The Private Eye Writers of America
The Private Eye Writers of America was founded in 1981 by Robert J. Randisi, who also created the Shamus Awards.
Bill Pronzini served as the organization’s first president, with Robert as its first Vice-President.
The aim of the organization is to support and further the private eye genre. One of our original goals was to elevate the P.I. story from a sub-genre of the mystery to a genre of its own, and we feel we have been successful in that.
A Private Eye is defined as “a private citizen (not a member of the military, federal agency, or civic or state police force) who is paid to investigate crimes. A Private Investigator can be a traditional private eye, a TV or newspaper reporter, an insurance investigator, an employee of an investigative service or agency (think Pinkertons), or similar character.”
Our continued goal is to make sure the genre continues to prosper and grow.
PWA News
The PWA 2026 Shamus Award Winners
The finalists for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards, for works published in 2025, will be announced on 7:00 PM on October 22, at the 2026 Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies, to be held in Calgary, Alberta. The finalists are now posted.
An Exclusive Hallowe’en Zoom Program
PWA president Gay Totl Kinman will be interviewing Barb Goffman and Michael Bracken via Zoom on Saturday, October 31 at 1:00 pm EST. Both Barb and Michael are experienced, award-winning writers, editors, and antholgists will share with PWA members their adventures in creating anthologies, how they evaluate submissions, and how they help craft stories that will give authors a better chance of acceptance for themed anthologies. They will also discuss various anthology types: open call versus limited call, invitation versus contribution, as well as the differences between blinds submissions and open submissions, and how to focus on the theme, yet think outside the box.
Here’s the Zoom link: