Welcome

Welcome to the home page of Mystery Writers of America (“MWA”). Come in and explore our website. MWA is the premier organization for mystery and crime writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and folks who just love to read crime fiction. In these pages, you will learn about MWA, our programs, our authors and their books, including frequently updated calendars of events, announcements about our authors, their tour dates and their new releases.
 
Founded in 1945, MWA is a storied organization with a golden past and an exciting present. Each Spring, we present the Edgar® Awards, widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre. We sponsor MWA Literacy where we help to rebuild libraries around the US as well as numerous symposiums and events designed to enlighten and inform authors and fans alike. If you’re an author in the mystery or crime genre or an allied professional, you’ll find important services and benefits here. If you’re a reader, fan, librarian, journalist or anybody else interested in learning more about the genre, you’ve come to the right place. We hope you enjoy our site, learn a lot and keep coming back for more.

News & Press

Click here to find out everything you need to know about the 2013 Edgar Awards Banquet, MWA’s Edgar Symposium and the soon to be announced Edgar Nominees.


Press Releases

2013 Edgar Winners - May 2, 2013

Regional Chapters

MWA has eleven regional chapters, ranging in size from one state (Florida) to thirteen (Midwest). Any member of MWA is automatically enrolled in the appropriate regional chapter. All chapters have a newsletter and most have regular meetings; increasingly, chapters also have an online presence. Many MWA meetings are open to non-members.
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Now in Stores:

The Perfect Ghost
Author: Linda Barnes
Published: April 9, 2013 by St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books
Category: Mystery
Main Character: Em Moore

Fearful and shy to the point of agoraphobic, Em Moore is the writing half of the successful celebrity-biography team, T.E. Blakemore. Her charismatic partner, Teddy Blake, does the interviewing, the negotiating, the public glad-handing. But Em’s dependence on Teddy runs deeper than the job – Teddy is her bridge to the world as well as the main source of love in her life. When Teddy dies in a car accident, Em is devastated, alone in a world she doesn’t understand.
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One Man's Castle
Author: J. Michael Major
Published: April 10, 2013 by Five Star/Cengage
Category: Thriller
Main Character: Walter Buczyno, the angry, grief-stricken homeowner; Detective Kevin Riehle and Detective Ray Capparelli who believe Walter is a serial killer and are trying to catch him.

Is a man a serial killer if he only kills the burglars who break into his home? And what if one of them is the man who had murdered the homeowner's wife and was now returning to kill him? Walter Buczyno is an angry man. Devastated by Dottie's murder years earlier, he feels a sense of justice when Franklin Edward Harris returns and Walter kills him. But while he is away, the bodies of Harris and the other burglars are discovered in his crawlspace, and Walter is on the run, a Wanted Man hunted by the very authorities that had let him down before.


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More titles that are in stores

Coming Soon:

Of Grave Concern: An Ophelia Wylde Paranormal Mystery
Author: Max McCoy
Published: July 2, 2013 by Kensington
Series Name: Ophelia Wylde
Category: Fiction
Main Character: Ophelia Wylde

Dead Men Tell No Lies - The Civil War is over, and many a young widow has turned to spiritualism to contact their husbands on "the other side." But Ophelia Wylde won't be fooled twice. After wasting her money on a phoney psychic, she decides if she can't beat 'em, join 'em. She leaves New Orleans and heads West, selling her services as a spiritual medium who speaks to the dead. By the time she reaches Dodge City, business is booming.
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Fatal Descent
Author: Beth Groundwater
Published: June 8, 2013 by Midnight Ink
Series Name: RM Outdoor Adventures
Category: Mystery, Soft-boiled, Outdoors
Main Character: Mandy Tanner

A fast-paced locked-room mystery in Utah's awe-inspiring canyon lands. River guide Mandy Tanner and her fiancé Rob Juarez, owners of RM Outdoor Adventures, are leading an off-season rafting and climbing trip on the Colorado River. The unfamiliar topography and a lecherous local climbing guide have Mandy on edge — but that’s nothing compared to the trouble the clients bring. When a young man is found dead, everyone on the trip is a suspect. Since there's no way out of the Colorado River's steep canyons, it's up to Mandy and Rob to solve the mystery before the murderer strikes again.


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More titles that are coming soon