The annual Malice Domestic Conference handed out its annual Agatha Awards last night. Named for Agatha Christie, the awards celebrate mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre, i.e. "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie...loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence, and are not classified as "hard-boiled." Congratulations to all of the 2022 winners!
Best Contemporary Novel: Cajun Kiss of Death by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
Also nominated:
Watch Her by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
Symphony Road by Gabriel Valjan (Level Best Books)
Best Historical Novel: Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins)
Also nominated:
Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington)
Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Devil's Music by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Publishing)
Best First Novel: Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)
Also nominated:
The Turncoat's Widow by Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
A Dead Man's Eyes by Lori Duffy Foster (Level Best Books)
Murder in the Master by Judy L. Murray (Level Best Books)
Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane Books)
Best Short Story: "Bay of Reckoning" by Shawn Reilly Simmons in Murder on the Beach (Destination Murders)
Also nominated:
"A Family Matter" by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan/Feb 2021)
"A Tale of Two Sisters" by Barb Goffman in Murder on the Beach (Destination Murders)
"Doc's at Midnight" by Richie Narvaez in Midnight Hour (Crooked Lane Books)
"The Locked Room Library" by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine July/Aug 2021)
Best Non-Fiction: How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America by MWA with editors Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster)
Also nominated:
The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston's Struggle for Justice by Jan Brogan (Bright Leaf Press)
Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)
The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge, and the Phoenix Park Murders that Stunned Victorian England by Julie Kavanaugh (Atlantic Monthly Press)
Best Children's/YA Mystery: I Play One on TV by Alan Orloff (Down & Out Books)
Also nominated:
Cold-Blooded Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Fiewel and Friends/Macmillan)
Leisha's Song by Lynn Slaughter (Fire and Ice/Melange Books)
Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)
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