2009  Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
2008  Down River: A Novel by John Hart
2007  The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
2006  Citizen Vince: A Novel by Jess Walter
2005  California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker
2004  Resurrection Men: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin
2003  Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan
2002  Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker
2001  The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
2000  Bones by Jan Burke

1999 Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark
1998 Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke
1997 The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H Cook
1996 Come to Grief by Dick Francis
1995 The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker
1994 The Sculptress by Minette Walters
1993 Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
1992 A Dance At the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block
1991 New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
1990 Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke

1989 Cold, Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky
1988 Old Bones: A Gideon Oliver Mystery by Aaron J. Elkins
1987 A Dark-adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
1986 Suspect by L R Wright
1985 Briarpatch by Ross Thomas
1984 Labrava by Elmore Leonard
1983 Billinsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer
1982 Peregrine by William Bayer
1981 Whip Hand by Dick Francis
1980 The Rheingold Route by Arthur. Maling

1979 Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
1978 Catch Me Kill Me by William Hallahan
1977 Promised Land by Robert B. Parker
1976 Hopscotch by Brian Garfield
1975 Peter's Pence by Jon Cleary
1974 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman
1973 The Lingala Code by Warren Kiefer
1972 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
1971 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall
1970 Forfeit by Dick Francis

1969 A Case of Need by Michael Crichton
1968 God Save the Mark by Donald Westlake
1967 King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling
1966 The Quiller Memorandum by Adam. Hall
1965 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
1964 The Light of Day by Eric Ambler
1963 Death and the Joyful Woman by Peter Ellis
1962 Gideon's Fire by J. J. Marric
1961 Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons
1960 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

1959 The Eighth Circle by Stanley Ellin
1958 Room To Swing by Ed Lacy
1957 A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong
1956 Beast in View by Margaret Millar
1955 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
1954 Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay