Who Will Walk Off with the Agathas?

Organizers of this year’s Malice Domestic convention (May 1-3) just barely slipped their nominations for the 2014 Agatha Awards into January, didn’t they. These annual prizes are meant to honor “traditional mystery” fiction, which means “books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others.” The contenders are …

Best Contemporary:
• The Good, the Bad, and the Emus, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
• A Demon Summer, by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur)
• Truth Be Told,
by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
• The Long Way Home,
by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Designated Daughters, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central)

Best Historical Novel:
• Hunting Shadows,
by Charles Todd (Morrow)
• An Unwilling Accomplice,
by Charles Todd (Morrow)
• Wouldn’t It Be Deadly, by D.E. Ireland (Minotaur)
• Queen of Hearts, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• Murder in Murray Hill, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel:
• Circle of Influence, by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
• Tagged for Death, by Sherry Harris (Kensington)
• Finding Sky, by Susan O’Brien (Henery Press)
• Well Read, Then Dead, by Terrie Farley Moran (Berkley)
• Murder Strikes a Pose, by Tracy Weber (Midnight Ink)

Best Non-fiction:
• 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman, by Adam Plantinga (Quill Driver)
• Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Henery Press)
• Death Dealer: How Cops and Cadaver Dogs Brought a Killer to Justice, by Kate Flora (New Horizon Press)
• The Art of the English Murder, by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus)
• The Poisoner: The Life and Crimes of Victorian England’s Most Notorious Doctor, by Stephen Bates (Overlook)

Best Short Story:
• “The Odds Are Against Us,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2014)
• “Premonition,” by Art Taylor (from Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays, edited by Barb Goffman and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
• “The Shadow Knows,” by Barb Goffman (from Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays)
• “Just Desserts for Johnny,” by Edith Maxwell (Kings River Life Magazine, January 4, 2014)
• “The Blessing Witch,” by Kathy Lynn Emerson (from Best New England Crime Stories 2015: Rogue Wave, edited by Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
• Andi Under Pressure, by Amanda Flower (ZonderKidz)
• Greenglass House, by Kate Milford (Clarion)
• Uncertain Glory, by Lea Wait (Islandport Press)
• The Code Buster’s Club, Case #4, The Mummy’s Curse, by Penny Warner (Egmont USA)
• Found, by Harlan Coben (Putnam Juvenile)

In addition, Sara Paretsky will be given Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the mystery genre.

Winners are to be announced during a banquet on May 2, as part of the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland.