Andrew Klavan Nominated for Edgar Award for The Kingdom of Cain

Author, screenwriter, and Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan has been nominated for one of the highest honors in mystery writing the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his latest nonfiction work, The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness.

This is Klavan’s sixth Edgar nomination, a distinction that places him among the most respected names in the field. A two-time winner of the prestigious award, Klavan took to X to announce the nomination with his trademark understatement:

“My sixth nomination with two wins. Really gratifying.”

The Kingdom of Cain dives deep into the literary and spiritual implications of three infamous murders, examining how real-world evil has inspired some of literature’s most profound meditations on morality, suffering, and redemption. In doing so, Klavan makes a bold argument rarely heard in today’s secular literary circles that the worst human acts still point to eternal truth, and that the presence of darkness only reveals the brilliance of God’s light.

“My premise is that murder is evil. My belief is that God is love, and love is the source of joy,” Klavan writes. “If I enter the literature of darkness, I do it with a sure and certain faith in the reality of light... including the darkness of murder.”

A New York Times bestseller, the book has been praised not only for its literary insight, but for its unapologetically Christian worldview, daring to take on sin, evil, and the soul without the postmodern hand-wringing that dominates so much of academia today.

Klavan, best known for his Cameron Winter mystery series and as host of The Andrew Klavan Show, brings decades of literary craftsmanship to this work but it's the fusion of faith and storytelling that sets The Kingdom of Cain apart.

In a conversation with Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, Klavan explained why confronting darkness through fiction is not only appropriate, but necessary for Christians.

“What good does it do anybody to write about the world as it’s not?” he asked. “Every honest story, every true story, has God.”

It’s a far cry from the modern writing establishment, which avoids absolutes and often ridicules faith. Yet here Klavan stands once again, at the top of his craft with a book that refuses to flinch at the horrors of the world while still proclaiming the reality of hope.

The 80th Annual Edgar Awards will be held on April 29, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, where Klavan will be among the top nominees for Best Biography. If he wins, it will mark his third Edgar, a rare feat in the world of mystery and literary nonfiction.

The Kingdom of Cain is available now on Amazon, and signed copies can be purchased at the Daily Wire Shop.

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