Since 1948 the Edgar Awards have been looking for books in the Best Fact Crime category. Considering my love for true crime and criminology, I have made another challenge for myself – to read all of the winners and nominees of the award since its inception.
The List:
2011:
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity by Ken Armstrong & Nick Perry (Winner)
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham & Sari Horowitz
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr
2010:
Columbine by Dave Cullen (Winner)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti
2009:
American Lightning: Terror Mystery and the Birth of Hollywoood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Winner)
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To the Revolution by T.J. English
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren by Jonathan Lopez
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
2008:
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi (Winner)
The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert
Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself after Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn’t Commit by Kerry Max Cook
Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn’t Quit by Kevin Flynn
Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson
2007:
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson (Winner)
Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz
A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger
Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine by Capt. Joseph K. Loughlin & Kate Clark Flora
Ripperology: A Study of the World’s First Serial Killer by Robin Odell
The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower
2006:
Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick (Winner)
Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans by Jed Horne
The Elements of Murder: The History of Poison by John Emsley
True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel
Written in Blood by Diane Fanning
2005:
Conviction: Solving the Moxley Murder by Leonard Levitt (Winner)
Are You There Alone? by Suzanne O’Malley
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubenstein
Forensics for Dummies by D.P. Lyle, MD
Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule
Ready for the People by Marissa N. Batt
2004:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Winner)
And the Dead Shall Rise: the Murder of Mary Phagan & the Lynching of Leo Frank by Steve Oney
Black Dahlia Avenger – The True Story by Steve Hodel
Judgment Ridge: the True Story behind the Dartmouth Murders by Dick Lehr & Mitchell Zuckoff
Rothstein: the Life, Times & Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series by David Pietrusza
2003:
Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh (Winner)
Blood & Ink: International Guide to Fact-Based Crime Literature by Albert Borowitz
Death at the Priory: Sex, Love and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick
Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire by Douglas Century & Rick Cowan
The Count and the Confession by John Taylor
2002:
Son of a Grifter by Kent Walker (Winner)
Base Instincts: What Makes a Killer Kill? by Jonathan H. Pincus, M.D.
Dark Dreams: Sexual Violence, Homicide and the Criminal Mind by Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud
Leavenworth Train: A Fugitive’s Search for Justice in the Vanishing West by Joe Jackson
The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict in the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case by James Neff
2001:
Black Mass: The Irish Mob, The FBI, & A Devil’s Deal by Dick Lehr & Gerard O’Neill (Winner)
Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous by Don Foster
Moonlight: Abraham Lincoln & the Almanac Trial by John Evangelist Walsh
Portraits of Guilt: The Woman Who Profiles the Faces of America’s Deadliest Criminals by Jeanne Boylan
The Seekers: A Bounty Hunter’s Story by Joshua Armstrong & Anthony Bruno
2000:
Blind Eye by James B. Stewart (Winner)
And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule
Disco Bloodbath by James St. James
Mean Justice by Edward Hume
The Ghosts of Hopewell by Jim Fisher
1999:
To The Last Breath by Carlton Stowers (Winner)
Death Sentence by Jerry Bledsoe
Greentown by Timothy Dumas
One of Ours by Richard A. Serrano
Tough Jews by Rich Cohen
1998:
The Death of Innocents by Richard Firstman & Jamie Talan (Winner)
Bitter Harvest: A Woman’s Fury, a Mother’s Sacrifice by Ann Rule
May God Have Mercy: A True Story of Crime & Punishment by John C. Tucker
Our Guys:The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb by Bernard Lefkowitz
