Every year since 1946, America’s oldest mystery organization, Mystery Writers of America (MWA) presents the Edgar Award. Edgar Allan Poe, if you remember your English literature, is the father of crime history with his series of three stories, involving Detective C. Auguste Dupin. An image of Poe in the form of a statue is the royal Edgar prize, but it was not presented in the first two years. Rather, in its first year the Edgar winners received a special edition of Poe’s works, and in the second year the award came in the form of a limited edition of Howard Haycraft’s book. Mysterious story art. Archives, early writings, and books from MWA’s extensive collection can be found at the Lilly Library in Bloomington, Indiana. There are now eleven regional chapters of MWA.

Although the MWA awards around eighteen statues each year, I focused on the categories of books that we, as lovers of fictional mystery, would probably know about. These categories include the best novel (first presented in 1954), the best first novel by an American author (presented in MWA’s first year, 1946), and the best original paperback (first presented in 1970).

Anthony Boucher, born William Parker White, was a co-founder of MWA. He won three Edgars for his work as a mystery critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. He died in 1968 and his fans formed their first Bouchercon in Santa Monica, California in 1970. This assembly of fans created their own Anthony Awards beginning in 1986.

The man who won the most Edgars in the three categories mentioned is Dick Francis. Won three times for To lose (1970), Whip hand (1981) and Come to the claim (nineteen ninety six). Seven other authors, including James Lee Burke, William DeAndrea, Steve Hamilton, John Hart, Gregory McDonald, T. Jefferson Parker, and Ross Thomas have won the Edgar twice.

The biggest winner of the Anthony award has won five times. Laura Lippman won by Butcher hill (1999), In big trouble (2000) and No good works (2007) all part of the Tess Monaghan mystery series. She also won for two solo spots, Every secret thing (2004) and What the dead know (2008). The finalist is Michael Connelly with four Anthony Awards. Won by The poet (1997), Blood test (1999), City of Bones (2003) and The bronze verdict (2009). Sue Grafton and William Kent Krueger have each won three Anthony Awards.

For those who prefer a lighter, more welcoming approach to mysteries, there is the Agatha Prize, which began its mystery writing awards in 1988. The big winner in the Best Novel category is Louise Penny, who has won four Agathas in a row ( 2007-2010) along with two Anthony Awards. Carolyn Hart, Margaret Maron and Nancy Pickard won an Agatha three times each. Hart and Maron have won two Anthony Awards.

Looking at all the award-winning names, I was amazed at how many of them I haven’t read. I was hoping to find out how many winners won separately and how many winning books were part of a mystery series. It seems that the answer to that question will have to wait a little longer.