Annal:2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award® for Best Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Edgar Allan Poe Award® in the year 2005. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
California Girl: A Novel
- 2005 Edgar–Novel winner
- 2005 Anthony-Novel nominee
- 2005 Macavity-Novel nominee
- 2004 Hammett nominee
- Score: 28.55
California in the 1960s, and the winds of change are raging. Orange groves uprooted for tract houses, people flooding into Orange County, strange new ideas in the air about war, music, sex, and drugs, and new influences, ranging from Richard Nixon to Timothy Leary.
For the Becker brothers, however, the past is always present—and it comes crashing back full force when the body of the lovely and mysterious Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned orange-packing plant. The Beckers and the Vonns have a history, beginning years ago in high school with a rumble…
Evan's Gate: A Constable Evan Evans Mystery
- 2005 Edgar–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.55
When Constable Evan Evans discovers a beautiful shepard’s cottage in the mountains of Llanfair, Wales, he and his fiancée are thrilled. It’s only months before their wedding and they are eager to begin their new life together. The cottage is in need of renovation so Evan wastes no time before he begins making much-needed repairs.
But it turns out that Evan’s discovery extends far beyond the beauties of a mountain-top view and a cozy dream-house when Evan finds the skeleton of a child buried in the front yard. His professional inclinations soon get the best of…
- 2005 Anthony-Novel nominee
- 2005 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 2004 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 18.55
The winner of every major literary award in crime fiction, Laura Lippman brings back her complex and vulnerably human Baltimore P.I., Tess Monaghan, in a tense, expertly spun tale of a family torn asunder by forces it can barely comprehend.
Mark Rubin’s family is missing—and the police can’t do a thing because all the evidence indicates that his wife left willingly. So the successful furrier turns to Tess Monaghan, hoping she can help him find his wife and three children. Tess doesn’t know quite what to make of Rubin, a wealthy Orthodox Jew who refuses to…
- 2005 Barry-Novel nominee
- 2005 Edgar–Novel nominee
- Score: 12.55
Mike Sullivan is determined to raise his six-year-old daughter Sarah to become a tough, independent woman. His own mother left when he was twelve, promising to return and rescue him from his father, an abusive and violently unpredictable thief who, Mike believes, is responsible for her disappearance. But Mike’s wife, Jess, has an overprotective need to shelter Sarah. Rebelling against her paranoia, Mike waits until Jess leaves the house and then, against her wishes, takes Sarah sledding.
Only Sarah doesn’t want to go up the hill with her father. Sarah wants to…
Out of the Deep I Cry: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery
- 2005 Anthony-Novel nominee
- 2005 Edgar–Novel nominee
- Score: 12.55
On April 1, 1930, Jonathan Ketchem’s wife, Jane, walked from her house to the police department to ask for help in finding her husband. The men, worn out from a night of chasing bootleggers, did what they could. No one ever saw Jonathan Ketchem again.
But the Ketchems were far from forgotten. Over time, the family died off—except for Jane Ketchem herself (whom everyone but a few stubborn optimists/pessimists decided had been made a widow by Jonathan’s disappearance). When Jane inherited substantial funds and a successful dairy business, she grew the money…
