Agatha Praise for 2023
The annual Malice Domestic conference revealed this year's winners for the Agatha Awards at a celebratory dinner last evening in Rockville, Maryland. The Agatha Awards celebrate the traditional mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie, for whom the award is named. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as "hard-boiled." Congrats to all the winners and finalists!
Best Contemporary Novel: A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Also nominated:
Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron (Berkley Prime Crime)
Death By Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow (Berkley)
Fatal Reunion by Annette Dashofy (Level Best Books)
Dead Man's Leap by Tina de Bellegarde (Level Best Books)
Best Historical Novel: Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower (Berkley)
Also nominated:
The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden (Crooked Lane Books)
Best First Novel: Cheddar Off Dead by Korina Moss (St. Martin’s)
Also nominated:
Death in the Aegean by M. A. Monnin (Level Best Books)
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Finalist by Joan Long (Level Best Books)
The Gallery of Beauties by Nina Wachsman (Level Best Books)
Best Short Story: "Beauty and the Beyotch," by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Magazine, Feb. 2022)
Also nominated:
"There Comes a Time," by Cynthia Kuhn (Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical) Wildside Press
"Fly Me to the Morgue," by Lisa Q Mathews,( Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical) Wildside Press
"The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot," by Richie Narvaez, (Land of 10,000 Thrills, Bouchercon Anthology) Down & Out Books
"The Invisible Band," by Art Taylor (Edgar & Shamus Go Golden) Down & Out Books
Best Non-Fiction: Promophobia: Taking the Mystery Out of Promoting Crime Fiction, Diane Vallere Ed.(Sisters in Crime)
Also nominated:
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
The Handbook to Agatha Christie: The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie by Mary Anna Evans and J. C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury Academic)
The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (Sourcebooks)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman, by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)
Best Children's/YA Mystery: Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)
Also nominated:
Daybreak on Raven Island by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young People)
In Myrtle Peril by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
#shedeservedit by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books)
Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave Stealer by Frances Schoonmaker (Auctus Publishers)
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