Middle Grade Edgar Nominees

Every year, Mystery Writers of America honors the best mystery fiction, nonfiction, television and theater published or produced the previous year.

This year’s nominees for best juvenile mystery are:

Summerlost by Ally Condie (Penguin Young Readers Group–Dutton BFYR). Still reeling from the death of her father and younger brother, Cedar Lee is spending the summer in Iron Creek, Utah, where makes a new friend, gets involved in the local Shakespeare festival, and solves several mysteries.

OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster–Paula Wiseman Books). Daniel’s life revolves around trying to hide his obsessive compulsive disorder until a girl known as “Psycho Sara” enlists his help in solving a potential murder mystery involving her father and stepfather.

The Bad Kid by Sarah Lariviere (Simon & Schuster). Claudine hopes to take over the “family business” previously run by her mobster grandfather, but first must try and uncover a local scam artist and salvage her friendship with her best friend.

Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand (Simon & Schuster). Because her parents are having problems, Finley is sent to her grandparents’ house for the summer, where she must save a make-believe world in order to save herself.

Framed! A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster–Aladdin). What do you do when you’re only half done with your homework, but the Director of the FBI keeps texting you for help? Do you save your grades or your country? If you’re Florian Bates, you try and do both!

Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught (Simon & Schuster–Paula Wiseman Books). Dani’s grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease, so a lot of what she says doesn’t make much sense. But when she asks Dani to find a secret key and envelope that she’s hidden, Dani’s search takes her into the history of race relations at the University of Mississippi.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Which one do YOU think will win?

Visit http://theedgars.com/nominees.html to see nominees in other categories, including Young Adult.

The winners in these, and all the other categories, will be announced at a formal banquet on April 27, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City and at www.mysterywriters.org/awards.html.

Dori Butler

Dori Hillestad Butler is an award-winning author of more than 50 books for young readers, including the Haunted Library series, the Buddy Files series, and the King & Kayla series. Her Buddy Files #1: Case of the Lost Boy won a 2011 Edgar Award and her books have appeared on numerous children’s choice and teen award lists. Dori grew up in southern Minnesota, spent 19 years in Iowa, and now lives in the Seattle area. She enjoys visiting schools and libraries all over the country and dreams of doing an author visit in all 50 states.