Agatha Award

The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the cozy mystery subgenre (i.e. closed setting, no sex or violence, amateur detective). At an annual convention in Washington, D.C.,[1] the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in six categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Historical Novel; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.

Malice Domestic Ltd was established in 1989, and was incorporated in 1992. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors.[2]

Awards

Winners and, where known, nominated titles for each year:

Best First Novel

2013 - Leslie Budewitz, Death Al Dente
2012 – Susan M. Boyer, Lowcountry Boil
2011 – Sara J. Henry, Learning to Swim
2010 – Avery Aames, The Long Quiche Goodbye
2009 – Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Delacorte Press)
2008 – G. M. Malliet, Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)
2007 – Hank Phillippi Ryan, Prime Time (Harlequin)
2006 – Sandra Parshall, The Heat of the Moon (Poisoned Pen Press)
2005 – Laura Durham, Better Off Wed (HarperCollins Publishers)
2004 – Harley Jane Kozak, Dating Dead Men (Doubleday)
2003 – Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs (Soho Press Inc.)
2002 – Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter (St. Martin's Minotaur)
2001 – Sarah Strohmeyer, Bubbles Unbound (Dutton)
2000 – Rosemary Stevens, Death on a Silver Tray (Berkley Prime Crime)
1999 – Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks (Thomas Dunne Books)
1998 – Robin Hathaway, The Doctor Digs a Grave (St. Martin's Minotaur)
1997 – Sujata Massey, The Salaryman's Wife (HarperCollins)
1996 – Anne George, Murder on a Girl's Night Out (Avon Books)
1995 – Jeanne M. Dams, The Body in the Transept (Walker)
1994 – Jeff Abbott, Do Unto Others (Ballantine)
1993 – Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat (Putnam)
1992 – Barbara Neely, Blanche on the Lam (St. Martin's Press)
1991 – Mary Willis Walker, Zero at the Bone (St. Martin's Press)
1990 – Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Belfry (St. Martin's Press)
1989 – Jill Churchill, Grime and Punishment (Avon Books)
1988 – Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance (Bantam)

Best Contemporary Novel

2013 - Hank Phillippi Ryan, The Wrong Girl

Best Novel

2012 – Louise Penny, The Beautiful Mystery
2011 – Margaret Maron, Three-Day Town
2010 – Louise Penny, Bury Your Dead
2009 – Louise Penny, A Brutal Telling (Minotaur Books)
2008 – Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month (Minotaur Books)
2007 – Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace (St. Martin's Minotaur)
2006 – Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains (Random House)
2005 – Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Snowdrift (William Morrow)
2004 – Jacqueline Winspear, Birds of a Feather (Soho Press)
2003 – Carolyn Hart, Letter From Home (Berkley Prime Crime)
2002 – Donna Andrews, You've Got Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)
2001 – Rhys Bowen, Murphy's Law (St Martin's Minotaur)
2000 – Margaret Maron, Storm Track (Mysterious Press)
1999 – Earlene Fowler, Mariner's Compass (Berkley Publishing Group)
1998 – Laura Lippman, Butchers Hill (Avon Books)
1997 – Kate Ross, The Devil In Music (Viking)
1996 – Margaret Maron, Up Jumps The Devil (Mysterious Press)
1995 – Sharyn McCrumb, If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Ballantine)
1994 – Sharyn McCrumb, She Walks These Hills (Scribner)
1993 – Carolyn Hart, Dead Man's Island (Bantam)
1992 – Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter (Mysterious Press)
1991 – Nancy Pickard, I.O.U. (Pocket)
1990 – Nancy Pickard, Bum Steer (Pocket)
1989 – Elizabeth Peters, Naked Once More (Warner)
1988 – Carolyn G. Hart, Something Wicked (Bantam)

Best Historical Novel

2013 - Charles Todd, A Question of Honor
2012 – Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder
2011 – Rhys Bowen, Naughty in Nice

Best Non-Fiction

2013 - Daniel Stashower, The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War
2012 – John Connolly, Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels
2011 – Leslie Budewitz, Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure
2010 – John Curran, Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making
2009 – Elena Santangelo, Dame Agatha's Shorts (Bella Rosa Books)
2008 – Kathy Lynn Emerson, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (Perseverance Press)
2007 – Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (Penguin Press)
2006 – Chris Roerden, Don't Murder Your Mystery (Bella Rosa Books)
2005 – Melanie Rehak, Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her (Harcourt)
2004 – Jack French, Private Eye-Lashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives (Bear Manor Media)
2003 – Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread (editors) and Dennis Forbes (design), Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium (William Morrow & Company)
2002 – Jim Huang (editor), They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Crum Creek Press)
2001 – Tony Hillerman, Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (HarperCollins)
2000 – Jim Huang (editor), 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century (Crum Creek Press)
1999 – Daniel Stashower, Teller of Tales: the Life of Arthur Conan Doyle (Henry Holt & Company)
1998 – Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Reader's Walking Guide to Washington D.C. (Passport Books)
1997 – Willeta L. Heising, Detecting Men (Pocket Guide) (Purple Moon Press)
1996 – Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Women 2 (Purple Moon Press)
1995 – Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Readers Walking Guide-Chicago (Passport Books, NTC Publishing Group)
1994 – Jean Swanson and Dean James, By a Woman's Hand (Berkley Publishing Group)
1993 – Barbara D'Amato, The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery (Noble Press)

Best Short Story

Best Children/Young Adult Fiction

Special Awards

Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement

Malice Domestic Poirot Award

References

  1. Malice Domestic
  2. "Malice Domestic Ltd: Agatha Awards". Malicedomestic.org. Retrieved 2012-06-05.

See also