# Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original

The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback or eBook Original was established in 1970.
The award honors the best mystery book that is initially printed as a paperback or eBook without a hardcover edition. EBooks must be published by a reputable publisher, as determined by the Mystery Writers of America. American authors' debut novels are not eligible for the award, though they are eligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.
The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original winners are listed below.

## Winners
### 1970s

1970s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1970 | Scott C. S. Stone | The Dragon's Eye | Winner |
| 1970 | Alan Caillou | Assault on Ming | Shortlist |
| 1970 | Elsie Cromwell | The Governess | Shortlist |
| 1970 | Michael Kurland | A Plague of Spies | Shortlist |
| 1970 | Richard Stark | The Sour Lemon Score | Shortlist |
| 1971 | Dan J. Marlowe | Flashpoint | Winner |
| 1971 | Jack Ehrlich | The Drowning | Shortlist |
| 1971 | Matt Gattzden | O.D. at Sweet Claude’s | Shortlist |
| 1971 | Ron Goulart | After Things Fell Apart | Shortlist |
| 1971 | John Lange | Grave Descend | Shortlist |
| 1971 | Peter McCurtin | Mafioso | Shortlist |
| 1972 | Frank McAuliffe | For Murder I Charge More | Winner |
| 1972 | Philip Atlee | The White Wolverine Contract | Shortlist |
| 1972 | William F. Nolan | Space for Hire | Shortlist |
| 1972 | Alicen White | Nor Spell, Nor Charm | Shortlist |
| 1972 | Charles Williams | And the Deep Blue Sea | Shortlist |
| 1973 | Richard Wormser | The Invader | Winner |
| 1973 | Daniel Banko | Not Dead Yet | Shortlist |
| 1973 | Richard Neely | The Smith Conspiracy | Shortlist |
| 1973 | Charles Runyon | Power Kill | Shortlist |
| 1974 | Will Perry | Death of an Informer | Winner |
| 1974 | Clive Cussler | The Mediterranean Caper | Shortlist |
| 1974 | Leo P. Kelley | Deadlocked! | Shortlist |
| 1974 | Dinah Palmtag | Starling Street | Shortlist |
| 1974 | Roger L. Simon | The Big Fix | Shortlist |
| 1975 | Roy Winsor | The Corpse That Walked | Winner |
| 1975 | Richard Forrest | Who Killed Mr. Garland’s Mistress? | Shortlist |
| 1975 | R. R. Irvine | Jump Cut | Shortlist |
| 1975 | Curtis Stevens | The Gravy Train Hit | Shortlist |
| 1975 | Don Tracy | Flats Fixed-Among Other Things | Shortlist |
| 1976 | John R. Feegel | Autopsy | Winner |
| 1976 | Milt Machlin and Robin Moore | The Set-Up | Shortlist |
| 1976 | Jacqueline Park | Charlie’s Back in Town | Shortlist |
| 1976 | Simon Quinn | The Midas Coffin | Shortlist |
| 1976 | David Vowell | The Assassinator | Shortlist |
| 1977 | Gregory Mcdonald | Confess, Fletch | Winner |
| 1977 | Daniel da Cruz | The Captive City | Shortlist |
| 1977 | Kenn Davis and John Stanley | The Dark Side | Shortlist |
| 1977 | Donald Hamilton | The Retaliators | Shortlist |
| 1977 | R. R. Irvine | Freeze Frame | Shortlist |
| 1978 | Mike Jahn | The Quark Maneuver | Winner |
| 1978 | Lawrence Block | Time to Murder and Create | Shortlist |
| 1978 | Donald Hamilton | The Terrorizers | Shortlist |
| 1978 | Marc Olden | They’ve Killed Anna | Shortlist |
| 1979 | Frank Bandy | Deceit and Deadly Lies | Winner |
| 1979 | David Anthony | Stud Game | Shortlist |
| 1979 | Elmore Leonard | The Switch | Shortlist |
| 1979 | Phillip Margolin | Heartstone | Shortlist |
| 1979 | Graham Masterton | Charnel House | Shortlist |

