Winners are noted in highlighted bold. Includes data through 2007, when we started recording finalists.
| Year | Finalists |
|---|---|
| 2024 | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon |
| 2023 | The Day He Left by Frederick Weisel |
| 2022 | Tower of Babel by Michael Sears |
| 2021 | Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood |
| 2020 | One Good Deed by David Baldacci |
| 2019 | Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley |
| 2018 | Blood for Wine by Warren C. Easley (Poisoned Pen Press) The Lioness is the Hunter by Loren D. Estelman (Forge) Gone to Dustby by Matt Goldman (Forge) August Snowby Stephen Mack Jones (Soho) The Dime by Kathleen Kent (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown) |
| 2017 | Death at Breakfast — Beth Gutcheon (Harper Collins) Home — Harlen Coben (Penguin Random House) Surrender, New York — Caleb Carr (Penguin Random House) With Six You Get Wally,Al Lamanda: A John Becker Mystery (Five Star Publishing) |
| 2016 | Past Crimes, Glen Erik Hamilton, (William Morrow/Harper Collins) Crazy Mountain Kiss, Keith McCafferty (Viking) Night Life, David Taylor (Tor Forge) This Side of Midnight, Al Lamanda (Five Star Publishing) Hard Latitudes, Baron R. Birtcher (Permanent Press) |
| 2015 | Peter Pan Must Die, John Verdon (Crown Publishing Group) Herbie’s Game, Timothy Hallinan (Soho Press) The Detective & The Pipe Girl, Michael Craven (HarperCollins) First Light, Al Lamanda (Five Star) The Detective, James Patrick Hunt (Cengage Gale) |
| 2014 | Ask Not, Max Allan Collins (Tor & Forge Books) Three Can Keep a Secret, Archer Mayor (St. Martins Press) Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell (Little, Brown & Company) A Study in Revenge, Kieran Sheilds (Crown Publishing Group) A Question of Honor, Charles Todd, (William Morrow/Harper Collins) |
| 2013 | Antiques Disposal, Barbara Allan Burning Midnight, Loren D. Estleman Dead Anyway, Chris Knopf Truth of All Things, Kieran Shields |
| 2012 | Guilt by Association, Marcia Clark The Silent Girl, Tess Gerritsen The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz Spiral, Paul McEuen Though Not Dead, Dana Stabenow Black Orchid Blues, Persia Walker |
| 2011 | Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny (St. Martin’s Minotaur) Ice Cold, Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books) The Book of Spies, Gayle Lynds St. Martin’s Press) The Midnight Show Murders, Al Roker & Dick Lochte (Delacorte) Think of a Number, John Verdon (Crown) |
| 2010 | Faces of Gone, Brad Parks (St. Martin’s Minotaur) The Fleet Street Murders, Charles Finch (St. Martin’s Minotaur) Crack in the Lens, Steve Hockensmith (St. Martin’s Minotaur) |
| 2009 | The Tenth Case, Joseph Teller (MIRA) The Dark Tide, Andrew Gross (Harper Collins) The Fault Tree, Louise Ure (Minotaur Books) |
| 2008 | Anatomy of Fear, Jonathan Santlofer (William Morrow) Glass Houses, Jane Haddam (St. Martin’s Minotaur) The Burnt House, Faye Kellerman (William Morrow) In This Rain, S. J. Rosen (Delta) In Secret Service, Mitch Silver (Pocket Star) |
| 2007 | All Mortal Flesh — Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin’s Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books) Kidnapped — Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster A Stolen Season — Steve Hamilton (St. Martin’s Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books) |