Each year, it is the custom of the Mystery Writers of America to hold its annual awards banquet in New York on the last Thursday of the month. Each year,it is the custom of the Mystery Writers of America to shock (and,sometimes, horrify) the gathered professionals by giving awards to the least likely suspects.

True to its custom, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel this year was not given to Michael Connelly for “The Lincoln Lawyer” (Little, Brown), which an informal poll in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt gave to him in overwhelming numbers. The runner-up was generally conceded to be Thomas H. Cook for “Red Leaves” (Harcourt) with “Drama City” (Little, Brown) by George Pelecanos often mentioned as a sentimental favorite and a decided long shot.

Tess Gerritson, an accomplished writer and bestseller, received no mentions for “Vanish” (Ballantine). When Jess Walter’s name came up, it was mostly in the context of “who’s she?” Well, it turns out, Mr.Walter, most decidedly not a she,showed everybody who he was and took the top prize of the night for his novel “Citizen Vince” (Regan), which was as big a longshot as the Red Sox winning the World Series.Any World Series.Ever.

I will now publicly humiliate myself (my wife reminds me it’s not the first time) by confessing that I haven’t read “Citizen Vince.” One of the problems of being a writer about mysteries is that most people assume you have read every book published in the genre (1,400 new titles last year).Even if I gave over my entire life to reading a book a day, that would leave a thousand books unread each year. And I don’t read a book a day, as I actually have a life.

This is an explanation by way of apology to readers of this column and to Mr. Walter for not having read what the committee has decided is the best mystery novel of 2005. I hope it’s as good as they say, and have no reason to doubt it.

The other categories were just as important to the people who were nominated, and you might be interested in several of them, too, so here goes.

Best First Novel by an American Author went to “Officer Down” (St. Martin’s) by Theresa Schwegel. Other nominees were “Die a Little” (Simon & Schuster) by Megan Abbott,”Immoral” (St. Martin’s) by Brian Freeman (an excellent novel), “Run the Risk” (Putnam) by Scott Frost, and “Hide Your Eyes” (Signet) by Alison Gaylin.

Best Paperback Original was “Girl in the Glass” (Dark Alley) by Jeffrey Ford, beating out “Homicide My Own” (Pleasure Boat Studio) by Anne Argula, “The James Deans” (Penguin) by the talented Reed Farrell Coleman, “Kiss Her Goodbye” (Hard Case Crime) by Allan Guthrie, and “Six Bad Things” (Ballantine) by Charlie Huston,whose first novel, “Caught Stealing,” was a humdinger.

The Best Short Story Edgar went to one of the best authors working today, James W. Hall, for “The Catch” (from “Greatest Hits,” edited by Robert J. Randisi for Carroll & Graf). Also nominated were Jeffery Deaver for “Born Bad” (from “Dangerous Women”, edited by Otto Penzler for Mysterious Press), “Her Lord and Master” by Andrew Klavan (also from “Dangerous Women”), “Misdirection” by Barbara Seranella (also from “Greatest Hits”) and “Welcome to Monroe” by Daniel Wallace (from “A Kudzu Christmas,” edited by Jim Gilbert for River City).

In the Biographical/Critical category, the award went to Melanie Rehak for “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her” (Harcourt). Also nominated were “Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock ’em Dead with Style” (Writer’s Digest) by Hallie Ephron,”Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed” (Hot House), by Stuart M. Kaminsky, photos by Laurie Roberts, “The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels” (Norton) by Leslie S. Klinger, who won last year for the two-volume set devoted to the short stories, and “Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade: The Evolution of Dashiell Hammett’s Masterpiece” (Vince Emery) by Richard Layman, which is actually a lot more fun than the title suggests.

The Best Fact Crime Edgar went to “Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece” (HarperCollins) by Edward Dolnick. Also nominated were “The Elements of Murder” (Oxford) by John Emsley, “Written in Blood” (St. Martin’s) by Diane Fanning, “True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa” (HarperCollins) by Michael Finkel, and “Desire Street” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) by Jed Horne.

John Feinstein won the Edgar for Best Young Adult Novel with “Last Shot” (Alfred A. Knopf), D. James Smith for Best Juvenile with “The Boys of San Joaquin” (Simon & Schuster), Gary Earl Ross for Best Play with “Matter of Intent” (Theater Loft), Ed Whitmore for Best Television Episode Teleplay with “Sea of Souls” (on “Amulet”), and, sadly, the incomprehensible “Syriana” won for Best Screenplay for Stephen Gaghan, based on the Robert Baer novel.

Simon & Schuster gave its annual Mary Higgins Clark Award to Karen Harper for “Dark Angel” (Mira). The Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for the Best First Short Story of the year went to Eddie Newton with “Home” (in “Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine”). The highest non-writing award given by MWA is the Raven, and winners this year were the Black Orchid Bookshop (Bonnie Claeson and Joe Guglielmelli, owners) and the Men of Mystery Conference (created by Joan Hansen).

The greatest of all honors bestowed by MWA is the Grand Master award for lifetime achievement. Previous winners have been Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Eric Ambler, Ross Macdonald, Robert B. Parker, and Mickey Spillane. Joining that pantheon this year was Stuart M. Kaminsky, the author of more than 50 books in several series, including the Edgar-winning Porfiry Rostnikov novels about an honest Russian policeman and the long-running adventures of Hollywood’s Golden Age private eye, Toby Peters.

For all those winners,2006 will always be remembered as the Golden Age of mystery fiction.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.