Agatha Award

Agatha Christie

The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the cozy mystery subgenre (i.e. closed setting, no sex or violence, amateur detective). At an annual convention in Washington, D.C.,^[1] the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in six categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Historical Novel; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.

Malice Domestic Ltd was established in 1989, and was incorporated in 1992. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors.^[2]

Awards

Winners and, where known, nominated titles for each year:

Best First Novel

2015 - Art Taylor, On the Road with Del and Louise

Tessa Arlen, Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman
Cindy Brown, Macdeath
Ellen Byron, Plantation Shudders
Julianne Holmes, Just Killing Time

2014 - Terrie Farley Moran, Well Read, Then Dead

Annette Dashoffy, Circle of Influence
Sherry Harris, Tagged for Death
Susan O'Brien, Finding Sky
Tracy Weber, Murder Strikes a Pose

2013 - Leslie Budewitz, Death Al Dente

Shelley Costa, You Cannoli Die Once
Kendel Lynn, Board Stiff
Liz Mugavero, Kneading to Die
LynDee Walker, Front Page Fatality

2012 – Susan M. Boyer, Lowcountry Boil

Duffy Brown, Iced Chiffon
Mollie Cox Bryan, A Scrapbook of Secrets
Erika Chase, A Killer Read
Stephanie Jaye Evans, Faithful Unto Death

2011 – Sara J. Henry, Learning to Swim

Janet Bolin, Dire Threads
Kaye George, Choke
Rochelle Staab, Who Do, Voodoo?
Kari Lee Townsend, Tempest in the Tea Leaves

2010 – Avery Aames, The Long Quiche Goodbye

Laura Alden, Murder at the PTA
Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook (Penguin Press), finalist
Amanda Flower, Maid of Murder
Sasscer Hill, Full Mortality
Alan Orloff, Diamonds for the Dead

2009 – Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Delacorte Press)

Lisa Bork, For Better, for Murder (Midnight Ink)
Meredith Cole, Posed for Murder (St Martins Minotaur)
Elizabeth J. Duncan, The Cold Light of Mourning (St. Martin's Press)
Stefanie Pintoff, In the Shadow of Gotham (Minotaur Books)

2008 – G. M. Malliet, Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)

Sarah Atwell, Through a Glass, Deadly (Berkley Trade)
Krista Davis, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (Penguin Group)
Rosemary Harris, Pushing Up Daisies (Minotaur Books)
Joanna Campbell Slan, Paper, Scissors, Death (Midnight Ink)

2007 – Hank Phillippi Ryan, Prime Time (Harlequin)

Charles Finch, A Beautiful Blue Death (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Beth Groundwater, A Real Basket Case (Five Star Mystery)
Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Grave (Mira)
Sarah Masters Buckey "The light in the cellar" (American Girl)

2006 – Sandra Parshall, The Heat of the Moon (Poisoned Pen Press)

Jane Cleland, Consigned to Death (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily, The Chef Who Died Sauteing (Hilliard & Harris)
Hailey Lind, Feint of Art (Signet)
Karen MacInerney, Murder on the Rocks (Midnight Ink)

2005 – Laura Durham, Better Off Wed (HarperCollins Publishers)

Laura Bradford, Jury of One (Hilliard & Harris)
Shirley Damsgaard, Witch Way to Murder (Avon Books)
Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two (Berkley Publishing Group)
Lisa Tillman, Blood Relations (Hilliard & Harris)

Harley Jane Kozak

2004 – Harley Jane Kozak, Dating Dead Men (Doubleday)

Judy Clemens, Till the Cows Come Home (Poisoned Pen Press)
Patricia Harwin, Arson and Old Lace (Pocket Books)
Dorothy Salisbury Davis and Jerome Ross, God Speed the Night
Susan Kandel, I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason (HarperCollins)
Pari Noskin Taichert, The Clovis Incident: A Mystery (University of New Mexico Press)

2003 – Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs (Soho Press Inc.)

