Macavity Search

Mystery Readers International has just announced its nominees for the 2008 Macavity Awards, which will be presented in October during the opening ceremonies at Bouchercon in Baltimore. They are:

Best Mystery Novel:
• Soul Patch, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)
• The Unquiet, by John Connolly (Atria)
• Blood of Paradise, by David Corbett (Ballantine Mortalis)
• Water Like a Stone, by Deborah Crombie (Morrow)
• What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

Best First Mystery:
• In the Woods, by Tana French (Viking)
• Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill (Morrow)
• The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
• Stealing the Dragon, by Tim Maleeny (Midnight Ink)
• The Collaborator of Bethlehem, by Matt Beynon Rees (Soho Crime)

Best Mystery Short Story:
• “A Rat’s Tale,” by Donna Andrews (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September-October 2007)
• “Please Watch Your Step,” by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine, Spring 2007)
• “The Missing Elevator Puzzle,” by Jon L. Breen (EQMM, February 2007)
• “Brimstone P.I.,” by Beverle Graves Myers (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May 2007)
• “The Old Wife’s Tale,” by Gillian Roberts (EQMM, March-April 2007)

Best Mystery Non-Fiction:
• The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, by Barry Forshaw (Penguin Rough Guides)
• Chester Gould: A Daughter’s Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy, by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)
• Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley (Penguin)
• Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers, by Lee Lofland (Howdunit Series, Writers Digest Books)
• The Essential Mystery Lists, compiled and edited by Roger M. Sobin (Poisoned Pen Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:
• Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen (Penguin)
• Mistress of the Art of Death, by Ariana Franklin (Putnam)
• The Snake Stone, by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Consequences of Sin, byClare Langley-Hawthorne (Penguin)
• The Gravedigger’s Daughter, by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco)