Presence of Malice

This is proving to be a big time for crime-fiction prize presentations.

As you likely know, the Crime Writers of Canada announced the shortlists for its annual Arthur Ellis Awards a little over a week ago. The Mystery Writers of America handed out its Edgar Awards this last Thursday night. Winners of the 2012 Spinetingler Awards are set to be rolled out on Tuesday, May 1.

And the announcement of this year’s Agatha Awards recipients was made last night during a banquet at the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland. The winners are:

Best Novel: Three-Day Town, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)

Also nominated: The Real Macaw, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur); The Diva Haunts the House, by Krista Davis (Berkley); Wicked Autumn, by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur); and A Trick of the Light, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best First Novel: Learning to Swim, by Sara J. Henry (Broadway)

Also nominated: Dire Threads, by Janet Bolin (Berkley); Choke, by Kaye George (Mainly Murder Press); Who Do, Voodoo?, by Rochelle Staab (Berkley); and 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)

Also nominated: 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); and The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

Best Short Story: “Disarming,” by Dana Cameron (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated: “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); and “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: The Black Heart Crypt, by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Books for Young Readers)

Also nominated: Shelter, by Harlan Coben (Putnam Juvenile); Icefall, by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press); The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (EgmontUSA); and 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)

Also nominated: Murder Your Darlings, by J.J. Murphy (Signet); Mercury’s Rise, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press); Troubled Bones, by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur); and A Lesson in Secrets, by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

Three other awards were also given out last evening:

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

Congratulations to all of this year’s awards contenders.

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

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Meanwhile, Omnimystery News brings word that two works of crime fiction were among yesterday’s winners of the 2012 Manitoba Books Awards: The Thirteen, by Susie Moloney (Random House), picked up “a special genre fiction award named for Winnipeg mystery author Michael Van Rooy, who died last year”; and The Girl in the Wall, by Alison Preston (Signature Editions), walked away with the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.

READ MORE: “Malice -- Day 1” and “Malice Domestic 25: Something to Look Forward To,” by Les Blatt (Classic Mysteries); “Home Again,” by Lee Goldberg (A Writer’s Life).