### 1980s

1980s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1980 | William L. DeAndrea | The Hog Murders | Winner |
| 1980 | Sean Flannery | The Kremlin Conspiracy | Shortlist |
| 1980 | David Heller | Vortex | Shortlist |
| 1980 | Glenn Kezer | The Queen Is Dead | Shortlist |
| 1980 | Michael Kurland | The Infernal Device | Shortlist |
| 1981 | Bill Granger | Public Murders | Winner |
| 1981 | Thomas H. Cook | Blood Innocents | Shortlist |
| 1981 | John Dunning | Looking for Ginger North | Shortlist |
| 1981 | Murray Sinclair | Tough Luck, L.A. | Shortlist |
| 1982 | L. A. Morse | The Old Dick | Winner |
| 1982 | John Dunning | Deadline | Shortlist |
| 1982 | Patricia MacDonald | The Unforgiven | Shortlist |
| 1982 | Andrew Neiderman | Pin | Shortlist |
| 1982 | Ray Obstfeld | Dead Heat | Shortlist |
| 1983 | Teri White | Triangle | Winner |
| 1983 | Ralph Burrows | Vital Signs | Shortlist |
| 1983 | James Ellroy | Clandestine | Shortlist |
| 1983 | Jack Lynch | The Missing and the Dead | Shortlist |
| 1984 | Margaret Tracy | Mrs. White | Winner |
| 1984 | Sean Flannery | False Prophets | Shortlist |
| 1984 | Richard Harper | The Kill Factor | Shortlist |
| 1984 | Warren Murphy | Trace | Shortlist |
| 1984 | Eric Sauter | Hunter | Shortlist |
| 1985 | Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy | Grandmaster | Winner |
| 1985 | Eric Blau | The Keys to Billy Tillio | Shortlist |
| 1985 | Roland Cutler | The Seventh Sacrament | Shortlist |
| 1985 | Kenn Davis | Words Can Kill | Shortlist |
| 1985 | Stuart M. Kaminsky | Black Knight in Red Square | Shortlist |
| 1986 | Warren Murphy | Pigs Get Fat | Winner |
| 1986 | Earl Emerson | Poverty Bay | Shortlist |
| 1986 | Sean Flannery | Broken Idols | Shortlist |
| 1986 | Philip Ross | Blue Heron | Shortlist |
| 1986 | Conall Ryan | Black Gravity | Shortlist |
| 1987 | Robert Wright Campbell | The Junkyard Dog | Winner |
| 1987 | Lilian Jackson Braun | The Cat Who Saw Red | Shortlist |
| 1987 | R. D. Brown | Hazzard | Shortlist |
| 1987 | Nick Christian | Ronin | Shortlist |
| 1987 | Kate Green | Shattered Moon | Shortlist |
| 1988 | Sharyn McCrumb | Bimbos of the Death Sun | Winner |
| 1988 | Robert Crais | The Monkey's Raincoat | Shortlist |
| 1988 | Walter Dillon | Deadly Intrusion | Shortlist |
| 1988 | James N. Frey | The Long Way to Die | Shortlist |
| 1988 | Gabrielle Kraft | Bullshot | Shortlist |
| 1989 | Timothy Findley | The Telling of Lies | Winner |
| 1989 | Fredrick D. Huebner | Judgment by Fire | Shortlist |
| 1989 | Lia Matera | A Radical Departure | Shortlist |
| 1989 | Keith Peterson | The Trapdoor | Shortlist |
| 1989 | Ted Thackrey, Jr. | Preacher | Shortlist |

### 1990s

1990s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1990 | Keith Peterson | The Rain | Winner |
| 1990 | Jeffery Deaver | Manhattan Is My Beat | Shortlist |
| 1990 | Eugene Izzi | King of the Hustlers | Shortlist |
| 1990 | Randy Russell | Hot Wire | Shortlist |
| 1990 | Deborah Valentine | A Collector of Photographs | Shortlist |
| 1991 | David Handler | The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald | Winner |
| 1991 | L. L Enger | Comeback | Shortlist |
| 1991 | Jane Haddam | Not a Creature Was Stirring | Shortlist |
| 1991 | B. J. Oliphant | Dead in the Scrub | Shortlist |
| 1991 | John Maddox Roberts | SPQR I: The King’s Gambit | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Thomas Adcock | Dark Maze | Winner |
| 1992 | P. M. Carlson | Murder in the Dog Days | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Ed Naha | Cracking Up | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Christopher Newman | Midtown North | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Deborah Valentine | Fine Distinctions | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Dana Stabenow | A Cold Day for Murder | Winner |
| 1993 | Lee Harris | The Good Friday Murder | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Gini Hartzmark | Principal Defense | Shortlist |
| 1993 | William Jefferies | Shallow Graves | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Billie Sue Mosiman | Night Cruise | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Steven Womack | Dead Folk's Blues | Winner |
| 1994 | Margaret Frazer | The Servant’s Tale | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Eugene Izzi | Tony’s Justice | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Thomas A. Roberts | Beyond Saru | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Lisa Scottoline | Everywhere That Mary Went | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Lisa Scottoline | Final Appeal | Winner |
| 1995 | Milton Bass | The Broken-Hearted Detective | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Dean Feldmeyer | Viper Quarry | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Walter Sorrells | Power of Attorney | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Chassie West | Sunrise | Shortlist |
| 1996 | William Heffernan | Tarnished Blue | Winner |
| 1996 | Harlan Coben | Deal Breaker | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Kirk Mitchell | High Desert Malice | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Gloria White | Charged With Guilt | Shortlist |
| 1996 | R. D. Wingfield | Hard Frost | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Harlan Coben | Fade Away | Winner |
| 1997 | Joan M. Drury | Silent Words | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Teri Holbrook | The Grass Widow | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Susan Wade | Walking Rain | Shortlist |
| 1997 | R. D. Zimmerman | Tribe | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Laura Lippman | Charm City | Winner |
| 1998 | Susan Rogers Cooper | Home Again, Home Again | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Margaret Frazer | The Prioress’ Tale | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Stuart M. Kaminsky | Tarnished Icons | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Gloria White | Sunset and Santiago | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Rick Riordan | The Widower's Two-Step | Winner |
| 1999 | Ruth Birmingham | Atlanta Graves | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Laura Lippman | Butchers Hill | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Sujata Massey | Zen Attitude | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Steven Womack | Murder Manual | Shortlist |

