To me, one of the great mysteries of the mystery world is the Edgar Allan Poe Award, given annually by the Mystery Writers of America to honor the best books of the year. That’s the theory, anyway.

Sometimes, they get it right. Past winners of the Edgar for book of the year have been “La Brava” by Elmore Leonard, “The Chatham School Affair” by Thomas H. Cook, “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” by John le Carre, “The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth, and “The Long Goodbye” by Raymond Chandler.

But holy moley, sometimes they get it wrong. Ed McBain has never won an Edgar. Neither have Ross Macdonald, P.D. James, Charles McCarry, Sue Grafton, Nelson DeMille, Scott Turow, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, or John D. MacDonald. Some have been named grand masters for lifetime achievement, but none of their books was regarded as good enough to win the prize.

“Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane wasn’t even nominated, and neither was “Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris, “The Last Good Kiss” by James Crumley, “Psycho” by Robert Bloch, or “Chinaman’s Chance” by Ross Thomas.

The Edgar is not a popularity contest, like the Academy Awards, for which the entire membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is eligible to vote. The Mystery Writers of America employs a committee of five people in each category in which an award is presented. This committee changes every year and was designed specifically to avoid making it likely that only the most popular authors would dominate the voting year after year.

Laudable. The problems occur, of course, if the committee members have lousy taste. (Full disclosure: I have chaired and served on several committees over the years, in the critical/ biographical category and for best play, and there may be plenty of people who would be eager to say the same about my votes).

It would be harsh to say that was the case this year, and in truth most of the nominated books are pretty good. But it would take some very serious conversation to convince me that every nominee in the Best Novel category is better than “Nightfall” by Nelson DeMille, “Wolves Eat Dogs” by Martin Cruz Smith, “At Hell’s Gate” by Ethan Black, “The Bookman’s Promise” by John Dunning, “Hark!” by Ed McBain, “Take Me, Take Me with You” by Lauren Kelly, and “Double Play” by Robert B. Parker.

Anyway, here are the nominations for the 2005 awards, all of which should be congratulated. Some are better than others. But what on earth couldn’t we say that about?

BEST NOVEL “Evan’s Gate” by Rhys Bowen (St. Martins, 288 pages, $23.95); “By a Spider’s Thread” by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, 368 pages, $24.95); “Remembering Sarah” by Chris Mooney (Atria, 320 pages, $25); “California Girl” byT. Jefferson Parker (William Morrow, 384 pages, $24.95); “Out of the Deep I Cry” by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martins, 336 pages, $23.95).

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR “Little Girl Lost” by Richard Aleas (Hard Case Crime, 234 pages, $26.95); “Relative Danger” by Charles Benoit (Poisoned Pen, 340 pages, $24.95); “Cloud Atlas” by Liam Callanan (Delacorte, 368 pages, $22.95); “Tonight I Said Goodbye” by Michael Koryta (St.Martins,304 pages, $21.95); “Country of Origin” by Don Lee (W.W. Norton, 352 pages, $24.95); “Bahamarama” by Bob Morris (St. Martins, 320 pages, $21.95).

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL “The Librarian” by Larry Beinhart (Nation 1194 1619 1305 1631Books, 256 pages, $13.95); “Into the Web” by Thomas H. Cook (Bantam, 272 pages, $6.99); “Dead Men Rise Up Never” by Ron Faust (Dell, 352 pages, $6.99); “Twelve-Step Fandango” by Chris Haslam (Dark Alley, 352 pages, $21.95); “The Confession” by Domenic Stansberry (Hard Case Crime, 218 pages, $6.99).

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL “The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories,” edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton, 1,878 pages, $75); “Latin American Mystery Writers: An A-to-Z Guide” by Daniel B. Lockhart (Greenwood, 264 pages, $89.95); “Booze and the Private Eye: Alcohol in the Hard-Boiled Novel” by Rita Elizabeth Rippetoe (McFarland, 207 pages, $35); “The Life of Graham Greene, Vol. 3, 1956-91” by Norman Sherry (Viking, 906 pages, $39.95).

BEST FACT CRIME “Ready for the People: My Most Chilling Cases as a Prosecutor” by Marissa N. Batt (Arcade, 288 pages, $25.95); “Conviction: Solving the Moxley Murder: A Reporter and a Detective’s Twenty-Year Search for Justice” by Leonard Leavitt (Regan Books, 320 pages, $24.95); “Forensics for Dummies” by D.P. Lyle, M.D. (John Wiley & Sons, 384 pages, $19.99); “Are You There Alone? The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates” by Suzanne O’Malley (Simon & Schuster, 304 pages, $25); “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts” by Julian Rubinstein (Little Brown, 336 pages. $23.95); “Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer – America’s Deadliest Serial Murderer” by Ann Rule (Free Press, 448 pages, $26).

BEST SHORT STORY “Something About a Scar” by Laurie Lynn Drummond in “Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You” (Harper-Collins, 272 pages, $23.95); “The Widow of Slane” by Terence Faherty in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March/April; “The Book Signing” by Pete Hamill in “Brooklyn Noir” (Akashic Books, 300 pages, $15.95); “Adventure of the Missing Detective” by Gary Lovisi in “Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Years” (St. Martins, 400 pages, $24.95); “Imitate the Sun” by Luke Sholer in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November.

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY “A Very Long Engagement,” screenplay by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on the novel by Sebastien Japrisot (2003 Productions); “The Bourne Supremacy,” screenplay by Tony Gilroy, based on the novel by Robert Ludlum (Universal); “I’m Not Scared,” screenplay by Francesca Marciano, based on the novel by Niccolo Ammaniti (Miramax); “Maria Full of Grace,” screenplay by Joshua Marston (HBO Films).

There are other categories, and space is short. But there are a few more items worth mentioning: For best television episode teleplay, it should be no surprise that “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” took four of the five nominations. British television features took four of the five nominations for television movies or miniseries. And (as noted in this column some time ago) Marcia Muller was given the highest honor of all, the Grand Master Award. The full list of winners will be announced April 28.

For next year, I’m going to suggest that MWA simply allow me to select all the nominees and winners. That’s the only way I’ll ever be satisfied – though I’ll probably change my mind in a few months and argue with myself, anyway.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Book Shop. He can be reached atopenzler@nysun.com.