Dilys Award


The Dilys Award was presented every year from 1992 to 2014 by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. It was given to the mystery title of the year which the member booksellers have most enjoyed selling. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association is an association of retail businesses that are either wholly or substantially devoted to the sale of mystery books. The Dilys award is named after Dilys Winn, who founded the first specialty bookseller of mystery books in the United States.

Awards

Winners and nominated titles for each year:
YearWinnerOther nominees
2014Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
  • Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye
  • The Black Country by Alex Grecian
  • Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
  • Pagan Spring by G. M. Malliet
  • The Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstol
2013Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
  • Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill
  • Broken Harbor by Tana French
  • Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
  • The Expats by Chris Pavone
    • 2012Ghost Hero by S. J. Rozan
  • When Elves Attack by Tim Dorsey
  • Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet
  • Tag Man by Archer Mayor
  • A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
    • 2011Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
  • Love Songs from a Shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill
  • The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
  • Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane
  • Once a Spy by Keith Thomson
  • Savages by Don Winslow
    • 2010The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
  • A Quiet Belief in Angels by R. J. Ellory
  • The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
  • The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
  • The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
  • The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
  • The Shanghai Moon by S. J. Rozan
    • 2009Trigger City by Sean Chercover
  • The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler
  • Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
  • Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
  • Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow
    • 2008Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger
  • Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
  • The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
  • Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
  • The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey
    • 2007Still Life by Louise Penny
  • Billy Boyle by James R. Benn
  • Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
  • Mournful Teddy by John J. Lamb
  • The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
  • The Virgin of the Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
    • 2006Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill
  • In a Teapot by Terence Faherty
  • The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
  • Half Broken Things by Morag Joss
  • The Tenor Wore Tapshoes by Mark Schweitzer
  • The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
    • 2005Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
  • The Enemy by Lee Child
  • Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
  • The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert
  • Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
  • The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    • 2004Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
  • Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews
  • The Sixth Lamentation by William Brodrick
  • Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy
  • Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
    • 2003In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
  • You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews
  • Without Fail by Lee Child
  • The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
  • Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos
    • 2002Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
  • The Cold Blue Blood by David Handler
  • Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
  • Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
  • The Reaper by Peter Lovesey
    • 2001A Place of Execution by Val McDermid
  • The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell
  • The Hearse You Came in On by Tim Cockey
  • Demolition Angel by Robert Crais
  • Hot Six by Janet Evanovich
    • 2000L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais
  • River of Darkness by Rennie Airth
  • Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
  • Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger
  • California Fire and Life by Don Winslow
    • 1999Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane
  • Blind Descent by Nevada Barr
  • The Ghosts of Morning by Richard Barre
  • Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke
  • Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
  • Wings of Fire by Charles Todd
    • 1998Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
  • Killing Floor by Lee Child
  • Back Spin by Harlan Coben
  • Sacred by Dennis Lehane
  • Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
  • The Devil in Music by Kate Ross
    • 1997The Poet by Michael Connelly
  • Fade Away by Harlan Coben
  • Hearts and Bones by Margaret Lawrence
  • Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane
  • Tularosa by Michael McGarrity
  • Moody Gets the Blues by Steve Oliver
  • Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry
  • A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
    • 1996The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
  • Voodoo River by Robert Crais
  • Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? by G. M. Ford
  • If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him by Sharyn McCrumb
  • The Codicil by Tom Topor
    • 1995One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
  • Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott
  • Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton
  • A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
  • The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
  • Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell
  • Walking Rain by Susan Wade
    • 1994Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
  • Death Comes As Epiphany by Sharan Newman
  • Wolf in the Shadows by Marcia Muller
  • By Evil Means by Sandra West Prowell
  • Catilina's Riddle by Steven Saylor
  • The Sculptress by Minette Walters
  • Way Down On The High Lonely by Don Winslow
    • 1993Booked to Die by John Dunning
  • The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
  • Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
  • The Ice House by Minette Walters
    • 1992Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen
  • A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George
  • Book Case by Stephen Greenleaf
  • Hour of the Hunter by J.A. Jance
  • We Wish You A Merry Murder by Valerie Wolzien