The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries from the previous year. Presenting the nominees:
Best Mystery
Dark Ride by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
Hide by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (Hogarth)
Murder Book by Thomas Perry (Mysterious)
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Best First Mystery
The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Atria)
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Minotaur)
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy (Zando/Gillian Flynn Books)
Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (Simon & Schuster)
Dutch Threat by Josh Pachter (Genius Book Publishing)
Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (William. Morrow)
Best Mystery Short Story
“Real Courage” by Barb Goffman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14, Oct. 2023)
“Green and California Bound” by Curtis Ippolito (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023)
“Ticket to Ride” by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, (Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, ed. Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books)
“Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand” by Lisa Scottoline (Amazon Original Stories)
“One Night in 1965” by Stacy Woodson (More Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, ed. Michael Bracken, Down & Out Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery
Time’s Undoing by Cheryl Head (Dutton)
Evergreen by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
Our Lying Kin by Claudia Hagadus Long (Kasva Press)
The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead Books)
Congratulations to all!