Once Upon a Midnight Dreary: 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations

Annually, on the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth, the Mystery Writers of America announce the nominations for the aptly named Edgar Awards honoring "excellence in mystery." Prize categories include Best Novel, Best First Novel by an American Author and Best Fact Crime, as well as Best Juvenile and Young Adult Mysteries.

The list of past winners is chock full of above-the-title names such as James Lee Burke, Elmore Leonard and S. J. Rozan. So just because you haven't heard of some of this year's nominees, doesn't mean you won't be hearing a lot more about them in the future.

The Edgars will be presented at MWA's Gala Banquet to be held on April 26 in New York City.

Best Novel
The Ranger by Ace Atkins
Gone / Mo Hayder
The Devotion of Suspect X / Keigo Higashino
1222 / Anne Holt
Field Gray / Philip Kerr

Best First Novel by an American Author
Red on Red / Edward Conlon
Last to Fold / David Duffy
All Cry Chaos / Leonard Rosen
Bent Road / Lori Roy
Purgatory Chasm / Steve Ulfelder

Best Paperback Original
The Company Man / Robert Jackson Bennett
The Faces of Angels / Lucretia Grindle
The Dog Sox / Russell Hill
Death of the Mantis / Michael Stanley
Vienna Twilight / Frank Tallis

Best Fact Crime
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars / Paul Collins
The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge / T.J. English
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President / Candice Millard
Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender / Steve Miller
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter / Mark Seal

Best Juvenile:
Horton Halfpott / Tom Angleberger
It Happened on a Train / Mac Barnett
Vanished / Sheela Chari
Icefall / Matthew J. Kirby
The Wizard of Dark Street / Shawn Thomas Odyssey

Best Young Adult:
Shelter / Harlan Coben
The Name of the Star / Maureen Johnson
The Silence of Murder / Dandi Daley Mackall
The Girl is Murder / Kathryn Miller Haines
Kill You Last / Todd Strasser