Announcing 2018’s Agatha Award Nominees

Malice Domestic—an annual convention held in Washington, D.C., honoring the best of the traditional/cozy mystery genre—has announced the nominees for 2018's Agatha Awards. Loosely defined as “mysteries which contain no explicit sex or excessive gore or violence,” the Agatha Award salutes the books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie.

This year, the annual banquet will be held on Saturday, April 28th, 2018. As always, it's a fantastic list of great work that deserves to be checked out! What have you read already?

*Follow the linked titles for excerpts and reviews!

Best Contemporary Novel

– Death Overdue by Allison Brook
– A Cajun Christmas Killing by Ellen Byron
– No Way Home by Annette Dashofy
– Take Out by Margaret Maron
– Glass Houses by Louise Penny

Best Historical Novel

– In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen
– Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott
– Called to Justice by Edith Maxwell
– The Paris Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
– Dangerous to Know by Renee Patrick

Best First Novel

– Adrift by Micki Browning
– The Plot is Murder by V.M. Burns
– Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
– Daughters of Bad Men by Laura Oles
– Protocol by Kathleen Valenti

Best Nonfiction

– From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström
– The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards
– American Fire: Love, Arson and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse
– Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction by Jess Lourey
– Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier by Tatiana de Rosnay

Best Short Story

– “Double Deck the Halls” by Gretchen Archer
– “Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 Shades of Cabernet
– “The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
– “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian
– “A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea

Best Children’s/Young Adult

– City of Angels by Kristi Belcamino
– Sydney Mackenzie Knocks ‘Em Dead by Cindy Callaghan
– The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
– Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson
– The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley

Congratulations to all the nominees, and good luck!