The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief by Ben MacIntyre
1997:
Power To Hurt by Darcy O’Brien (Winner)
Fall Guys by Jim Fisher
No Matter How Loud I Shout Edward Humes
Outrage by Vincent Bugliosi
Trespasses by Howard Swindle
1996:
Circumstantial Evidence by Pete Earley (Winner)
Born To Kill by T.J. English
By Two and Two by Jim Schutze
Mindhunter by John Douglas & Mark Olshaker
Unfinished Murder by James Neff
1995:
To Protect and Serve by Joe Domanick (Winner)
Before He Wakes by Jerry Bledsoe
Breakdown by Eileen McNamara
In the Best of Families by Dennis McDouglas
Mississippi Mud by Edward Humes
1994:
Until the Twelfth of Never by Bella Stumbo (Winner)
Final Justice by Steven Naifeh & Gregory White Smith
Gone in the Night by David Protess & Rob Warden
Lindbergh: The Crime by Noel Behn
The Misbegotten Son by Jack Olsen
1993:
Swift Justice by Harry Farrell (Winner)
Blood Echoes by Thomas H. Cook
Everything She Ever Wanted by Ann Rule
My Husband’s Trying to Kill Me by Jim Schutze
The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jana Bommersbach
1992:
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon (Winner)
Boss of Bosses: The Fall of the Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano by Andris Kurins & Joseph F. O’Brien
Death of Elvis: What Really Happened by James P. Cole & Charles C. Thompson II
Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart
Witnesses from the Grave: The Stories Bones Tell by Christopher Joyce & Eric Stover
1991:
In a Child’s Name by Peter Maas (Winner)
A Death in White Bear Lake by Barry Siegel
Beyond Reason by Ken Englade
Goombata by John Cummings & Ernest Volkman
1990:
Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell by Jack Olsen (Winner)
Murder in Little Egypt by Darcy O’Brien
The Blooding: The True Story of the Narborough Village Murders by Joseph Wambaugh
The Death Shift: The True Story of Nurse Genene Jones and the Texas Baby Murders by Peter Elkind
Wasted: The Preppie Murder by Linda Wolfe
1989:
In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean (Winner)
A Gathering of Saints by Robert Lindsey
Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring by Pete Earley
Monkey on a Stick by Lindsey Gruson & John Hubner
The Cocaine Wars by Paul Eddy, Hugo Sabogal & Sara Walden
1988:
CBS Murders by Richard Hammer (Winner)
Dreams of Ada by Robert Mayer
Engaged to Murder by Loretta Schwartz-Noble
Talked to Death by Stephen Singular
The Man Who Robbed the Pierre by Ira Berkow
1987:
Careless Whispers: The True Story of a Triple Murder and the Determined Lawman Who Wouldn’t Give Up by Carlton Stowers (Winner)
Incident at Big Sky: Sheriff Johnny France and the Mountain Men by Johnny France & Malcolm McConnell
The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge by Alan Prendergast
Unveiling Claudia: A True Story of Serial Murder by Daniel Keyes
Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi
1986:
Savage Grace by Stephen M.L. Aronson & Natalie Robins (Winner)
At Mother’s Request: A True Story of Money, Murder and Betrayal by Jonathan Coleman
Nutcracker: Money, Madness, Murder: A Family Album by Shana Alexander
Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son: The Story of the Yorkshire Ripper by Gordon Burn
The Airman and the Carpenter: The Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Framing of Richard Hauptmann by Ludovic Kennedy
The Murder of a Shopping Bag Lady by Brian Kates
1985:
Double Play: The San Francisco City Hall Killings by Mike Weiss (Winner)
Earth to Earth by John Cornwell
Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs by Jim Atkinson & John Bloom
Murder at the Met by David Black
The Molineux Affair by Jane Pejsa
1984:
Very Much A Lady by Shana Alexander (Winner)
Deadly Force by Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.
Judgement Day by B.C. Hall & Bob Lancaster
Son by Jack Olsen
The Von Bulow Affair by William Wright
1983:
The Vatican Connection by Richard Hammer (Winner)
Big Bucks by Ernest Tidyman
Deadly Intentions by William Randolph Stevens
Indecent Exposure by David McClintock
Somebody is Lying: The Story of Doctor X. by Myron Farber
1982:
The Sting Man by Robert W. Greene (Winner)
By Reason of Doubt by Ellen Godfrey
Papa’s Game by Gregory Wallance
The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa by Seymore V. Reit
The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes
1981:
A True Deliverance by Fred Harwell (Winner)
Assassination of Embassy Row by John Dinges & Saul Landeau
The Trial of Policeman Thomas Shea by Thomas Hawser
1980:
The Falcon and the Snowman by Robert Lindsey (Winner)
Anyone’s Daughter by Shana Alexander