Elaine Flinn, Dealing in Murder (Avon)
Erin Hart, Haunted Ground (Scribner)
S.W. Hubbard, Take the Bait (Pocket)
Maddy Hunter, Alpine for You (Pocket)
Joyce Kreig, Murder off Mike (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Sarah Stewart Taylor, O’ Artful Death (St. Martin's Press)

2002 – Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Pip Granger, Not All Tarts Are Apple (Poisoned Pen Press)
Roberta Isleib, Six Strokes Under (Berkley)
Claire M. Johnson, Beat Until Stiff (Poisoned Pen Press)
Nancy Martin, How to Murder a Millionaire (Signet)
Lea Wait, Shadows at the Fair (Scribner)

2001 – Sarah Strohmeyer, Bubbles Unbound (Dutton)

Tim Myer, Innkeeping with Murder (Berkley)
Charlie O'Brien, Mute Witness (Poisoned Pen Press)
Andy Straka, A Witness Above (Signet)

2000 – Rosemary Stevens, Death on a Silver Tray (Berkley Prime Crime)

Julie W. Herman, Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death (Overmountain Press)
Irene Marcuse, Death of an Amiable Child (Walker & Company)
Denise Swanson, Murder of a Small Town Honey (Signet)

1999 – Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks (Thomas Dunne Books)

April Henry, Circles of Confusion (HarperTorch)
Kris Neri, Revenge of the Gypsy Queen (Rainbow Books)
Elena Santangelo, By Blood Possessed (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Marcia Talley, Sing It to Her Bones (Dell)

1998 – Robin Hathaway, The Doctor Digs a Grave (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Jerrilyn Farmer, Sympathy for the Devil (Avon)
Jacqueline Fiedler, Tiger's Palette (Pocket)
Judy Fitzwater, Dying to Get Published (Fawcett)
Sharon Kahn, Fax Me a Bagel (Scribner)

1997 – Sujata Massey, The Salaryman's Wife (HarperCollins)

Joanne Dobson, Quieter Than Sleep (Doubleday)
Phyllis Richman, The Butter Did It (HarperCollins)
Penny Warner, Dead Body Language (Bantam)
Barbara Jaye Wilson, Death Brims Over (Avon)

1996 – Anne George, Murder on a Girl's Night Out (Avon Books)

Dale Furutani, Death in Little Tokyo : A Ken Tanaka Mystery (St. Martin’s)
Terris Grimes, Somebody Else's Child (Onyx Books)
Teri Holbrook, The Grass Widow (Bantam Books)
Margaret K. Lawrence, Hearts and Bone: A Novel of Historical Suspense (Avon Books)
Lillian M. Roberts, Riding for a Fall (Gold Medal)

1995 – Jeanne M. Dams, The Body in the Transept (Walker)

Teri Holbrook, A Far and Deadly Cry
Jody Jaffe, Horse of a Different Killer
Virginia Lanier, Death in Bloodhound Red
Martha C. Lawrence, Murder in Scorpio

Jeff Abbott

1994 – Jeff Abbott, Do Unto Others (Ballantine)

Janet Evanovich, One for the Money (Scribner)
Earlene Fowler, Fool's Puzzle
Barbara Burnett Smith, Writers of the Purple Sage
Polly Whitney, Until Death

Nevada Barr

1993 – Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat (Putnam)

Jan Burke, Goodnight, Irene
Deborah Crombie, A Share in Death
Sharan Newman, Death Comes as Ephiphany
Abigail Padgett, Child of Silence

1992 – Barbara Neely, Blanche on the Lam (St. Martin's Press)

Deborah Adams, All the Great Pretenders
Susan Wittig Albert, Thyme of Death
Carol Higgins Clark, Decked
Miriam Grace Monfredo, Seneca Falls Inheritance

1991 – Mary Willis Walker, Zero at the Bone (St. Martin's Press)

Mary Cahill, Carpool
Mary Daheim, Just Desserts
Rebecca Rothenberg, The Bulrush Murders
Ann Williams, Flowers for the Dead

1990 – Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Belfry (St. Martin's Press)

Pat Burden, Screaming Bones
Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody
William F. Love, The Chartreuse Clue
Janet L. Smith, Sea of Troubles

1989 – Jill Churchill, Grime and Punishment (Avon Books)

