Anthony Award for Best Novel

The Anthony Award for Best Novel, established in 1986, is an annual award presented as part of the Anthony Awards on behalf of Mystery Writers of America.

Recipients

Award winners and finalists^[1]

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
1986	Sue Grafton	B Is for Burglar	Winner	[2]
	Sarah Caudwell	The Shortest Way to Hades	Finalist
	John D. MacDonald	The Lonely Silver Rain	Finalist
	Charlotte MacLeod	The Plain Old Man	Finalist
	Sara Paretsky	Killing Orders	Finalist
1987	Sue Grafton	C Is for Corpse	Winner	[2]
	Lawrence Block	When the Sacred Ginmill Closes	Finalist
	John Lutz	Tropical Heat	Finalist
	Nancy Pickard	No Body	Finalist
	Jonathan Valin	Life’s Work	Finalist
1988	Tony Hillerman	Skinwalkers	Winner	[2]
	Linda Barnes	A Trouble of Fools	Finalist
	Aaron Elkins	Old Bones	Finalist
	Elizabeth Peters	Trojan Gold	Finalist
	Nancy Pickard	Marriage is Murder	Finalist
1989	Thomas Harris	The Silence of the Lambs	Winner	[2]
	Dorothy Cannell	The Widow’s Club	Finalist
	Sue Grafton	E Is for Evidence	Finalist
	Tony Hillerman	Thief of Time	Finalist
	Sara Paretsky	Blood Shot	Finalist
	Nancy Pickard	Dead Crazy	Finalist
	Bill Pronzini	Shackles	Finalist
	Les Roberts	Pepper Pike	Finalist
1990	Sarah Caudwell	The Sirens Sang of Murder	Winner	[2]
	Susan Dunlap	Pious Deception	Finalist
	Carolyn G. Hart	A Little Class on Murder	Finalist
	Margaret Maron	Corpus Christmas	Finalist
1991	Sue Grafton	G Is for Gumshoe	Winner	[2]
	Lawrence Block	A Ticket to the Boneyard	Finalist
	Lia Matera	The Good Fight	Finalist
	Sharyn McCrumb	If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O	Finalist
	Julie Smith	New Orleans Mourning	Finalist
1992	Peter Lovesey	The Last Detective	Winner	[2]
	Susan Dunlap	Rogue Wave	Finalist
	Linda Grant	Love Nor Money	Finalist
	J. A. Jance	Hour of the Hunter	Finalist
	Nancy Pickard	I.O.U.	Finalist
	Marilyn Wallace	A Single Stone	Finalist
1993	Margaret Maron	Bootlegger’s Daughter	Winner	[2]
	Robert Crais	Lullaby Town	Finalist
	John Dunning	Booked To Die	Finalist
	Carolyn G. Hart	Southern Ghost	Finalist
	Sharyn McCrumb	The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter	Finalist
1994	Marcia Muller	Wolf in the Shadows	Winner	[2]
	Michael Connelly	The Black Ice	Finalist
	Earl Emerson	Morons and Madmen	Finalist
	Joan Hess	O Little Town of Maggody	Finalist
	Tony Hillerman	Sacred Clowns	Finalist
	Janet LaPierre	Old Enemies	Finalist
	Margaret Maron	Southern Discomfort	Finalist
	Kathy Hogan Trocheck	To Live and Die in Dixie	Finalist
	Minette Walters	The Sculptress	Finalist
	Charlene Weir	Consider the Crows	Finalist
1995	Sharyn McCrumb	She Walks These Hills	Winner	[2]
	Michael Connelly	The Concrete Blonde	Finalist
	Lionel Davidson	Kolymsky Heights	Finalist
	Janet Evanovich	One for the Money	Finalist
	Sue Grafton	K Is for Killer	Finalist
	Bayta Gur	Murder on the Kibbutz	Finalist
	Reginald Hill	Pictures of Perfection	Finalist
	Lynda La Plante	Cold Shoulder	Finalist
	John Lescroart	The 13th Juror	Finalist
	Val McDermid	Crack Down	Finalist
	Walter Mosley	Black Betty	Finalist
	Derek Raymond	Not Till the Red Fog Rises	Finalist
	Janwillem van de Wetering	Just a Corpse at Twilight	Finalist
1996	Mary Willis Walker	Under the Beetle's Cellar	Winner	[2]