### 2000s

2000s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2000 | Ruth Birmingham | Fulton County Blues | Winner |
| 2000 | Tony Dunbar | Lucky Man | Shortlist |
| 2000 | Mark Graham | The Resurrectionist | Shortlist |
| 2000 | José Latour | Outcast | Shortlist |
| 2000 | Laura Lippman | In Big Trouble | Shortlist |
| 2001 | Mark Graham | The Black Maria | Winner |
| 2001 | Victoria Thompson | Murder on St. Mark’s Place | Shortlist |
| 2001 | Chassie West | Killing Kin | Shortlist |
| 2001 | Eric Wright | The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn | Shortlist |
| 2001 | Sally Wright | Pursuit and Persuasion | Shortlist |
| 2002 | Daniel Chavarria | Adios Muchachos | Winner |
| 2002 | Jeffery Deaver | Hell’s Kitchen | Shortlist |
| 2002 | Teri Holbrook | The Mother Tongue | Shortlist |
| 2002 | P. J. Parrish | Dead of Winter | Shortlist |
| 2002 | Martin J. Smith | Straw Men | Shortlist |
| 2003 | T. J. MacGregor | Out of Sight | Winner |
| 2003 | Jeff Abbott | Black Jack Point | Shortlist |
| 2003 | John Lutz | The Night Watcher | Shortlist |
| 2003 | Graham Masterton | Trauma | Shortlist |
| 2003 | Anna Salter | Prison Blues | Shortlist |
| 2004 | Sylvia Maultash Warsh | Find Me Again | Winner |
| 2004 | Jeff Abbott | Cut and Run | Shortlist |
| 2004 | Joel Goldman | The Last Witness | Shortlist |
| 2004 | Christopher Hyde | Wisdom of the Bones | Shortlist |
| 2004 | Nina Revoyr | Southland | Shortlist |
| 2005 | Domenic Stansberry | The Confession | Winner |
| 2005 | Larry Beinhart | The Librarian | Shortlist |
| 2005 | Thomas H. Cook | Into the Web | Shortlist |
| 2005 | Ron Faust | Dead Men Rise Up Never | Shortlist |
| 2005 | Chris Haslam | Twelve-Step Fandango | Shortlist |
| 2006 | Jeffrey Ford | Girl in the Glass | Winner |
| 2006 | Anne Argula | Homicide My Own | Shortlist |
| 2006 | Reed Farrel Coleman | The James Deans | Shortlist |
| 2006 | Allan Guthrie | Kiss Her Goodbye | Shortlist |
| 2006 | Charlie Huston | Six Bad Things | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Naomi Hirahara | Snakeskin Shamisen | Winner |
| 2007 | Massimo Carlotto | The Goodbye Kiss | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Brian Evenson | The Open Curtain | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Paul Levine | The Deep Blue Alibi | Shortlist |
| 2007 | Patrick Neate | City of Tiny Lights | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Megan Abbott | Queenpin | Winner |
| 2008 | David Corbett | Blood of Paradise | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Vicki Hendricks | Cruel Poetry | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Russell Hill | Robbie’s Wife | Shortlist |
| 2008 | Kevin Wignall | Who Is Conrad Hirst? | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Meg Gardiner | China Lake | Winner |
| 2009 | Alex Carr | The Prince of Bagram Prison | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Christa Faust | Money Shot | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Ed Gaffney | Enemy Combatant | Shortlist |
| 2009 | Tom Piccirilli | The Cold Spot | Shortlist |

