# Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original

The Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original, 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 :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1986 | Nancy Pickard | Say No to Murder | Winner |
| 1986 | Earl Emerson | Poverty Bay | Finalist |
| 1986 | Kate Green | Shattered Moon | Finalist |
| 1986 | P. M. Carlson | Murder is Academic | Finalist |
| 1986 | Patrick A. Kelley | Sleightly Murder | Finalist |
| 1987 | Robert Campbell | The Junkyard Dog | Winner |
| 1987 | J. A. Jance | Trial by Fury | Finalist |
| 1987 | Lilian Jackson Braun | The Cat Who Saw Red | Finalist |
| 1987 | Rob Kantner | The Back-Door Man | Finalist |
| 1987 | Warren Murphy | Too Old a Cat | Finalist |
| 1988 | Robert Crais | The Monkey's Raincoat | Winner |
| 1988 | Carolyn G. Hart | Death on Demand | Finalist |
| 1988 | Conrad Haynes | Bishop’s Gambit, Declined | Finalist |
| 1988 | Lia Matera | Where Lawyers Fear To Tread | Finalist |
| 1988 | Lilian Jackson Braun | The Cat Who Played Brahms | Finalist |
| 1988 | Sharyn McCrumb | Bimbos of the Death Sun | Finalist |
| 1989 | Carolyn G. Hart | Something Wicked | Winner |
| 1989 | D. R. Meredith | Murder by Impulse | Finalist |
| 1989 | David Handler | The Man Who Died Laughing | Finalist |
| 1989 | Lia Matera | A Radical Departure | Finalist |
| 1989 | Marilyn Wallace | Primary Target | Finalist |
| 1989 | Michael Avallone | High Noon at Midnight | Finalist |
| 1989 | P. M. Carlson | Murder Unrenovated | Finalist |
| 1989 | Sharyn McCrumb | Paying the Piper | Finalist |
| 1990 | Carolyn G. Hart | Honeymoon with Murder | Winner |
| 1990 | D. R. Meredith | Murder by Deception | Finalist |
| 1990 | Deborah Valentine | A Collector of Photographs | Finalist |
| 1990 | Keith Peterson | Rough Justice | Finalist |
| 1990 | Malacai Black | On My Honor | Finalist |
| 1991 | James McCahery | Grave Undertaking | Winner |
| 1991 | Rochelle Krich | Where’s Mommy Now? | Winner |
| 1991 | B. J. Oliphant | Dead in the Scrub | Finalist |
| 1991 | Jane Haddam | Not a Creature Was Stirring | Finalist |
| 1991 | Marilyn Wallace (editor) | Sisters in Crime 2 | Finalist |
| 1996 | Harlan Coben | Deal Breaker | Winner |
| 1996 | Eileen Dreyer | Bad Medicine | Finalist |
| 1996 | Gloria White | Charged with Guilt | Finalist |
| 1996 | R. D. Zimmerman | Closet | Finalist |
| 1996 | Teri Holbrook | A Far and Deadly Cry | Finalist |
| 1997 | Terris McMahan Grimes | Somebody Else’s Child | Winner |
| 1997 | Harlan Coben | Fade Away | Finalist |
| 1997 | Steven Womack | Chain of Fools | Finalist |
| 1997 | Susan Wade | Walking Rain | Finalist |
| 1997 | Teri Holbrook | The Grass Widow | Finalist |
| 1998 | Rick Riordan | Big Red Tequila | Winner |
| 1998 | K. J. A. Wishnia | 23 Shades of Black | Finalist |
| 1998 | Laura Lippman | Charm City | Finalist |
| 1998 | Martin J. Smith | Time Release | Finalist |
| 1998 | Sujata Massey | The Salaryman’s Wife | Finalist |
| 1999 | Laura Lippman | Butchers Hill | Winner |
| 1999 | Caroline Roe | Remedy for Treason | Finalist |
| 1999 | Rick Riordan | The Widower’s Two Step | Finalist |
| 1999 | Steven Womack | Murder Manual | Finalist |
| 1999 | Sujata Massey | Zen Attitude | Finalist |
| 2000 | Laura Lippman | In Big Trouble | Winner |
| 2000 | Anthony P. Dunbar | Lucky Man | Finalist |
| 2000 | Caroline Roe | Antidote for Avarice | Finalist |
| 2000 | José Latour | Outcast | Finalist |
