The Macavity Awards are so named in honor of the Mystery Cat – Macavity in T.S. Eliots’ “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” Members of the Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal and friends of MRI nominate and vote on these awards.

The winners will be announced at the opening ceremonies of the Bouchercon Convention held Thursday, October 12 in Toronto.

This is another great list of mysteries for your reading pleasure.

Best Novel

  • You Will Know Me, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
  • Dark Fissures, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
  • Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley (UK, Hodder & Stoughton; US, Grand Central Publishing)
  • Real Tigers, by Mick Herron (UK, John Murray; US, Soho)
  • Wilde Lake, by Laura Lippman (Wm. Morrow)
  • A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best First Novel

  • The Widow, by Fiona Barton (UK, Bantam; US, NAL)
  • Under the Harrow, by Flynn Berry (Penguin)
  • Dodgers, by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
  • IQ, by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books)
  • Design for Dying, by Renee Patrick (Forge)

Best Short Story

  • “Autumn at the Automat,” by Lawrence Block (In Sunlight or in Shadow, Pegasus Books)
  • “Blank Shot,” by Craig Faustus Buck (Black Coffee, Darkhouse Books)
  • “Survivor’s Guilt,” by Greg Herren (Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016, Down & Out Books)
  • “Ghosts of Bunker Hill,” by Paul D. Marks (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dec. 2016)
  • “The Crawl Space,” by Joyce Carol Oates (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sep.–Oct. 2016)
  • “Parallel Play,” by Art Taylor (Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, Wildside Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel

  • A Death Along the River Fleet, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur)
  • Jane Steele, by Lyndsay Faye (UK: Headline Review; US, G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Delivering The Truth, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
  • The Reek of Red Herrings, by Catriona McPherson (US: Minotaur; UK: Houghton Stodder)
  • What Gold Buys, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
  • Heart of Stone, by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street 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)
  • Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, by Ruth Franklin (Liveright Publishing)
  • Sara Paretsky: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, Margaret Kinsman (McFarland)
  • Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula, by David J. Skal (Liveright Publishing)
  • The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer, by Kate Summerscale (Penguin)