John Hart's thriller Down River has captured the Edgar for Best Novel, and Tana French was award the Prize for Best First Novel for In the Woods. Megan Abbott's Queenpin won for Best Paperback Original, and Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters received the Critical/Biographical Edgar.

The Awards are presented by the Mystery Writers of America and named for Edgar Allen Poe, who is credited with the invention of the detective fiction genre.

For a complete list of the nominees, click here.

Michael Chabon's cross-genre alternate history novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, has won the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's of America's Nebula Award for best novel. Click here for a list of winners in all categories.

In an interview at Newsarama it was revealed that crime writer Duane Swierczynski will be taking over writing chores on Marvel Comics' Immortal Iron Fist.

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The March Mystery Madness showdown has now reached its third week. During the last round, 48 books were voted off, leaving 16 behind to duke it out over the coming three weeks....

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The Telegraph recently listed their 50 favourite crime writers of all time.

Speak up if your favourite didn't make the list.

As you may already know, we were pretty excited when we found out about March Mystery Madness last week. In fact, after a quick flurry of email conversations, we wound up sponsoring it.

With 64 of the best mystery and thriller novels pitted against each other in a six week competition, the first week of polling is done:

Narrow upsets, crushing defeats and last-second comebacks were all the rage. Blockbuster author Philip Margolin put up a fight, slashing his way to a narrow defeat against Andrew Taylor's Fallen Angel. Taylor now takes on Karin Slaughter, who squeaked out a narrow victory of her own over the beloved Louis Bayard and his The Pale Blue Eye. Will these close victories serve as inspiration or will fans of each author be satisfied just to be in the second round?

You can find the full list of 32 first-round winners here.

Don't forget to go vote for your favourites this week- it could mean a free library of 65 excellent books.

You can find out more about the books here.

HarperCollins Canada has launched a blog/contest called March Mystery Madness:

We're hoping that everyone finds March Mystery Madness blog worthy. It's a massive, really fun online event we're running over the next six weeks: 64 books, 4 conferences, tonnes of "games," and one ultimate winner. Essentially, it's the NCAA basketball tournament only with mystery books.

Battling mystery titles, hype, games and the chance to win 65 great mystery novels. What's not to love?

Link to March Mystery Madness

Thanks, Ragdoll

Shelley asks:

"I'm looking for some new authors to read. I mostly enjoy mystery/thrillers, suspense, etc. Some of the authors I enjoy reading include: Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark, Catherine Coulter, Christine Feehan, Lisa Gardner, Julie Garwood, Tess Gerritsen, Kay Hooper, Linda Howard, Lisa Jackson, Iris Johannsen, James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Karen Robards, J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts, and Mariah Stewart. Any suggestions of authors along these lines would be greatly appreciated."

Thanks for your question, Shelley. That certainly gives us a lot to work with. Three booksellers -- Chadwick, Gord and Steve -- have come up with some books and authors that should suit your taste....

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The Maltese Falcon (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)$15.00 add to cart

Crime legend Dashiell Hammett was recently featured in a Guardian story on literary digressions. His "Flitwick Parable" from The Maltese Falcon was held up as a nearly perfect example.

In a scant three pages, Hammett's Sam Spade tells the story of real estate agent Flitwick who leaves his office for lunch, and never returns. When Flitwick is found, he is living under an assumed name, and leading a new life, much like his old, but with a new wife, house and responsibilities. The tale has nothing to do with the plot of The Maltese Falcon, but for the remainder of the novel the reader is left with the sense that anything can happen.