Domestic Showdown

I was away from my office yesterday, when organizers of the Malice Domestic conference announced their finalists for the 2025 Agatha Awards, celebrating “the traditional mystery.” But I don’t want to fail in broadcasting this news. Below are the contenders, in six categories.

Best Contemporary Novel:
• A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry
• A Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian
• A Very Woodsy Murder, by Ellen Byron
• Fondue or Die, by Korina Moss
• The Dark Wives, by Ann Cleeves

Best Historical Novel:
• Hall of Mirrors, by John Copenhaver
• The Last Hope, by Susan Elia MacNeal
• The Paris Mistress, by Mally Becker
• The Wharton Plot, by Mariah Fredericks
• To Slip the Bonds of Earth, by Amanda Flower

Best First Novel:
• A Deadly Endeavor, by Jenny Adams
• Ghosts of Waikīkī, by Jennifer K. Morita
• Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, by Elizabeth Crowens
• Threads of Deception, by Elle Jauffret
• You Know What You Did, by K.T. Nguyen

Best Short Story:
• “A Matter of Trust,” by Barb Goffman (from Three Strikes—You’re Dead, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley)
• “Reynisfjara,” by Kristopher Zgorski (from Mystery Most International, edited by Rita Owen, Verena Rose, and Shawn Reilly Simmons)
• “Satan’s Spit,” by Gabriel Valjan (from Tales of Music, Murder and Mayhem: Bouchercon 2024, edited by Heather Graham)
• “Sins of the Father,” by Kerry Hammond (from Mystery Most International)
• “The Postman Always Flirts Twice,” by Barb Goffman (from Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy, edited by Gay Toltl Kinman and Andrew McAleer)

Best Non-fiction:
• Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder, by Greg Lilly
• Agatha Christie, Marple: Expert on Wickedness, by Mark Aldridge
• Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers, by Chris Chan
• The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, by Evan Friss
• Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft, edited by Phyllis M. Betz

Best Children’s/YA Mystery:
• First Week Free at the Roomy Toilet, by Josh Pachter
• Sasquatch of Harriman Lake, by K.B. Jackson
• Sid Johnson and the Well-Intended Conspiracy, by Frances Schoonmaker
• The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui, by K.B. Jackson
• The Sherlock Society, by James Ponti

(Note: It is my preference to include the names of publishers when listing books that are in contention for prizes. But the Malice Domestic folks failed to provide that information, and there are simply too many titles here for me to look up each one in a timely fashion.)

Everyone who is registered for the 2025 Malice Domestic gathering, scheduled for April 25-27 in Bethesda, Maryland, will be eligible to vote in this race. The winners are to be declared during a banquet on the 26th. Congratulations to all of the nominees!