The Cat’s Out of the Bag

Mystery Readers International today announced its nominees for the 2009 Macavity Awards. They are as follows:

Best Mystery Novel:
• Trigger City, by Sean Chercover (Morrow)
• Where Memories Lie, by Deborah Crombie (Morrow)
• The Price of Blood, by Declan Hughes (Morrow)
• The Draining Lake, by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur)
• Curse of the Spellmans, by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
• The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Fault Tree, by Louise Ure (Minotaur)

Best First Mystery:
• Finding Nouf, by Zoë Ferraris (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
• Death of a Cozy Writer, by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
• Calumet City, by Charlie Newton (Simon & Schuster)
• An Innocent Client, by Scott Pratt (Onyx)
• A Carrion Death, by Michael Stanley (Harper; Headline)
• The Blood Detective, by Dan Waddell (Minotaur)

Best Nonfiction/Critical:
• African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study, by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Company)
• Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories, by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia University Press)
• How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
• Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction, by David Geherin (McFarland & Company)
• Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Metro Books)
• The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, by Kate Summerscale (Walker)

Best Mystery Short Story:
• “The Night Things Changed,” by Dana Cameron (from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner; Ace)
• “A Sleep Not Unlike Death,” by Sean Chercover (from Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson; Kensington Publishing)
• “Keeping Watch Over His Flock,” by Toni L.P. Kelner (from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe)
• “Scratch a Woman,” by Laura Lippman (from Hardly Knew Her; Morrow)
• “Between the Dark and the Daylight,” by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2008)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:
• A Royal Pain, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• Stealing Trinity, by Ward Larsen (Oceanview)
• The Whiskey Rebels, by David Liss (Random House)
• Veil of Lies, by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
• Company of Liars, by Karen Maitland (Michael Joseph/ Delacorte)
• Nox Dormienda, by Kelli Stanley (Five Star)

Nominees for the Macavity Awards are chosen and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International. This year’s winners will be announced in October during Bouchercon in Indianapolis, Indiana.

READ MORE: “Poirot Award to Mystery Scene,” by Kate Stine (Mystery Scene Blog).