The Agathas and the Ecstacy

Malice Domestic, which will hold its annual convention in Virginia in April, has announced its nominees for the 2008 Agatha Awards:

Best Novel:
• The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, by Donna Andrews (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen (Penguin)
• Hard Row, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
• A Fatal Grace, by Louise Penny (St. Martin’ Minotaur)
• Murder With Reservations, by Elaine Viets (NAL)

Best First Novel:
• A Beautiful Blue Death, by Charles Finch (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• A Real Basket Case, by Beth Groundwater (Five Star)
• Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn (Mira)
• Prime Time, by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Harlequin)

Best Non-fiction:
• Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg, and Daniel Stashower (Penguin)
• The Official Nancy Drew Handbook, by Penny Warner (Quirck Productions)

Best Short Story:
• “A Rat’s Tale,” by Donna Andrews (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2007)
• “Please Watch Your Step,” by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine, Spring 2007)
• “Casino Gamble,” by Nan Higginson (Murder New York Style, edited by Randy Kendel; L&L Dreamspell)
• “Popping Round to the Post,” by Peter Lovesey (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2007)
• “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” by Elizabeth Zelvin (Murder New York Style)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
• A Light in the Cellar, by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl)
• Bravo Zulu, Samantha!, by Kathleen Benner Duble (Peachtree Publishers)
• Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl, by John Feinstein (Knopf)
• The Falconer’s Knot, by Mary Hoffman (Bloomsbury USA)
• Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers (Houghton Mifflin)

In addition, British novelist Peter Lovesey (The Headhunters) is to be given Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Winners will be announced during Malice Domestic XX, to be held April 25-27 in Arlington, Virginia. For more information, click here.

(Hat tip to Crime Fiction Dossier.)