Steve Wick’s ‘The Ruins’ considered for Edgar Award

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Wick has been considered for yet another accolade, as his crime fiction novel “The Ruins,” which chronicles the horrors of Nazis in America, is up for an Edgar Award. 

The 320-page novel is under consideration along with 75 other nominees for Best First Novel for the 2026 Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Awards. While the submission made by publisher Pegasus Crime does not necessarily entail a nomination, Mr. Wick was honored by the consideration. 

“For a first novel to receive consideration for the Edgar Award is really a great honor,” he told The Suffolk Times. “The Mystery Writers of America represents some of the most famous crime writers in the country. Just [being] nominated is a great honor.”

Set in 1954, “The Ruins” follows Lindenhurst chief of police Paul Beirne as he is called to investigate the grisly murder of a woman found on the railroad tracks, The Suffolk Times previously reported. 

As Beirne, who struggles with his own demons and haunting memories of his time as a POW in Japan, begins to dig into the violent mystery, he discovers a shocking connection to a murder that occurred two decades earlier. With it, he realizes that Lindenhurst — on the verge of a mid-century renaissance thanks to a large developer building suburbs in the community — has dark secrets that reach far beyond Long Island.

Mr. Wick’s novel is inspired by a case he covered at Newsday. In an article published on Feb. 10, 1981 — “Twenty-Six Years Later, The Murder Is Solved” — Mr. Wick wrote about a cold case that was solved after a quarter-century.

Previous winners of Best First Novel Edgar Award were Henry Wise for “Holy City in 2025, I.S. Berry for “The Peacock and the Sparrow” in 2024 and Eli Cranor for “Don’t Know Tough” in 2023. 

As a new author, Mr. Wick was invited to join the group. Members of the organization include current president Lisa Scottoline, Stephen King, Peter Lovesey, Ellen Hart and others. 

“Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre,” its website states.

Nominations will be announced on or around Jan. 19, 2026, which is Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday, according to the Mystery Writers of America’s website. Winners will be announced at the Edgar Awards Banquet in late April or early May 2026. 

Membership with Mystery Writers of America is open to the public, as the organization is a registered 501(c)(3). For more information about the organization, visit mysterywriters.org.