| 2000 | Robin Burcell | Every Move She Makes | Finalist |
| 2001 | Kate Grilley | Death Dances to a Reggae Beat | Winner |
| 2001 | Chassie West | Killing Kin | Finalist |
| 2001 | Daniel Stashower | The Floating Lady Murder | Finalist |
| 2001 | Eric Wright | The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn | Finalist |
| 2001 | Katy Munger | Bad to the Bone | Finalist |
| 2001 | Laura Wilson | A Little Death | Finalist |
| 2002 | Charlaine Harris | Dead Until Dark | Winner |
| 2002 | Daniel Stashower | The Houdini Specter | Finalist |
| 2002 | Jeff Abbott | A Kiss Gone Bad | Finalist |
| 2002 | Jerrilyn Farmer | Dim Sum Dead | Finalist |
| 2002 | P. J. Parrish | Dead of Winter | Finalist |
| 2003 | Robin Burcell | Fatal Truth | Winner |
| 2003 | Andy Straka | A Killing Sky | Finalist |
| 2003 | Jeff Abbott | Black Jack Point | Finalist |
| 2003 | P. J. Parrish | Paint It Black | Finalist |
| 2003 | Roberta Isleib | Six Strokes Under | Finalist |
| 2004 | Robin Burcell | Deadly Legacy | Winner |
| 2004 | Elaine Flinn | Dealing in Murder | Finalist |
| 2004 | Jason Starr | Tough Luck | Finalist |
| 2004 | P. J. Parrish | Thicker Than Water | Finalist |
| 2004 | Sylvia Maultash Warsh | Find Me Again | Finalist |
| 2005 | Jason Starr | Twisted City | Winner |
| 2005 | M. J. Rose | The Halo Effect | Finalist |
| 2005 | Roberta Isleib | Putt to Death | Finalist |
| 2005 | Robin Burcell | Cold Case | Finalist |
| 2005 | Susan McBride | Blue Blood | Finalist |
| 2006 | Reed Farrel Coleman | The James Deans | Winner |
| 2006 | Allan Guthrie | Kiss Her Goodbye | Finalist |
| 2006 | Charlie Huston | Six Bad Things | Finalist |
| 2006 | P. J. Parrish | A Killing Rain | Finalist |
| 2006 | Susan McBride | The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder | Finalist |
| 2007 | Dana Cameron | Ashes and Bones | Winner |
| 2007 | Charlie Huston | A Dangerous Man | Finalist |
| 2007 | Naomi Hirahara | Snakeskin Shamisen | Finalist |
| 2007 | Robert Fate | Baby Shark | Finalist |
| 2007 | Sean Doolittle | The Cleanup | Finalist |
| 2007 | Troy Cook | 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers | Finalist |
| 2007 | Victor Gischler | Shotgun Opera | Finalist |
| 2008 | P. J. Parrish | A Thousand Bones | Winner |
| 2008 | David Corbett | Blood of Paradise | Finalist |
| 2008 | Ken Bruen and Jason Starr | Slide | Finalist |
| 2008 | Megan Abbott | Queenpin | Finalist |
| 2008 | Robert Fate | Baby Shark’s Beaumont Blues | Finalist |
| 2009 | Julie Hyzy | State of the Onion | Winner |
| 2009 | Christa Faust | Money Shot | Finalist |
| 2009 | Max Allan Collins | The First Quarry | Finalist |
| 2009 | P. J. Parrish | South of Hell | Finalist |
| 2009 | Vicki Lane | In a Dark Season | Finalist |
| 2010 | Bryan Gruley | Starvation Lake | Winner |
| 2010 | G. M. Malliet | Death and the Lit Chick | Finalist |
| 2010 | Hank Phillippi Ryan | Air Time | Finalist |
| 2010 | Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman | Tower | Finalist |
| 2010 | Max Allan Collins | Quarry in the Middle | Finalist |
| 2010 | Megan Abbott | Bury Me Deep | Finalist |
| 2011 | Duane Swierczynski | Expiration Date | Winner |
| 2011 | Hank Phillippi Ryan | Drive Time | Finalist |
| 2011 | Bryan Gruley | The Hanging Tree | Finalist |
| 2011 | Frank Tallis | Vienna Secrets | Finalist |
| 2011 | Robert Goddard | Long Time Coming | Finalist |
| 2012 | Julie Hyzy | Buffalo West Wing | Winner |
