Annal:2003 Edgar Allan Poe Award® for Best Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Edgar Allan Poe Award® in the year 2003. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
- 2003 Edgar–Novel winner
- 2003 Macavity-Novel winner
- 2003 Anthony-Novel nominee
- 2003 Barry-Novel nominee
- 2003 Shamus-Novel nominee
- Score: 38.53
Private detective Bill Smith is hurtled headlong into the most provocative-and personal-case of his career when he receives a chilling late night telephone call from the NYPD, who are holding his fifteen-year-old nephew Gary. But before he can find out what’s going on, Gary escapes Bill’s custody and disappears into the dark and unfamiliar streets…
Bill and his partner, Lydia Chin, try to find the missing teen and uncover what it is that has led him so far from home. Their search takes them to Gary’s family in a small town in New Jersey, where they discover that one of Gary’s classmates was murdered. Bill and Lydia delve into the crime-only to find it eerily similar to a decades-old murder-suicide…
Now, with his nephew’s future-and perhaps his very life-at stake, Bill must unravel a long-buried crime and confront the darkness of his own past…
- 2003 Anthony-Novel winner
- 2003 Barry-Novel winner
- 2003 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 2003 Macavity-Novel nominee
- 2002 Dagger shortlist
- Score: 38.53
When the bones of a 12-year-old boy are found scattered in the Hollywood Hills, Harry Bosch is drawn into a case that brings up the darkest memories from his own haunted past. The bones have been buried for years, but the cold case doesn’t deter Bosch. Unearthing hidden stories, he finds the child’s identity and reconstructs his fractured life, determined that he not be forgotten.
At the same time, a new love affair with a female cop begins to blossom for Bosch-until a stunningly blown mission leaves Bosch in more trouble that ever before in his turbulent career. The investigation races to a shocking conclusion and leaves Bosch on the brink of an unimaginable decision-one that will leave readers hungrily awaiting Michael Connelly’s next masterpiece.
- 2003 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 2003 Macavity-Novel nominee
- 2002 Dagger shortlist
- 2002 Hammett nominee
- Score: 24.53
When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, the victim of a particularly savage rape, New Iberia, Louisiana, police detective Dave Robicheaux senses from the very start of the investigation that the most likely suspect, Tee Bobby Hulin, is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general ne’er-do-well, Hulin just doesn’t fit the profile for this kind of brutal crime.
But when another murder occurs—this victim a drugged-out prostitute who happens to be the daughter of one of the local mafia bigwigs—all clues once again point to Tee Bobby Hulin, and the cries for arrest become too loud to ignore. The dead girl’s father, however, prefers to take matters in his own hands and sets out to find—and punish—the killer himself.
But before Robicheaux can solve these crimes and bring the killer or killers to justice, he is forced to battle his own inner demons, including a painkiller addiction, a habit that begins as the result of a brutal and humiliating beating he suffers at the hands of the mysterious and diabolical character known as Legion. A fixture in the area for years,…
- 2003 Edgar–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.53
For Detective Inspector Orla McLeod, violence is a way of life. As a child, her own world was ripped apart by a brutal, unforgettable moment of terror. So when the Special Branch operation she is spearheading goes disastrously wrong, she will do everything she can to protect the nine-year-old boy caught in the cross fire. For Jamie Buchanan was the sole witness to an act of savagery committed in cold blood by a man rapidly becoming one of the most feared criminals in Europe.
Orla and her partner, Luke Tyler, had risked their lives to infiltrate Tord Svensen’s criminal world. Together they had gone deep undercover in a Glasgow tenement to get close enough to bring him down. Then in a series of harrowing events, everything in Orla’s life would change forever.
Now Orla finds herself haunted by the memory of what happened—and tormented by the guilt she feels over her own survival. What keeps her going are the promises she made to her partner Luke and to orphaned Jamie Buchanan. Jamie is the only person who’s seen Tord Svensen’s face, the only one able to ID him. Officially pulled…
- 2003 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 2003 Macavity-Novel nominee
- Score: 12.53
Landing a catch like ultra-WaspTalmadge Evans III got Eloise “Weezie” Foley a jewel of a town house in Savannah’s historic district. Divorcing Tal got her exiled into the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite fest with Tal’s new fiancÈe, the elegant Caroline DeSantos. The War of the Roses is nothing compared to the escalating hostilities between Weezie and Caroline.
Weezie is an antiques “picker” who combs Savannah’s steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures, when she’s not dealing with her loopy relatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. She is convinced that her troubles will be over if she makes a big killing at the upcoming estate sale at a noble plantation house.
But an unauthorized “sneak preview” at the sale lands Weezie smack in the middle of magnolia-scented murder, mayhem… and more. Dirty deals simmerall around her just as her relationship with the hottest chef in town heats up, and she finds out how delicious love can be—the second time around.
