Vying for the Agathas

Earlier today, Malice Domestic announced its nominees for this year’s Agatha Awards, which honor “traditional mysteries” in all their manifestations. Here are the six categories of contenders:

Best Novel:
• The Real Macaw, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
• The Diva Haunts the House, by Krista Davis (Berkley)
• Wicked Autumn, by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur)
• Three-Day Town, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
• A Trick of the Light, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best First Novel:
• Dire Threads, by Janet Bolin (Berkley)
• Choke, by Kaye George (Mainly Murder Press)
• Learning to Swim, by Sara J. Henry (Broadway)
• Who Do, Voodoo?, by Rochelle Staab (Berkley)
• Tempest in the Tea Leaves, by Kari Lee Townsend (Berkley)

Best Non-fiction:
• Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure, by Leslie Budewitz
(Linden Publishing)
• Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks, by John Curran (Harper)
• On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling, by Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
• Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel, by A.B. Emrys (McFarland)
• The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

Best Short Story:
• “Disarming,” by Dana Cameron (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
• “Dead Eye Gravy,” by Krista Davis (from Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press)
• “Palace by the Lake,” by Daryl Wood Gerber (from Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology)
• “Truth and Consequences,” by Barb Goffman (from Mystery Times Ten, edited by MaryChris Bradley; Buddhapuss Ink)
• “The Itinerary,” by Roberta Isleib (from Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead, edited by Nelson DeMille; Grand Central Publishing)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
• Shelter, by Harlan Coben (Putnam Juvenile)
• The Black Heart Crypt, by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Books for Young Readers)
• Icefall, by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
• The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (EgmontUSA)
• The Code Busters Club, Case #1: The Secret of the Skeleton Key, by Penny Warner (EgmontUSA)

Best Historical Novel:
• Naughty in Nice, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• Murder Your Darlings, by J.J. Murphy (Signet)
• Mercury’s Rise, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Troubled Bones, by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
• A Lesson in Secrets, by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

The winners will be declared on Saturday, April 28, during the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland. Three other awards presentations will also be made at that time:

Lifetime Achievement Award -- Simon Brett
Poirot Award -- Lee Goldberg
Amelia Award -- Elizabeth Peters

(Hat tip to Classic Mysteries.)