Malice Toward All

Organizers of the annual Malice Domestic conference (to be held this year from April 29 to May 1) are out this morning with their nominees for the 2016 Agatha Awards. Those commendations honor “traditional mysteries,” meaning “books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others.” This year’s contenders are:

Best Contemporary Novel:
• Burned Bridges, by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
• Long Upon the Land, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central)
• The Child Garden, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
• Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• What You See, by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Forge)

Best Historical Novel:
• Malice at the Palace, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• The Masque of a Murderer, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur)
• Dreaming Spies, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante, by Susan Elia Macneal (Bantam)
• Murder on Amsterdam Avenue, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel:
• Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman, by Tessa Arlen (Minotaur)
• Macdeath, by Cindy Brown (Henery Press)
• Plantation Shudders, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane)
• Just Killing Time, by Julianne Holmes (Berkley)
• On the Road with Del & Louise, by Art Taylor (Henery Press)

Best Non-fiction:
• The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes, by Zack Dundas (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
• A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury USA)
• Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northeast Ohio,
by Jane Ann Turzillo (Arcadia)
• The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For, edited by Kate White (Quirk)

Best Short Story:
• “A Year Without Santa Claus?” by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], January/February 2015)
• “A Questionable Death,” by Edith Maxwell (from History and
Mystery, Oh My!, edited by Sarah E. Glenn; Mystery & Horror, LLC)
• “A Killing at the Beausoleil,” by Terri Farley Moran (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2015)
• “Suffer the Poor,” by Harriette Sackler (from History and Mystery, Oh My!)
• “A Joy Forever,” by B.K. Stevens (AHMM, March, 2015)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:
• Pieces and Players, by Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press)
• Need, by Joelle Charbonneau (HMH Books for Young Readers)
• Andi Unstoppable, by Amanda Flower (Zonderkidz)
• Woof, by Spencer Quinn (Scholastic Press)
• Fighting Chance, by B.K. Stevens (Poisoned Pen Press)

Congratulations to all of the authors included here!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)