Merry About Muted Malice

I had a conflicting engagement last evening, during the time the 2014 Agatha Awards were being handed out at the Malice Domestic Conference in Bethesda, Maryland. So only now am I able to bring you the winners of those annual commendations, which celebrate “traditional mysteries” (i.e,, stories containing no “explicit sex,” “excessive gore or gratuitous violence”).

Best Contemporary Novel:
The Wrong Girl, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Also nominated: Through the Evil Days, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur); Pagan Spring, by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur); How the Light Gets In, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); and Clammed Up, by Barbara Ross (Kensington)

Best First Novel:
Death Al Dente, by Leslie Budewitz (Berkley Prime Crime)

Also nominated: You Cannoli Die Once, by Shelley Costa (Pocket); Board Stiff, by Kendel Lynn (Henery Press); Kneading to Die, by Liz Mugavero (Kensington); and Front Page Fatality, by LynDee Walker (Henery Press)

Best Historical Novel:
A Question of Honor, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

Also nominated: Heirs and Graces, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley); Death in the Time of Ice, by Kaye George (Untreed Reads); A Friendly Game of Murder, by J.J. Murphy (Signet); and Murder in Chelsea, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley Prime Crime)

Best Non-fiction:
The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War, by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur)--which also won an Edgar
Award this week

Also nominated: Georgette Heyer, by Jennifer Kloester (Source Books); Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, by Maria Konnikova (Viking); and Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea: An Interesting & Entertaining History of Malice Domestic’s First 25 Years, edited by Verena Rose and Rita Owen (Wildside Press)

Best Short Story:
“The Care and Feeding of Houseplants,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013)

Also nominated: “Evil Little Girl,” by Barb Goffman (from Don’t Get Mad, Get Even; Wildside Press); “Nightmare,” Barb Goffman (from Don’t Get Mad, Get Even); “The Hindi Houdini,” by Gigi Pandian (from Fish Nets, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press); and “Bread Baby,” by Barbara Ross (from Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold, edited by Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler; Level Best Books)

Best Children's/YA Novel:
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein
(Random House)

Also nominated: The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau (HMH Books for Young Readers); Traitor in the Shipyard, by Kathleen Ernst (American Girl Mysteries); Andi Unexpected, by Amanda Flower (Zonderkidz); and The Code Busters Club: Mystery of the Pirate’s Treasure, by Penny Warner (Egmont USA)

A hearty congratulations to all of the contenders!

READ MORE: “Malice Domestic” and “Writers at Malice,” by Martin Edwards (‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’).