Updated 4/29/2017 for Winners.  Winners indicated by ***.
The Agatha Awards honor books written in the “traditional mystery” style exemplified by the works of Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap.

These books have no explicit sex, gratuitous gore or extreme violence.

All attendees that registered by December 31, 2016 receive a nomination form in January asking for their ranked choices for nominees in each Agatha Award category. The books or short stories must be first published in the United States by a living author during the calendar year 2016 (January 1-December 31). They can be published in hardcover, as a paperback original, or e-published by an e-publishing firm.

Attendees at Malice Domestic will vote to select the winners, and the awards will be presented at the annual awards banquet on April 29, 2017.

Malice Domestic 29 will be at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, MD on April 28-30, 2017.

The nominees are:

 Best Contemporary Novel

Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
***A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books) Winner
Fogged Inn by Barbara Ross (Kensington)
Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)

Best Historical Novel

Whispers Beyond the Veil by Jessica Estevao (Berkley)
Get Me to the Grave on Time by D.E. Ireland (Grainger Press)
Delivering the Truth by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
***The Reek of Red Herrings by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books) Winner
Murder in Morningside Heights by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel

Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper (Minotaur)
Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon (Henery Press)
***The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery Press) Winner
Decanting a Murder by Nadine Nettmann (Midnight Ink)
Design for Dying by Renee Patrick (Forge Books)

Best Nonfiction

***Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books) Winner
A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods by Roger Guay with Kate Clark Flora (Skyhorse Publishing)
Sara Paretsky: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Margaret Kinsman (McFarland Books)

Best Short Story

“Double Jinx: A Bellissimo Casino Crime Caper Short Story” by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
“The Best-Laid Plans” by Barb Goffman in Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional (Wildside Press)
“The Mayor and the Midwife” by Edith Maxwell in Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 (Down & Out Books)
“The Last Blue Glass” by B.K. Stevens in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
***“Parallel Play” by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning (Wildside Press) Winner

Best Children/Young Adult

Trapped: A Mei-hua Adventure by P.A. DeVoe (Drum Tower Press)
Spy Ski School by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster)
Tag, You’re Dead by J C Lane (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos (Balzer & Bray)
***The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club by Penny Warner (Darby Creek) Winner

Congratulations to all of the nominees, and thanks to everyone who voted. The Agatha Awards will be presented on April 29, 2017, at the Malice Banquet. Winners in each category will be decided via onsite ballot by the attendees of Malice 29.