2012 Agatha Award Nominations

The folks who bring us the Malice Domestic conference every year have just announced the nominations for the 2012 Agatha Award. Malice, and the Agathas, celebrate the traditional mystery, as practiced by such first-rate writers as Agatha Christie. Nomination for one of the Agatha Awards is quite an honor. Here are this year's nominees:

Best Novel

• The Diva Digs Up the Dirt, by Krista Davis
• A Fatal Winter, by G. M. Malliet
• The Buzzard Table, by Margaret Maron
• The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny
• The Other Woman, by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Historical Novel

•  The Twelve Clues of Christmas, by Rhys Bowen
• Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder, by Catriona McPherson
• Murder on Fifth Avenue, by Victoria Thompson
• An Unmarked Grave, by Charles Todd
• Elegy for Eddie, by Jacqueline Winspear

Best First Novel

• Lowcountry Boil, by Susan M. Boyer
• Iced Chiffon, by Duffy Brown
• A Scrapbook of Secrets, by Mollie Cox Bryan
• A Killer Read, by Erika Chase
• Faithful Unto Death, by Stephanie Jaye Evans

Best Nonfiction

• Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels, by John Connolly/Declan Burke
• Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950, by Joseph Goodrich, Editor
• More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Qudestions Expertly Answered, by D. P. Lyle
• Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, by Ben Macintyre
• The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie, by Mathew Prichard, Editor

Best Short Story

• "Mischief in Mesopotamia," by Dana Cameron, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
• "Kept in the Dark," by Shelia Connolly, Best New England Crime Stories 2013: Blood Moon Anthology
• "The Lord is My Shamus," by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder
• "Thea's First Husband," by B. K. Stevens, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
• "When Duty Calls," by Art Taylor, Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel

• Seconds Away, by Harlen Coben
• The Edge of Nowhere, by Elizabeth George
• Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead
• The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse, by Penny Warner
• Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

Attendees at this year's Malice Domestic Conference - the 25th annual, by the way - will vote on the final awards, which will be announced at the conference banquet over the first weekend in May. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - Now that's a highly talented lineup. It'll be interesting to see who wins...

[Patrick]

Not a fan of these noms. The one fiction-book-that-is-not-to-be-named is predictably (and undeservedly) nominated. While A FATAL WINTER is good, it's got some serious, serious flaws. Of the short stories, I've only read MISCHIEF IN MESOPOTAMIA, which was OK. Glad to see BLOOD RELATIONS get a nod in nonfiction, but there also a book that is not to be named gets an undeserving nod...

[Curt Evans]

Congratulations to G. M. Malliet!

[Les Blatt]

I'm looking forward to the MD conference, Margot - all attendees vote on the final awards.

[Les Blatt]

Patrick, I have to admit that I haven't read many of the nominated books, though I'll be trying to do so between now and the conference in May. Curt, I'm disappointed that your book wasn't nominated - the ballot process really favors "popular" books (as there is no "list" of eligible books from which the nominees are chosen, so it has to be "out there" for readers to become aware of it) - so if a book isn't generally known, too often the case with academic studies, it won't be named.