Agathas Make Their Entrance

Organizers of this year’s Malice Domestic conference (to be held in Bethesda, Maryland, from April 28 to 30) have announced their nominees for the 2016 Agatha Awards. The winner in each category will be selected online by convention attendees.

Best Contemporary Novel:
• Body on the Bayou, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane)
• Quiet Neighbors, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
• A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Fogged Inn, by Barbara Ross (Kensington)
• Say No More, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Best Historical Novel:
• Whispers Beyond the Veil, by Jessica Estevao (Berkley)
• Get Me to the Grave on Time, by D.E. Ireland (Grainger Press)
• Delivering the Truth, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
• The Reek of Red Herrings, by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur)
• Murder in Morningside Heights, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel:
• Terror in Taffeta, by Marla Cooper (Minotaur)
• Murder in G Major, by Alexia Gordon (Henery Press)
• The Semester of Our Discontent, by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery Press)
• Decanting a Murder, by Nadine Nettmann (Midnight Ink)
• Design for Dying, by Renee Patrick (Forge)

Best Non-fiction:
• Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats, by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest)
• A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods, by Roger Guay with Kate Clark Flora (Skyhorse)
• Sara Paretsky: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, by Margaret Kinsman (McFarland)

Best Short Story:
• “Double Jinx,” by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
• “The Best-Laid Plans,” by Barb Goffman (from Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional, edited by Verena Rose, Barb Goffman, and Rita Owen; Wildside Press)
• “The Mayor and the Midwife,” by Edith Maxwell (from Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016, edited by Greg Herren;
Down & Out)
• “The Last Blue Glass,” by B.K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery Magazine, April 2016)
• “Parallel Play,” by Art Taylor (from Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
• Trapped, by P.A. DeVoe (Drum Tower Press)
• Spy Ski School, by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster)
• Tag, You’re Dead, by J.C. Lane (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Mystery of Hollow Places, by Rebecca Podos (Balzer & Bray)
• The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club, by Penny Warner (Darby Creek)

The Agathas will be presented during a banquet at Malice Domestic on Saturday, April 29. Congratulations to all of this year’s contenders!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)