	Michael Connelly	The Last Coyote	Finalist
	Barbara D'Amato	Hard Christmas	Finalist
	Andrew Klavan	True Crime	Finalist
	Bill Pronzini	Blue Lonesome	Finalist
1997	Michael Connelly	The Poet	Winner	[2]
	Nevada Barr	Firestorm	Finalist
	Linda Grant	Lethal Genes	Finalist
	Margaret Lawrence	Hearts and Bones	Finalist
	Alan Russell	Multiple Wounds	Finalist
1998	S. J. Rozan	No Colder Place	Winner	[2]
	Anthony Bruno	Devil’s Food	Finalist
	Earl Emerson	Deception Pass	Finalist
	Arturo Perez-Reverte	The Club Dumas	Finalist
	James Sallis	Eye of the Cricket	Finalist
1999	Michael Connelly	Blood Work	Winner	[2]
	Nevada Barr	Blind Descent	Finalist
	Reginald Hill	On Beulah Height	Finalist
	Dennis Lehane	Gone, Baby, Gone	Finalist
	Aileen Schumacher	Framework for Death	Finalist
2000	Peter Robinson	In a Dry Season	Winner	[2]
	Rennie Airth	River of Darkness	Finalist
	Jan Burke	Bones	Finalist
	Robert Crais	L.A. Requiem	Finalist
	Janet Evanovich	High Five	Finalist
2001	Val McDermid	A Place of Execution	Winner	[2]
	Nevada Barr	Deep South	Finalist
	Joe R. Lansdale	The Bottoms	Finalist
	Marcia Muller	Listen to the Silence	Finalist
	Elizabeth Peters	He Shall Thunder in the Sky	Finalist
	Charles Todd	Legacy of the Dead	Finalist
2002	Dennis Lehane	Mystic River	Winner	[2]
	Jan Burke	Flight	Finalist
	Harlan Coben	Tell No One	Finalist
	Rick Riordan	The Devil Went Down to Austin	Finalist
	S. J. Rozan	Reflecting the Sky	Finalist
2003	Michael Connelly	City of Bones	Winner	[2]
	Cara Black	Murder in the Sentier	Finalist
	Steve Hamilton	North of Nowhere	Finalist
	George Pelecanos	Hell to Pay	Finalist
	S. J. Rozan	Winter and Night	Finalist
2004	Laura Lippman	Every Secret Thing	Winner	[2]
	Giles Blunt	The Delicate Storm	Finalist
	Steve Hamilton	Blood Is the Sky	Finalist
	Dennis Lehane	Shutter Island	Finalist
	Peter Robinson	Close to Home	Finalist
2005	William Kent Krueger	Blood Hollow	Winner	[2]
	Ken Bruen	The Killing of the Tinkers	Finalist
	John Katzenbach	The Madman's Tale	Finalist
	Laura Lippman	By a Spider’s Thread	Finalist
	T. Jefferson Parker	California Girl	Finalist
	Julia Spencer-Fleming	Out of the Deep I Cry	Finalist
2006	William Kent Krueger	Mercy Falls	Winner	[2]
	Jan Burke	Bloodlines	Finalist
	Michael Connelly	The Lincoln Lawyer	Finalist
	Thomas H. Cook	Red Leaves	Finalist
	Laura Lippman	To the Power of Three	Finalist
2007	Laura Lippman	No Good Deeds	Winner	[2]
	Jan Burke	Kidnapped	Finalist
	Denise Mina	The Dead Hour	Finalist
	Nancy Pickard	The Virgin of Small Plains	Finalist
	Julia Spencer-Fleming	All Mortal Flesh	Finalist
2008	Laura Lippman	What the Dead Know	Winner	[2]
	James Lee Burke	The Tin Roof Blowdown	Finalist
	Lee Child	Bad Luck and Trouble	Finalist
	Robert Crais	The Watchman	Finalist
	William Kent Krueger	Thunder Bay	Finalist
2009	Michael Connelly	The Brass Verdict	Winner	[2][3]
	Sean Chercover	Trigger City	Finalist
	William Kent Krueger	Red Knife	Finalist
	Stieg Larsson	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Finalist
	Louise Penny	The Cruelest Month	Finalist
2010	Louise Penny	The Brutal Telling	Winner	[2]
	John Hart	The Last Child	Finalist
	Charlie Huston	The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death	Finalist
	Stieg Larsson	The Girl Who Played with Fire	Finalist
	S. J. Rozan	The Shanghai Moon	Finalist
2011	Louise Penny	Bury Your Dead	Winner	[2]
	Tom Franklin	Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter	Finalist	[4][5]
	Tana French	Faithful Place	Finalist	[4][5]
	Steve Hamilton	The Lock Artist	Finalist	[4][5]
	Laura Lippman	I’d Know You Anywhere	Finalist	[4][5]
2012	Louise Penny	A Trick of the Light	Winner	[2]
	Megan Abbott	The End of Everything	Finalist
	Reed Farrel Coleman	Hurt Machine	Finalist
	Michael Connelly	The Drop	Finalist
	Julia Spencer-Fleming	One Was a Soldier	Finalist
2013	Louise Penny	The Beautiful Mystery	Winner	[2]
	Megan Abbott	Dare Me	Finalist	[6]
	Sean Chercover	Trinity Game	Finalist	[6]
	Gillian Flynn	Gone Girl	Finalist	[6]
	Hank Phillippi Ryan	The Other Woman	Finalist	[6]
2014	William Kent Krueger	Ordinary Grace	Winner	[2]
	Robert Crais	Suspect	Finalist	[7]
	Sara J. Henry	A Cold and Lonely Place	Finalist	[7]
	Hank Phillippi Ryan	The Wrong Girl	Finalist	[7]
	Julia Spencer-Fleming	Through the Evil Days	Finalist	[7]
2015	Laura Lippman	After I’m Gone	Winner	[2]
	Joe Clifford	Lamentation	Finalist
	Tana French	The Secret Place	Finalist
	Louise Penny	The Long Way Home	Finalist
	Hank Phillippi Ryan	Truth Be Told	Finalist
2016	Chris Holm	The Killing Kind	Winner	[2]
	Matt Coyle	Night Tremors	Finalist
	Catriona McPherson	The Child Garden	Finalist
	Louise Penny	The Nature of the Beast	Finalist
	Hank Phillippi Ryan	What You See	Finalist
2017	Louise Penny	A Great Reckoning	Winner
	Megan Abbott	You Will Know Me	Finalist	[8]
	Reed Farrel Coleman	Where It Hurts	Finalist	[8]
	Chris Holm	Red Right Hand	Finalist	[8]
	Laura Lippman	Wilde Lake	Finalist	[8]
2018	Attica Locke	Bluebird, Bluebird	Winner	[9]
	Michael Connelly	The Late Show	Finalist	[9]
	Anthony Horowitz	Magpie Murders	Finalist	[9]
	Louise Penny	Glass Houses	Finalist	[9]
	Don Winslow	The Force	Finalist	[9]
2019	Lou Berney	November Road	Winner	[10][11]
	Megan Abbott	Give Me Your Hand	Finalist	[10][11]
	Jennifer Hillier	Jar of Hearts	Finalist	[10][11]
	Laura Lippman	Sunburn	Finalist	[10][11]
	Alex Segura	Blackout	Finalist	[10][11]
2020	Hank Phillippi Ryan	The Murder List	Winner	[12]
	Steph Cha	Your House Will Pay	Finalist
	Rachel Howzell Hall	They All Fall Down	Finalist
	Laura Lippman	Lady in the Lake	Finalist
	Alex Segura	Miami Midnight	Finalist
2021[a]	S. A. Cosby	Blacktop Wasteland	Winner	[13][14][15]
	Tracy Clark	What You Don’t See	Finalist	[15][16]
	Jennifer Hillier	Little Secrets	Finalist	[15][16]
	Rachel Howzell Hall	And Now She’s Gone	Finalist	[15][16]
	Hank Phillippi Ryan	The First To Lie	Finalist	[15][16]
2022	S. A. Cosby	Razorblade Tears	Winner	[17][18]
	Tracy Clark	Runner	Finalist	[18]
	Alison Gaylin	The Collective	Finalist	[18]
	Rachel Howzell Hall	These Toxic Things	Finalist	[18]
	Naomi Hirahara	Clark and Division	Finalist	[18]
2023[b]	Kellye Garrett	Like a Sister	Winner
	Gabino Iglesias	The Devil Takes You Home	Finalist	[19]
	Richard Osman	The Bullet That Missed	Finalist	[19]
	Louise Penny	A World of Curiosities	Finalist	[19]
	Nita Prose	The Maid	Finalist	[19]
	Alex Segura	Secret Identity	Finalist	[19]

Notes

1. In 2021 and 2023, the award was presented to the "best hardcover novel".
2. In 2021 and 2023, the award was presented to the "best hardcover novel".