the private eye writers of america
announce the 2026 shamus award Winners

The finalists for 2026 The Private Eye Writers Of America Shamus Awards, for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2025, have just been announced. The winners have just been announced at the 2026 Bouchercon‘s Opening Ceremonies in Calgary, Alberta.

The 2026 Shamus Awards Winners are in white:

BEST PI HARDCOVER

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Photograph by Brian Freeman (Blackstone Publishing)

Hatchet Girls by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown and Company)

Gray Dawn by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown and Company)

Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur Books)

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL

Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski (Datura Books)

Chase Harlem by Elise Burke Brown (Rising Action Publishing)

Miles in Time by Lee Mathew Goldberg (Wise Wolf Books)

Shadow of the Eternal Watcher by Josh Mendoza (Inkshares)

The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur Books)

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

Midnight Streets by Phil Lecomber (Titan Books)

The Hook and the Eye by Raymond Benson (Ian Fleming Publications)

Sunday or the Highway by Cindy Fazzi (Thomas & Mercer)

City Lights by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best Books)

Catch Me on a Blue Day by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey Books)

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY

“The Roosevelt Affair” by Adam Meyer (Crimeucopia: Not So Frail Detective Agency, Murderous Ink Press)

“The One Cry” by F.H. Batacan (Accidents Happen, Soho Crime)

“Dr. Bones” by Libby Cudmore (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June)

“Hours on the Phone” by Gregory Fallis (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August)

“The Shadows” by Charles John Harper (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June)

The PWA thanks the judges who selected the five finalists and winners:

Ira Berkowitz, Libby Cudmore, Richard Helms, Harry Hunsaker, Dana King, Sean Little, Debbi Mack, Patrick H. Moore, Alan Orloff, Steave Pease, J.R. Sanders, and Andrew Welsh-Higgins.