SHAMUS AWARD WINNERS 2026: Private Eye Writers of America

I just realized I forgot to post the winners of the Shamus Awards. Here you go!

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the winners of the coveted Shamus Awards. Winners were announced last night at the 2026 Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies in Calgary, Canada. Congratulations to All!

BEST PI HARDCOVER

The Big Empty by Robert Crais

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

Where The Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski 

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL

Midnight Streets by Phil Lecomer

BEST PI SHORT STORY

"The Roosevelt Affair" by Adam Meyer (Crimeucopia: Not So Frail Detective Agency: Rosie Perkins)

2023 Shamus Award Nominees: Private Eye Writers of America

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the 2023 Shamus Award Nominees.

The Shamus Awards are awarded for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2022. PWA’s (Private Eye Writers of America) definition of a Private Eye: a person paid to investigate crimes who is not employed by a government agency. Congratulations to all the nominees!

BEST ORIGINAL HARDBACK P.I. NOVEL

The Wheel of Doll by Jonathan Ames (Mulholland Books)

The Big Bundle by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)

The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books)

Holmes Coming by Kenneth Johnson (Blackstone Publishing)

The Blackmail by M. Ravenel (Chikara Press)

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

Quarry’s Blood by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)

DoubleBlind by Libby Fischer Hellmann (The Red Herrings Press)

Canary in a Coal Mine by Charles Salzberg (Down & Out Books)

Dead-Bang Fall by J.R. Sanders (Level Best Books)

Hush Hush by Gabriel Valjan (Historia/Level Best Books)

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL

Big Fat F@!k-up by Lawrence Allan (M.S. Wooten Press)

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen (Minotaur Books)

Foote by Tom Bredehoft (West Virginia University Press)

What Meets the Eye by Alex Kenna (Crooked Lane Books)

The Goldenacre by Philip Miller (Soho Crime)

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY

“No Place for a Dame” by Lori Armstrong

(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)

“Charlie’s Medicine” by Libby Cudmore

(Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon/Down & Out Books)

“A Jelly of Intrigue” by O’Neil De Noux

(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)

“The Pearl of Antilles” by Caroline Garcia-Aguilera

(Edgar & Shamus Go Golden/Down & Out Books)

“Bad Actor” by Elliot Sweeney

(Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Nov/Dec 2022)