AGATHA AWARDS
Named in Honor of Agatha Christie

The 2010 Agatha Awards will be given for materials first published in the United States by a living author during the calendar year 2010 (January 1-December 31), either in hardcover, as a paperback original, or e-published by an e-publishing firm.

The Agatha Awards honor the "traditional mystery." That is to say, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others. For our purposes, the genre is loosely defined as mysteries that:

• contain no explicit sex
• contain no excessive gore or gratuitous violence

Materials generally classified as "hard-boiled" are not appropriate.

A ballot listing each category's nominees will be given to all attendees of Malice Domestic 23, which will be held April 29-May 1, 2011. Attendees will vote by secret ballot, the ballots will be tabulated and the winners will be announced at the 2010 Agatha Awards banquet to be held on Saturday, April 30, 2011.

For further inquiries and questions, please contact the Agatha Awards Committee Chair, Marian Lesko at Malice23Agathas@aol.com.

St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Contest: All information about the St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Contest for the Best First Traditional Mystery Novel must be obtained from St. Martin's Press. Malice Domestic, Ltd.'s Board of Directors is not involved with this contest and has no additional information. The direct link to St. Martin's Press is: http://minotaurbooks.com/competitions.html#malice

Agatha Award Nominees

* denotes winner. Congratulations to all the nominees!

2009

Best Novel:
Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett (Berkley Prime Crime)
Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime)
* A Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Air Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan (MIRA)

Best First Novel:
For Better For Murder by Lisa Bork (Midnight Ink)
* The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte Press)
Posed for Murder by Meredith Cole (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncan (St. Martin’s Press)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

Best Non-fiction:
Duchess of Death by Richard Hack (Phoenix Books)
Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Knopf)
Blood on the Stage by 1925-1950 by Amnon Kabatchnik (Scarecrow Press)
* Dame Agatha’s Shorts by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)

Best Short Story:
“Femme Sole” by Dana Cameron, Boston Noir (Akashic Books)
“Handbaskets, Drawers and a Killer Cold” by Kaye George, Crooked ezine
“The Worst Noel” by Barb Goffman, The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)
* “On the House” by Hank Phillippi Ryan, Quarry (Level Best Books)
“Death Will Trim Your Tree” by Elizabeth Zelvin, The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)

Best Children's/Young Adult:
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Viking Juvenile)
* The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
The Case of the Poisoned Pig by Lewis B. Montgomery (Kane Press)
The Other Side of Blue by Valerie O. Patterson (Clarion Books)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Philomel)

Past Agatha Winners (1988-2008)
Winners of the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Poirot Award are listed on the About Malice page.

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