| 2012 | Christa Faust | Choke Hold | Finalist |
| 2012 | Duane Swierczynski | Fun & Games | Finalist |
| 2012 | Frank Tallis | Vienna Twilight | Finalist |
| 2012 | Michael Stanley | The Death of the Mantis | Finalist |
| 2012 | Robert Jackson Bennett | The Company Man | Finalist |
| 2013 | Johnny Shaw | Big Maria | Winner |
| 2013 | Alison Gaylin | And She Was | Finalist |
| 2013 | Joelle Charbonneau | Murder for Choir | Finalist |
| 2013 | Lou Berney | Whiplash River | Finalist |
| 2013 | Malla Nunn | Blessed Are the Dead | Finalist |
| 2014 | Catriona McPherson | As She Left It | Winner |
| 2014 | Alex Marwood | The Wicked Girls | Finalist |
| 2014 | Chris F. Holm | The Big Reap | Finalist |
| 2014 | Darrell James | Purgatory Key | Finalist |
| 2014 | Stephen King | Joyland | Finalist |
| 2015 | Catriona McPherson | The Day She Died | Winner |
| 2015 | Alex Marwood | The Killer Next Door | Finalist |
| 2015 | Alison Gaylin | Stay With Me | Finalist |
| 2015 | Ben H. Winters | World of Trouble | Finalist |
| 2015 | James W. Ziskin | No Stone Unturned | Finalist |
| 2016 | Lou Berney | The Long and Faraway Gone | Winner |
| 2016 | Adrian McKinty | Gun Street Girl | Finalist |
| 2016 | James W. Ziskin | Stone Cold Dead | Finalist |
| 2016 | Josh Stallings | Young Americans | Finalist |
| 2016 | Lori Rader-Day | Little Pretty Things | Finalist |
| 2017 | James W. Ziskin | Heart of Stone | Winner |
| 2017 | Adrian McKinty | Rain Dogs | Finalist |
| 2017 | Eric Beetner | Leadfoot | Finalist |
| 2017 | Jay Stringer | How To Kill Friends and Implicate People | Finalist |
| 2017 | Jess Lourey | Salem’s Cipher | Finalist |
| 2017 | Patricia Abbott | Shot in Detroit | Finalist |
| 2018 | Lori Rader-Day | The Day I Died | Winner |
| 2018 | Eryk Pruitt | What We Reckon | Finalist |
| 2018 | James W. Ziskin | Cast the First Stone | Finalist |
| 2018 | Nadine Nettmann | Uncorking a Lie | Finalist |
| 2018 | Thomas Pluck | Bad Boy Boogie | Finalist |
| 2019 | Lori Rader-Day | Under a Dark Sky | Winner |
| 2019 | Alison Gaylin | If I Die Tonight | Finalist |
| 2019 | James W. Ziskin | A Stone’s Throw | Finalist |
| 2019 | Kellye Garrett | Hollywood Ending | Finalist |
| 2019 | Naomi Hirahara | Hiroshima Boy | Finalist |
| 2020 | Gigi Pandian | The Alchemist’s Illusion | Winner |
| 2020 | Catriona McPherson | Scot & Soda | Finalist |
| 2020 | E. A. Aymar | The Unrepentant | Finalist |
| 2020 | Gabriel Valjan | The Company Files: 2. The Naming Game | Finalist |
| 2020 | L. A. Chandlar | The Pearl Dagger | Finalist |
| 2020 | Susanna Calkins | Murder Knocks Twice | Finalist |
| 2020 | Wendall Thomas | Drowned Under | Finalist |
| 2021 | Jess Lourey | Unspeakable Things | Winner |
| 2021 | Alyssa Cole | When No One Is Watching | Finalist |
| 2021 | Gabriel Valjan | Dirty Old Town | Finalist |
| 2021 | Lori Rader-Day | The Lucky One | Finalist |
| 2021 | Susanna Calkins | The Fate of a Flapper | Finalist |
| 2022 | Jess Lourey | Bloodline | Winner |
| 2022 | Cheryl A. Head | Warn Me When It’s Time | Finalist |
| 2022 | Greg Herren | Bury Me In Shadows | Finalist |
| 2022 | Tara Laskowski | The Mother Next Door | Finalist |
| 2022 | Tori Eldridge | The Ninja Betrayed | Finalist |
| 2023 | Jess Lourey | The Quarry Girls | Winner |
| 2023 | Gabriel Valjan | Hush Hush | Finalist |
| 2023 | James L’Etoile | Dead Drop | Finalist |
| 2023 | Kelly J. Ford | Real Bad Things | Finalist |
| 2023 | Sandra SG Wong | In the Dark We Forget | Finalist |