wright, Viking
• 1985 Briar Patch by Ross Thomas, Simon & Schuster
• 1984 La Brava by Elmore Leonard, Arbor House
• 1983 Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer, Houghton Mifflin
• 1982 Peregrine by William Bayer, Congdon & Lattes
• 1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis, Harper & Row
• 1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur Maling, Harper & Row
• 1979 The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett, Arbor House
• 1978 Catch Me: Kill Me by William H. Hallahan, Bobbs-Merrill
• 1977 Promised Land by Robert B. Parker, Houghton Mifflin
• 1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield, M. Evans
• 1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary, Wm. Morrow
• 1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman, Harper & Row
• 1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer, Random House
• 1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, Viking
• 1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo, Pantheon
• 1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis, Harper & Row
• 1969 A Case of Need by Jeffery Hudson, World
• 1968 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake, Random House
• 1967 The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling, Harper & Row
• 1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall, Simon & Schuster
• 1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre, Coward-McCann
• 1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler, Knopf
• 1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters, Doubleday
• 1962 Gideon's Fire by J. J. Marric, Harper
• 1961 The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons, Harper
• 1960 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin, Lippincott
• 1959 The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin, Random House
• 1958 Room to Swing by Ed Lacy, Harper
• 1957 A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong, Coward-McCann
• 1956 Beast in View by Margaret Millar, Random House
• 1955 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, Houghton Mifflin
• 1954 Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay

• The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, selected by active MWA members in 1995
• Crime Writers' Association
• Edgar Award

• Mystery Writers of America