Taking Home the Agathas

Because I was out of my office yesterday, participating in the sometimes mad dash known as Independent Bookstore Day, I missed posting the news about which books and authors have captured this year’s Agatha Awards. Those prizes were handed out last evening during the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland. Fortunately, Mystery Fanfare has tipped me to the winners.

Best Contemporary Novel: Glass Houses, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Death Overdue, by Allison Brook (Crooked Lane);
A Cajun Christmas Killing, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane); No Way Home, by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press); and Take Out, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central)

Best Historical Novel: In Farleigh Field, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union)

Also nominated: Murder in an English Village, by Jessica Ellicott (Kensington); Called to Justice, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink); The Paris Spy, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam); and Dangerous to Know, by Renee Patrick (Forge)

Best First Novel: Hollywood Homicide, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)

Also nominated: Adrift, Micki Browning (Alibi); The Plot Is Murder, by V.M. Burns (Kensington); Daughters of Bad Men, by Laura Oles (Red Adept); and Protocol, by Kathleen Valenti (Henery Press)

Best Non-fiction: From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon, by Mattias Boström (Mysterious Press)

Also nominated: The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, by Martin Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press); American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land, by Monica Hesse (Liveright); Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction, by Jess Lourey (Conari Press); and Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier, by Tatiana de Rosnay (St. Martin’s Press)

Best Short Story: The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn, by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press e-book)

Also nominated: Double Deck the Halls, by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press e-book); “Whose Wine Is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman (from 50 Shades of Cabernet; Koehler); “The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place,” by Debra Goldstein (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017); and “A Necessary Ingredient,” by Art Taylor (from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks; Down & Out)

Best Children’s/Young Adult: Sydney Mackenzie Knocks ’Em Dead, by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

Also nominated: City of Angels, by Kristi Belcamino (Polis); The World’s Greatest Detective, by Caroline Carlson (HarperCollins); Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson (Scholastic Press); and The Harlem Charade, by Natasha Tarpley (Scholastic Press)

In addition, Nancy Pickard is Malice Domestic’s 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient; the Amelia Award went to actor David Suchet; Brenda Blethyn, who stars as DCI Vera Stanhope in the series Vera (based on the books by Ann Cleeves), earned the Poirot Award; and the late Joan Hess was honored with a Special Amelia Award.