The Edgar Awards

2000

 

Winner

Never Trust a Dead Man by Vivian Vande Velde  YA MYSTERY Vande Velde, V.

Life has suddenly become very difficult for Selwyn Roweson: First Anora broke his heart and decided to marry Farold, then Farold beat him up in front of the entire village, and finally Selwyn is accused of murder when Farold is found dead, with a knife -- Selwyn's knife -- hilt-deep in his back.

Nominees

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson YA Anderson, L.
Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. But there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens.

That Kind of Money by Vicki Cameron  YA MYSTERY Cameron, V.
“A modern-day Tom Sawyer.” Woody is the local rebel without a cause. He wants a Yamaha Attitude electric brass guitar and will go to almost any length to obtain “that kind of money.” With a little imagination and some help from his geeky neighbor, Woody initiates the Glory Crescents Christmas Lights War. Will Woody realize that there are more things than money?

The Ghost in the Takaido Inn by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler  YA MYSTERY Hoobler, T.
Samurai fear nothing, not even death. They are loyal and brave, 14-year-old Seikel has studied the way of the samurai, and would like nothing more than to be one. But a samurai is born, not made; Seikei was born the son of a tea merchant, so a merchant he must be. But when a priceless ruby intended for the shogun--the military governor of Japan--is stolen by a ghost, Seikei finds himself having to display all the courage of a samurai. Seikei is the only person to have seen the thief, and now the famous magistrate, Judge Ooka, needs the boy's help to solve this mystery. Can the son of a merchant prove himself worthy to the shogun himself?

Monster by Walter Dean Myers YA Myers, W.
Young, black, 16-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for the murder of a Harlem drugstore owner. As a way of coping, Steve, an amateur filmmaker, decides to transcribe his trial into a movie script. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred until he can no longer tell who he is or what the truth is.

1999

Winner

The Killer's Cousin, by Nancy Werlin  YA MYSTERY Werlin, N.
Recently acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David has moved to Massachusetts to complete his senior year of high school. His aunt and uncle have offered him shelter -- escape from the media's questions and from the uncertain glances of his neighbors and ex-friends.   His attic apartment doesn't feel much like a shelter, though. He sees ghostly shadows at night, his aunt is strangely cold, and his eleven-year-old cousin, Lily, is downright hostile. And as Lily's behavior becomes more and more threatening, David can't help wondering what ugly secrets lurk within the walls of her home.   There's one thing that David knows with certainty. The more he learns about his cousin Lily, the harder it is to avoid thinking about his own past.

Nominees

Finn, by Katharine Jay Bacon
Unable to speak after his parents and sister are killed in a plane crash, sixteen-year-old Finn comes to stay with his grandmother on her Vermont farm, where his friendship with a neighbor, the activities of local drug dealers, and the actions of a hybrid wolf force him to deal with his grief.


The Maze, by Will Hobbs   YA Hobbs, W.
Stowing away in the back of a pickup, 14-year-old runaway Rick Walker finds himself at a dead end in the surreal landscape of redrock spires and deep canyons called the Maze.

Paperquake, by Kathryn Reiss
Violet's paralyzing fear of the earthquakes that are rocking the San Francisco Bay area makes it difficult for her to overcome her "baby" image. While helping her sisters (the girls are triplets) clean a building that their parents are renovating, an aftershock dislodges a letter written to Baby V in 1906 -- and Violet is certain that the message in the letter is intended for her. As more mysterious writings from the past tumble into Violet's hands, she becomes determined to learn why she is receiving these mysterious communiques.

Violet and her sisters delve into historical documents and newspaper articles from the early 1900s -- including accounts of the devastating 1906 earthquake -- as they attempt to unravel the mystery. But as more frequent earthquakes rattle their own lives, they realize that their time may be running out....


For Mike, by Shelley Sykes  YA MYSTERY Sykes, S.
When Jeff's best friend Mike disappears in the fall of their senior year in high school, Jeff has disturbing dreams in which Mike urges him to come get him, and a secret begins to unfold.

1998

Winner

Ghost Canoe, by Will Hobbs  YA Hobbs, W.
When a sailing ship breaks up on the rocks off Washington's storm-tossed Cape Flattery, it's clear that no one could have survived. But Nathan MacAllister, the 14-year-old son of the lighthouse keeper, is troubled by footprints found on the beach. The author of "Far North" delivers the engaging story of a dangerous mystery and the boy determined to solve it.

Nominees

Tangerine, by Edward Bloor  YA Bloor, E.
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Yesterday's Child, by Sonja Levitin
When her mother dies suddenly, 16-year old Laura becomes obsessed with finding out why the two of them were never close. Her father is guarded about the past, but a class trip to Washington, D.C., gives Laura the opportunity to search for answers in her mother's nearby hometown.
Thin Ice, by Marsha Qualey
A teenager's stubborn conviction that her brother is still alive carries her past her friends' doubt, the pity of acquaintances, and overwhelming evidence to the contrary in this taut, engagingly cast mystery. . . . It's a page turner.

Deal with a Ghost, by Marilyn Singer
Sixteen-year-old Delia is more eager to play a manipulative dating game than to adapt to her new school, but then she finds that she has a personal connection to the ghost said to be haunting the school.

1997

Winner

Twisted Summer by Willo Davis Roberts  YA AWARD Roberts, W.

Every summer Cici and her family join other family and friends at Crystal Lake. This year she learns that Brodie, her friend Jack's older brother, has been convicted of murder. Cici doesn't believe Brodie did it and decides to investigate, making for a complicated and difficult summer. At the end, Cici does prove Brodie innocent, becoming more mature and knowing in the process.

Nominees

No other nominees listed.