Pulling Out the Macavitys

This week is shaping up to be a big one as far as crime-fiction awards are concerned. We’ve already announced the recipients of this year’s Silver Falchion and Claymore prizes, and of Australia’s Ned Kelly Awards. Saturday is set to bring an online declaration of which books and authors have won the Anthony Awards. And below, we have the victors in the competition for the 2021 Macavity Awards.

Best Novel:
Blacktop Wasteland, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Also nominated: Before She Was Helen, by Caroline B. Cooney (Ecco); Blind Vigil, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); These Women, by Ivy Pochoda (Poisoned Pen Press); and When She Was Good, by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

Best First Novel:
Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weider (Ecco)

Also nominated: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, by Deepa Anappara (Random House); Murder in Old Bombay, by Nev March (Minotaur); The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman); and Darling Rose Gold, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)

Best Critical/Biographical:
H R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime, by Sheila Mitchell (Level Best)

Also nominated: Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, by Leslie Brody (Seal Press); Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins); Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, by Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland); and Southern Cross Crime: The Pocket Essential Guide to the Crime Fiction, Film & TV of Australia and New Zealand, by Craig Sisterson (Oldcastle)

Best Short Story:
“Elysian Fields,” by Gabriel Valjan (from California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; Wildside Press)

Also nominated: “Dear Emily Etiquette,” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2020); “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74,” by Art Taylor (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2020); “Dog Eat Dog,” by Elaine Viets (from The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell, edited by Josh Pachter; Untreed Reads); and “The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” by James W. Ziskin (from In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King; Pegasus Crime)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Turn to Stone, by James Ziskin (Seventh Street)

Also nominated: The Last Mrs. Summers, by Rhys Bowen (Berkeley); The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, by Elsa Hart (Minotaur); The Turning Tide, by Catriona McPherson (Quercus); Mortal Music, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press); and The Mimosa Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

As a press notice explains, “Macavity candidates are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI.”

A round of applause, please, for all of this year’s nominees!