Historical

The Agatha Awards – 2019 Books

Cozy, Crime, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Non-fiction, Short Stories/Collection, True Crime, Young Adult/Teen

 

The winners of the Agatha Awards for 2019 Books (named for Agatha Christie) have been announced. The nominated books were first published in the United States by a living author between January 1 and December 31, 2019. Normally, the nominated titles would be voted upon by the attendees at the annual Malice Domestic conference for mystery and crime writers/fans in early May, 2020. But, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference was cancelled. The Malice Board  determined the voting protocol, with the winners announced on May 2, 2020.

The Agatha Awards recognize the “traditional mystery,” meaning that there is no graphic sex and no excessive violence in the writing. Thrillers or hard-boiled detectives cannot be found here, but instead, picture Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot at work.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! (indicated in red)  🙂

 

Best Contemporary Novel (6 titles this year)
“Fatal Cajun Festival” by Ellen Byron
“The Long Call” by Ann Cleeves
“Fair Game” by Annette Dashofy
“The Missing Ones” by Edwin Hill
“A Better Man” by Louise Penny
“The Murder List” by Hank Philippi Ryan

Best First Mystery Novel
“A Dream of Death” by Connie Berry
“One Night Gone” by Tara Laskowski
“Murder Once Removed” by S. C. Perkins
“When It’s Time for Leaving” by Ang Pompano
“Staging for Murder” by Grace Topping

Best Historical Mystery
“Love and Death Among the Cheetahs” by Rhys Bowen
“Murder Knocks Twice” by Susanna Calkins
“The Pearl Dagger” by L. A. Chandlar
“Charity’s Burden” by Edith Maxwell
“The Naming Game” by Gabriel Valjan

Best Nonfiction
“Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story” by Laird R. Blackwell
“Blonde Rattlesnake: Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree that Terrified Los Angeles” by Julia Bricklin
“Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” by Casey Cep
“The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women” by Mo Moulton
“The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper” by Hallie Rubenhold

Best Children/Young Adult
“Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers” by Shauna Holyoak
“Two Can Keep a Secret” by Karen MacManus
“The Last Crystal” by Frances Schoonmaker
“Top Marks for Murder (A Most Unladylike Mystery)”
by Robin Stevens
“Jada Sly, Artist and Spy” by Sherri Winston

Best Short Story (links are highlighted)
“Grist for the Mill” by Kaye George in A Murder of Crows (Darkhouse Books)
“Alex’s Choice” by Barb Goffman in Crime Travel (Wildside Press)
“The Blue Ribbon” by Cynthia Kuhn in Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
“The Last Word” by Shawn Reilly Simmons, Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
“Better Days” by Art Taylor in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine


Happy Reading!

 

 

 

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2020 Left Coast Crime Lefty Awards

Book List, Crime, Historical, Mystery, Suspense

 

Sadly, because of the Covid19 pandemic, the Left Coast Crime Conference was shut down before the first day of the conference had finished. Voting was conducted online. Please check out all the nominees for the 2020 Left Coast Crime Lefty Awards and note the winners in red.

Congratulations to all!

Best Humorous Mystery Novel

  • Ellen Byron, Fatal Cajun Festival
  • Leslie Karst, Murder from Scratch
  • Cynthia Kuhn, The Subject of Malice
  • Catriona McPherson, Scot & Soda
  • Wendall Thomas, Drowned Under  

Best Historical Mystery Novel

  • Susanna Calkins, Murder Knocks Twice
  • L.A. Chandlar, The Pearl Dagger
  • Dianne Freeman, A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder
  • Jennifer Kincheloe, The Body in Griffith Park
  • Sujata Massey, The Satapur Moonstone  

Best Debut Mystery Novel

  • Tori Eldridge, The Ninja Daughter
  • Angie Kim, Miracle Creek
  • Tara Laskowski, One Night Gone
  • John Vercher, Three-Fifths
  • Carl Vonderau, Murderabilia

Best Mystery Novel

  • Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay
  • Tracy Clark, Borrowed Time
  • Matt Coyle, Lost Tomorrows
  • Rachel Howzell Hall, They All Fall Down
  • Attica Locke, Heaven, My Home 

     

2020 Left Coast Crime Lefty Awards Read More »

“New York Times Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2019”

Award Winner, Bestselling Author, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Short Stories/Collection, True Crime

 

It’s always interesting to see which books the Book Review editors choose for their “Best of…” lists for the year. The titles are sometimes bestsellers, sometimes from debut or international writers, but more importantly, the NYT Book Review editors have fallen in love with the story (or the writing) and ta-da! the book makes the list.

 

Check out their Best of Fiction and Nonfiction choices from 2019. Listed in alphabetical order by author, click on the book titles to read their reviews.

 

Fiction:

 

“Night Boat to Tangier” by Kevin Barry

 

“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang

 

“The Topeka School” by Ben Lerner

 

 

 

“Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli

 

 

“Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips

 

Nonfiction:

 

“The Yellow House” by Sarah M. Broom

 

“The Club” by Leo Damrosch

 

“Midnight in Chernobyl” by Adam Higginbotham

 

 

 

 

 

“Say Nothing” by Patrick Radden Keefe

 

 

 

“No Visible Bruises” by Rachel Louise Snyder

 

Have you read any of the titles? Please let us know what you thought in the comments below.

 

 

 

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National Book Awards – 2019

Leave a Comment / Award Winner, Book List, Fiction, General, Historical, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Young Adult/Teen

 

The prestigious National Book Awards–2019 for last year's books were bestowed in New York City on November 20, 2019. There were 25 finalists – five each in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature.

