PW: Burke Wins Best-Novel Edgar At MWA Gala

Another popular choice was that of Barbara Mertz (who also writes as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels) as this year's Grand Master. J Kanon, former Houghton Mifflin trade publishing chief, took the Best First Novel honor for Los Alamos (Broadway Books).

Other book-related winners included the following: best paperback original: Charm City by Laura Lippman (Avon); best fact crime: Death of the Innocents by Richard Firstman and Jamie Talon (Bantam); best critical or biographical work: G Is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Milhone by Natalie Hevener Kaufman and Carol McGinnis Kay (Holt); best children's mystery: Sparrow in the Scullery by Barbara Brooks Wallace (Atheneum); best young adult book: Ghost Can by Will Hobbs (Morrow).

The Ellery Queen Award for a distinguished contribution to the genre went to Japanese publisher Hiroshi Hayakawa, president and CEO of Hayakawa Publishing, who has presented dozens of major American and British mystery writers to Japanese readers. Sylvia Burack, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Writer, received a Raven for her contribution to mystery writing.