Honor roll:Edgar Allan Poe Award® for Best Critical/Biographical Work

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters

Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, Charles Foley

• 2008 Anthony-Critical winner
• 2008 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2007 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2008 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 36.58

This remarkable annotated collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s previously unpublished private correspondence offers unique insight into one of the world’s most popular authors. For the first time, Conan Doyle emerges from the shadow of Sherlock Holmes, revealing a man whose character and exploits rival that of his famous creation. In particular, Conan Doyle’s correspondence with his mother exposes his endless search for fulfillment and success outside the Holmes stories.

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Melanie Rehak

• 2006 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2006 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 2005 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2006 Anthony-Critical nominee
• Score: 36.56

A plucky “titian-haired” sleuth solved her first mystery in 1930. Eighty million books later, Nancy Drew has survived the Depression, World War II, and the sixties (when she was taken up with a vengeance by women’s libbers) to enter the pantheon of American girlhood. As beloved by girls today as she was by their grandmothers, Nancy Drew has both inspired and reflected the changes in her readers’ lives. Now, in a narrative with all the vivid energy and page-turning pace of Nancy’s adventures, Melanie Rehak solves an enduring literary mystery:

Who created Nancy…

Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle

Daniel Stashower

• 2000 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 1999 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2000 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2000 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 32.5

This fresh, compelling biography examines the extraordinary life and strange contrasts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the struggling provincial doctor who became the most popular storyteller of his age. From his youthful exploits aboard a whaling ship to his often stormy friendships with such figures as Harry Houdini and George Bernard Shaw, Conan Doyle lived a life as gripping as one of his adventures. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written, Teller of Tales sets aside many myths and misconceptions to present a vivid portrait of the man behind the leg of Baker…

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: Vol 1 and 2. The Complete Short Stories

Leslie S. Klinger, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• 2005 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2005 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2005 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2004 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 28.55

A cause for international celebration—the most important Sherlock Holmes publication in four decades.

This monumental edition promises to be the most important new contribution to Sherlock Holmes literature since William Baring-Gould’s 1967 classic work. In this boxed set, Leslie Klinger, a leading world authority, reassembles Arthur Conan Doyle’s 56 classic short stories in the order in which they appeared in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century book editions. Inside, readers will find a cornucopia of insights: beginners will benefit from Klinger’s…

Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith

Andrew Wilson

• 2004 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2004 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2004 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2003 Whitbread-Biography shortlist
• Score: 28.54

The first and highly anticipated biography of the author of such classics of suspense as Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The life of Patricia Highsmith was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the best-known characters who people her “peerlessly disturbing” writing. Yet even as her work—her thrillers, short stories, and the pseudonymous lesbian novel The Price of Salt—have found new popularity in the last few years, the life of this famously elusive writer has remained a mystery.

For Beautiful Shadow, the…

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction

Mike Ashley

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2003 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2003 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2002 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 28.53

Never before has there been a comprehensive, inexpensive reference guide and overview to the genre of crime fiction like The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction. Veteran editor Mike Ashley’s historical introduction gives an overview of the crime genre, showing the background and development of crime fiction from the earliest days with Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler through to the modern exponents of the craft such as Elmore Leonard and Ian Rankin. His A to Z covers five hundred entries on the major writers in the crime fiction field, from Edward S.…

Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed

Stuart M. Kaminsky, Laurie Roberts

• 2006 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2006 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2006 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2005 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 24.56

Edgar award winner and past President of the Mystery Writers of America Stuart Kaminsky brings mystery fans into the living rooms, offices, and gardens of his talented friends and fellow writers in this tribute to the mystery genre. Professional photographer Laurie Roberts captures the writers, their families, homes, and pets while Kaminsky probes into their personal lives and writing to go “behind the mystery” to meet the writer. Many of the best are included: Sue Grafton, Elmore Leonard, Donald Westlake, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Martin Cruz Smith, Robert B.…

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: Vol 3. The Novels

Leslie S. Klinger, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• 2006 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2006 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2006 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2005 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 24.56

The publication of Leslie S. Klinger’s brilliant new annotations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 56 short stories in 2004 created a Holmes sensation. Here, in this eagerly awaited third volume, Klinger reassembles Doyle’s four seminal novels in their original order, with over 1,000 new notes, 350 illustrations and period photographs, and tantalizing new Sherlockian theories. Inside, readers will find:

• A Study in Scarlet (1887)—a tale of murder and revenge that tells of Holmes and Dr. Watson’s first meeting;
• The Sign of Four …

Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction Volume III (1990-1999)

Colleen Barnett

• 2004 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2004 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2004 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2003 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 24.54

“Mystery Women, Volume 3” is an encyclopedia of leading women characters in mystery fiction introduced during the years 1990-1999. It was preceded by “Mystery Women 1 (1860-1979)” and “Mystery Women 2 (1980-1989)”. In each of the three books, the protagonists are described as to appearance, education and career, family status, religious and political interests. There are short reviews of the books in which each appeared. The series was intended not only as a resource for mystery fans,librarians and booksellers, but as a reflection of the way in which women were…

The History of Mystery

Max Allan Collins

• 2002 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2002 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2002 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2001 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 24.52

Footprints, a smoking revolver, broken glass . . . Whodunit? Get to the bottom of things with Max Allan Collins, who puts the enigmatic, endlessly fascinating world of the mystery genre under the magnifying glass in The History of Mystery. Starting with Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional detective Dupin, Collins tracks the modern detective story from its birth in Allan Pinkerton’s Memoirs to its fullest flowering in the fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. Collins widens his scope to explore the rich narrative and visual history of…