Blood Will Tell by Gary Cartwright
Sentenced to Die by Stephen H. Gettinger
Zebra by Clark Howard
1979:
Til Death Us Do Part by Vincent Bugliosi & Ken Hurwitz
Criminal Violence by Charles Silberman
Perjury by Alan Weinstein
Why Have They Taken Our Children? by Jack W. Baugh & Jefferson Morgan
1978:
By Persons Unknown by Barbara Amiel & George Jonas (Winner)
Closing Time by Lacey Fosburgh
Justice Crucified by Roberta S. Feuerlicht
Six Against the Rock by Clark Howard
The Voice of Guns by Paul Avery & Vin McLellan
1977:
Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson (Winner)
Murder in Coweta County by Margaret Anne Barnes
The Michigan Murders by Edward Keyes
1976:
A Time To Die by Tom Wicker (Winner)
Invitation to a Lynching by Gene Miller
The House on Garibaldi Street by Isser Harel
1975:
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry (Winner)
Dummy by Ernest Tidyman
The Memphis Murders by Gerald Meyer
1974:
Legacy of Death by Barbara Levy (Winner)
Burden of Proof by Ed Cray
The Implosion Conspiracy by Louis Nizer
The Medical Detectives by Paulette Cooper
The Profession of Violence by John Pearson
1973:
Hoax by Lewis Chester, Stephen Fay, & Magnus Linkletter (Winner)
Shipwreck by Gordon Thomas & Max Morgan Witts
The Santa Claus Bank Robbery by A.C. Greene
They Got To Find Me Guilty Yet by T.P. Slattery
1972:
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt by Sandor Frankel (Winner)
The Disappearence of Dr. Parkman by Robert Sullivan
The Girl on the Volkswagen Floor by William A. Clark
1971:
A Great Fall by Mildred Savage (Winner)
Crime in America by Ramsey Clark
The Ninth Juror by Girard Chester
1970:
The Case That Will Not Die by Herbert B. Ehrmann (Winner)
Scottsboro by Don T. Carter
The Victims by Kenneth Gross & Bernard Lefkowitz
Whitmore by Fred C. Shapiro
1969:
Poe the Detective by John Evangelist Walsh (Winner)
The Mulberry Tree by John Frasca
Three Sisters in Black by Norman Zierold
1968:
A Private Disgrace by Victoria Lincoln (Winner)
Black Market Medicine by Margaret Kreig
Frame-Up by Curt Gentry
Justice in the Black Room by Selwyn Raab
1967:
The Boston Strangler by Gerold Frank (Winner)
Crime and Detection by Julian Symons
The Last Two to Hang by Elwyn Jones
1966:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Winner)
A Little Girl is Dead by Harry Golden
Murderers Sane and Mad by Miriam Allen deFord
The Century of the Detective by Jurgen Thorwald
The Power of Life and Death by Lawrence G. Blochman & Michael V. DiSalle
1965:
Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis (Winner)
Lament for the Molly Maguires by Arthur H. Lewis
The Honored Society by Norman Lewis
The Minister and the Choir Singer by William Kunstler
The Molly Maguires by Wayne G. Broehl Jr.
1964:
The Deed by Gerold Frank (Winner)
Flight 967 by Brad Williams
The Hired Killers by Peter Wyden
1963:
Tragedy in Dedham by Francis Russell (Winner)
1962:
Death and the Supreme Court by Barrett Prettyman Jr. (Winner)
Kidnap by George Waller
Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story by Edward D. Radin
The Sheppard Murder Case by Paul Holmes
1961:
The Overbury Affair by Miriam Allen deFord (Winner)
Heaven Knows Who by Christianna Brand
Mostly Murder by Sir Sydney Smith
1960:
Fire at Sea by Thomas Gallager (Winner)
Great Train Robberies of the West by Eugene B. Block
1959:
They Died in the Chair by Wenzell Brown (Winner)
The Deadly Reasons by Edward D. Radin
The Incurable Wound by Berton Roueche
The Murder and the Trial by Edgar Lustgarten
The Royal Vultures by Hillel Black
1958:
The D.A.’s Man by Harold R. Danforth & James D. Horan (Winner)
Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner by Henry Goddard & Patrick Pringle
The Girl in the Belfry by Joseph Henry Jackson & Lenore Glen Offord
1957:
Night Fell on Georgia by Charles Samuels & Louise Samuels (Winner)
Historical Whodunits by Hugh Ross Williamson
Ruby McCollum, The Woman in the Suwanne Jail by William Bradford Huie
1956:
Dead and Gone by Manly Wade Wellman (Winner)
The Assassins by Robert J. Donovan
The Truth about Belle Gunness by Lillian de la Torre
1955:
The Girl with the Scarlet Brand by Charles Boswell & Lewis Thompson (Winner)
1954:
Why Did They Kill? by John Bartlow Martin (Winner)
1953:
Court of Last Resort by Erle Stanley Gardner (Winner)
1952:
True Tales from the Annals of Crime and Rascality by St. Clair McKelway (Winner)
Lady: Killers by W.T. Brannon
1951:
Twelve Against Crime by Edward D. Radin (Winner)
1950:
Bad Company by Joseph Henry Jackson (Winner)
1949:
Marie Rodell for her editorship of the Regional Murder series (Duell, Sloan & Pearce)
1948:
Twelve Against the Law by Edward D. Radin (Winner)
Among Stories 