 

Take a look at the finalists and winners (indicated in red) and click on the titles to learn more about the books:
 

FINALISTS FOR FICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR NONFICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR POETRY:

 

FINALISTS FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE: 

 

FINALISTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:

 

Congratulations to all!!!

 

 

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Macavity Awards-2019

Leave a Comment / Bestselling Author, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Short Stories/Collection, Suspense

 

Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate their favorite mysteries in five categories from the previous year for the Macavity Awards. The winners of this coveted award were announced at the end of October, 2019, at the Bouchercon convention in Dallas, Texas.
 

Mystery Readers International, Mystery Readers Journal, and the Macavity Awards, were created by Anthony Award winner, Janet Rudolph.

 

The winning titles are indicated in red.
 

Best Novel:

  • Lou Berney: November Road
  • Alison Gaylin: If I Die Tonight
  • Jane Harper: The Lost Man
  • Jennifer Hillier: Jar of Hearts
  • Naomi Hirahara: Hiroshima Boy
  • Lisa Unger: Under My Skin
     

Best First Novel:

  • Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer
  • John Copenhaver: Dodging and Burning
  • Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing
  • Catherine Steadman: Something in the Water
  • C.J. Tudor: The Chalk Man
     

Best Nonfiction:

  • Laird R. Blackwell: The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction
  • Margalit Fox: Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer
  • Leslie S. Klinger: Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s
  • Michelle McNamara: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
  • Laura Thompson: Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life
  • Sarah Weinman: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
     

Best Short Story: (Click on titles in red for links to the stories)

  • Craig Faustus Buck: “Race to Judgment” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
  • Leslie Budewitz: “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/Jun 2018)
  • Barb Goffman: “Bug Appétit” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
  • Barry Lancet: “Three-Star Sushi” (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3)
  • Gigi Pandian: “The Cambodian Curse” (The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories)
  • Art Taylor: “English 398: Fiction Workshop” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)
     

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:

  • Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
  • Elsa Hart: City of Ink
  • Laurie R. King: Island of the Mad
  • Sujata Massey: The Widows of Malabar Hill
  • Ann Parker: A Dying Note
  • Charles Todd: A Forgotten Place
     

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!   🙂

 

 

Macavity Awards-2019 Read More »

Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year 2019 – McIlvanney Prize

Leave a Comment / Bestselling Author, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Suspense, Thriller

 

The Scotland Crime Book of the Year Award, now called The McIlvanney Prize, is given at Bloody Scotland, a premier conference for crime writers. Eligible authors must be born in Scotland, live there, or set their books there. The winner receives 1,000 pounds and the book is promoted for a year by a major bookstore chain in Great Britain. The winners of both awards were announced on Friday, September 20, 2019 and are indicated in red.
 

McIlvanney Prize Shortlist and winner:
• Breakers, by Doug Johnstone
• Conviction, by Denise Mina
• The Way of All Flesh, by “Ambrose Parry”, aka Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman
• A Treachery of Spies, by Manda Scott
 

McIlvanney Debut Prize Shortlist and winner:
• All the Hidden Truths, by Claire Askew
• From the Shadows, by G.R. Halliday
• Black Camp 21, by Bill Jones
• In the Silence, by M.R. Mackenzie
• The Peat Dead, by Allan Martin
 

 

Congratulations to all! 

Previous winners are noted below:

2018: Liam McIlvanney – “The Quaker”

2017: Denise Mina – “The Long Drop”

2016: Chris Brookmyre – “Black Widow”

2015: Craig Russell – “The Ghosts of Altona”

2014: Peter May – “Entry Island”

 

 

 

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Lefty Awards – 2019 (Left Coast Crime)

Leave a Comment / Award Winner, Bestselling Author, Book List, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Suspense

 

The annual Left Coast Crime Conference has provided authors, readers, reviewers, librarians, and publishers, a great place to gather and share their love of mysteries since 1991. The Lefty Awards are chosen by attendees at the conference from titles (either paper or ebook format) that were published for the first time the previous year in the United States or Canada.


The nominees and winners are listed below in alphabetical order by author, with winners indicated in red.


Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Ellen Byron – Mardi Gras Murder 
Kellye Garrett – Hollywood Ending
Timothy Hallinan – Nighttown
Leslie Karst – Death al Fresco 
Cynthia Kuhn – The Spirit in Question
*Catriona McPherson – Scot Free 


Best Historical Mystery Novel (events before 1960)
Rhys Bowen – Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding 
David Corbett – The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday 
Laurie R. King – Island of the Mad
*Sujata Massey – The Widows of Malabar Hill 
Ann Parker – A Dying Note
Iona Whishaw – It Begins in Betrayal 


Best Debut Mystery Novel
Tracy Clark – Broken Places 
A.J. Devlin – Cobra Clutch
A.J. Finn – The Woman in the Window 
*Dianne Freeman – A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder 
Aimee Hix – What Doesn’t Kill You
Keenan Powell – Deadly Solution
J.G. Toews – Give Out Creek


Best Mystery Novel
*Lou Berney – November Road 
Matt Coyle – Wrong Light 
Louise Penny – Kingdom of the Blind 
Lori Rader-Day – Under a Dark Sky 
Terry Shames – A Reckoning in the Back Country 
James W. Ziskin – A Stone’s Throw 


Congratulations to all!   🙂
 

 

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