The Edgar awards – presented by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of achievement in crime writing – has revealed its 2015 winners, with some big  (and perhaps surprising) names amongst the awards.

Best Novel went to Stephen King – an author obviously more commonly known for his horror and supernatural writing – for Mr. Mercedes, the first instalment of a planned hard-boiled trilogy centred on former police detective Bill Hodges. It is the most visible foray into crime fiction to date for King, whose previous efforts in the genre have been limited to two comparatively short novels for specialist imprint Hard Case Crime (whose founder and editor, Charles Ardai, was also presented with the Edgars’ Ellery Queen award). King triumphed over authors who, whilst maybe not quite as popular as he is overall, are certainly more established within the genre, including Ian Rankin and Karin Slaughter.

Other notable names who took home prizes this year include Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn, winner of Best Short Story for “Rogues”, and the recipients of this year’s Grand Master awards, I Know What You Did Last Summer author Lois Duncan and James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and numerous other novels that form a patchwork history of mid-century Los Angeles.

A full list of winners follows:

Best Novel – Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Best First Novel – Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman

Best Paperback Original – The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani

Best Fact Crime – Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William Mann

Best Critical/Biographical – Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe by J.W. Ocker

Best Short Story – “What Do You Do?” by Gillian Flynn

Best Juvenile – Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Young Adult – The Art of Secrets by James Klise

TV Episode Teleplay – “Episode 1” – Happy Valley, teleplay by Sally Wainwright

Robert L. Fish Memorial – “Getaway Girl” by Zoë Z. Dean

Mary Higgins Clark – The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey

Grand Master – Lois Duncan, James Ellroy

Raven Awards – Ruth & Jon Jordan (Crimespree Magazine), Kathryn Kennison (Magna Cum Murder)

Ellery Queen Award – Charles Ardai (editor & founder, Hard Case Crime)