### 2010s

2010s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2010 | Marc Strange | Body Blows | Winner |
| 2010 | Megan Abbott | Bury Me Deep | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Robert Arellano | Havana Lunar | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Russell Hill | The Lord God Bird | Shortlist |
| 2010 | L. C. Tyler | The Herring Seller’s Apprentice | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Robert Goddard | Long Time Coming | Winner |
| 2011 | Catherine O'Flynn | The News Where You Are | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Duane Swierczynski | Expiration Date | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Frank Tallis | Vienna Secrets | Shortlist |
| 2011 | L. C. Tyler | Ten Little Herrings | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Robert Jackson Bennett | The Company Man | Winner |
| 2012 | Lucretia Grindle | The Faces of Angels | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Russell Hill | The Dog Sox | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Michael Stanley | Death of the Mantis | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Frank Tallis | Vienna Twilight | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Ben H. Winters | The Last Policeman | Winner |
| 2013 | Isaac Adamson | Complication | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Lou Berney | Whiplash River | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Alan Glynn | Bloodland | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Malla Nunn | Blessed Are the Dead | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Alex Marwood | The Wicked Girls | Winner |
| 2014 | Lisa Ballantyne | The Guilty One | Shortlist |
| 2014 | E. R. Brown | Almost Criminal | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Paul Cleave | Joe Victim | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Stephen King | Joyland | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Marcus Sakey | Brilliance | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Chris Abani | The Secret History of Las Vegas | Winner |
| 2015 | Alison Gaylin | Stay With Me | Shortlist |
| 2015 | William Lashner | The Barkeep | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Catriona McPherson | The Day She Died | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Lisa Turner | The Gone Dead Train | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Ben H. Winters | World of Trouble | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Lou Berney | The Long and Faraway Gone | Winner |
| 2016 | Malcolm MacKay | The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Gilly Macmillan | What She Knew | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Gordon McAlpine | Woman with a Blue Pencil | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Adrian McKinty | Gun Street Girl | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Jane Shemilt | The Daughter | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Adrian McKinty | Rain Dogs | Winner |
| 2017 | Patricia Abbott | Shot in Detroit | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Tyler Dilts | Come Twilight | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Robert Dugoni | The 7th Canon | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Robin Yocum | A Brilliant Death | Shortlist |
| 2017 | James W. Ziskin | Heart of Stone | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Anna Mazzola | The Unseeing | Winner |
| 2018 | Rhys Bowen | In Farleigh Field | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Ron Corbett | Ragged Lake | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Andrew Mayne | Black Fall | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Kanae Minato | Penance | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Jock Serong | The Rules of Backyard Cricket | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Alison Gaylin | If I Die Tonight | Winner |
| 2019 | Naomi Hirahara | Hiroshima Boy | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Lori Rader-Day | Under a Dark Sky | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Leila Slimani | The Perfect Nanny | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Lisa Unger | Under My Skin | Shortlist |

### 2020s

2020s Best Paperback Original winners :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2020 | Adam O'Fallon Price | The Hotel Neversink | Winner |
| 2020 | Susan Alice Bickford | Dread of Winter | Shortlist |
| 2020 | William Lashner | Freedom Road | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Jonathan Moore | Blood Relations | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Alan Parks | February’s Son | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Lisa Sandlin | The Bird Boys | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Alyssa Cole | When No One Is Watching | Winner |
| 2021 | Brian Freeman | The Deep, Deep Snow | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Jess Lourey | Unspeakable Things | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Jessica Moor | The Keeper | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Khurrum Rahman | East of Hounslow | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Alan Parks | Bobby March Will Live Forever | Winner |
| 2022 | David Bell | Kill all Your Darlings | Shortlist |
| 2022 | C.J. Cooke | The Lighthouse Witches | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Daryl Gregory | The Album of Dr. Moreau | Shortlist |
| 2022 | C.S. O'Cinneide | Starr Sign | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Laura Purcell | The Shape of Darkness | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Joe Hart | Or Else | Winner |
| 2023 | Max Allan Collins | Quarry’s Blood | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Seraphina Nova Glass | On a Quiet Street | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Carol Lawrence | Cleopatra’s Dagger | Shortlist |
| 2023 | A.R. Torre | A Familiar Stranger | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Jesse Q. Sutanto | Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers | Winner |
| 2024 | A.F. Carter | Boomtown | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Tracy Clark | Hide | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Jess Lourey | The Taken Ones | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Scott Von Doviak | Lowdown Road | Shortlist |