In the Race for the Agathas

Organizers of the annual Malice Domestic conference (to be held this year from April 26 to 28, in Bethesda, Maryland) today announced their finalists for the 2024 Agatha Awards, in six categories.

Best Contemporary Mystery Novel:
• Wined and Died in New Orleans, by Ellen Byron (Berkley)
• Helpless, by Annette Dashofy (Level Best)
• The Weekend Retreat, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)
• A Case of the Bleus, by Korina Moss (St. Martin’s Press)
• The Raven Thief, by Gigi Pandian (Minotaur)

Best Historical Mystery Novel:
• Death Among the Ruins, by Susanna Calkins (Severn House)
• Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, by Celeste Connally (Minotaur)
• I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died, by Amanda Flower (Berkley)
• Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl A. Head (Dutton)
• The Mistress of Bhatia House, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

Best First Mystery Novel:
• Glory Be, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus)
• The Hint of Light, by Kristin Kisska (Lake Union)
• Dutch Treat, by Josh Pachter (Genius)
• Crime and Parchment, by Daphne Silver (Level Best)
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon (Morrow)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery Novel:
• Myrtle, Means and Opportunity, by Elizabeth C. Bunce
(Algonquin Young Readers)
• The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary, by K.B. Jackson (Reycraft)
• Araña and Spiderman, by Alex Segura (Marvel Press)
• The Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle, by Taryn Sounders (Sourcebooks Young Readers)
• Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose, by Nancy
Springer (Wednesday)

Best Mystery Short Story:
• “The Knife Sharpener,” by Shelley Costa (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2023)
• “A Good Judge of Character,” by Tina deBellegarde (from Malice Domestic 17: Murder Most Traditional, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons; Wildside Press)
• “Real Courage,” by Barb Goffman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine, October 2023)
• “Ticket to Ride,” by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski (from Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, edited by Josh Pachter; Down & Out)
• “Shamu, World’s Greatest Detective, by Richie Narvaez (from Killin’ Time in San Diego, edited by Holly West; Down & Out)

Best Mystery Non-fiction:
• Finders: Justice, Faith and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction,
by Anjili Babbar (Syracuse University Press)
• Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder, by David Bordwell (Columbia University Press)
• A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe, by Mark Dawidziak (St. Martin’s Press)
• Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, by Robert Morgan
(LSU Press)

I hope this is all correct. I transcribed the info from a ballot-type image being used by other sites, despite its numerous errors.

This year’s Agatha winners will be declared on Saturday, April 27.