Eleanor Boylan, Working Murder
Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt
Melanie Johnson Howe, The Mother Shadow
Edith Skom, The Mark Twain Murders

1988 – Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance (Bantam)

Caroline Graham, The Killings at Badger's Drift
Corinne Sawyer, The J. Alfred Prufrock Murders
Susannah Stacey, Goodbye Nanny Grey
Dorothy Sucher, Dead Men Don't Give Seminars

Best Contemporary Novel

2015 - Margaret Maron, Long Upon the Land

Annette Dashofy, Bridges Burned
Catriona McPherson, The Child Garden
Louise Penny, Nature of the Beast
Hank Phillipi Ryan, What You See

2014 - Hank Phillippi Ryan, Truth Be Told

Donna Andrews, The Good, the Bad and the Emus
G. M. Malliet, A Demon Summer
Margaret Maron, Designated Daughters
Louise Penny, The Long Way Home

2013 - Hank Phillippi Ryan, The Wrong Girl

Julia Spencer-Fleming, Through the Evil Days
G. M. Malliet, Pagan Spring
Louise Penny, How the Light Gets In
Barbara Ross, Clammed Up

Best Novel

Louise Penny

2012 – Louise Penny, The Beautiful Mystery

Krista Davis, The Diva Digs Up the Dirt
G. M. Malliet, A Fatal Winter
Margaret Maron, The Buzzard Table
Hank Phillippi Ryan, The Other Woman

Margaret Maron

2011 – Margaret Maron, Three-Day Town

Donna Andrews, The Real Macaw
Krista Davis, The Diva Haunts the House
G. M. Malliet, Wicked Autumn
Louise Penny, A Trick of the Light

2010 – Louise Penny, Bury Your Dead

Donna Andrews, Stork Raving Mad
Nancy Pickard, The Scent of Rain and Lightning
Hank Phillippi Ryan, Drive Time
Heather Webber, Truly, Madly

2009 – Louise Penny, A Brutal Telling (Minotaur Books)

Donna Andrews, Swan for the Money (St Martin's Minotaur Books)
Lorna Barrett, Bookplate Special' (Berkley Prime Crime)
Rhys Bowen, Royal Flush (Berkley Prime Crime)
Hank Phillippi Ryan, Air Time (MIRA)

2008 – Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month (Minotaur Books)

Donna Andrews, Six Geese A-Slaying (Minotaur Books)
Rhys Bowen, A Royal Pain (Penguin Group)
Anne Perry, Buckingham Palace Gardens (Random)
Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want (Minotaur Books)

2007 – Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Donna Andrews, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Rhys Bowen, Her Royal Spyness (Penguin Group)
Margaret Maron, Hard Row (Grand Central Publishing)
Elaine Viets, Murder with Reservations (NAL)

Nancy Pickard

2006 – Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains (Random House)

Earlene Fowler, The Saddlemaker's Wife
L. C. Hayden, Why Casey Had to Die
Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains
Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh
Jacqueline Winspear, Messenger of Truth

2005 – Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Snowdrift (William Morrow)

Donna Andrews, Owls Well That Ends Well (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Margaret Maron, Rituals of the Season(Mysterious Press & Warner Books)
Pari Noskin Taichert, The Belen Hitch (University of NM Press)
Heather Webber, Trouble in Spades (Avon/HarperCollins Publishers)
Jacqueline Winspear, Pardonable Lies (Henry Holt Books)

2004 – Jacqueline Winspear, Birds of a Feather (Soho Press)

Donna Andrews, We'll Always Have Parrots (Thomas Dunne Books)
Laura Lippman, By a Spider's Thread (HarperCollins)
Margaret Maron, High Country Fall (Mysterious Press)
Sujata Massey, The Pearl Diver (HarperCollins)

2003 – Carolyn Hart, Letter From Home (Berkley Prime Crime)

Donna Andrews, Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Jerrilyn Farmer, Mumbo Gumbo (William Morrow & Company)
Rochelle Majer Krich, Dream House (Ballantine Books)
Margaret Maron, Last Lessons of Summer (Mysterious Press)
Elaine Viets, Shop till You Drop (Signet)

2002 – Donna Andrews, You've Got Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)

Rhys Bowen, Death of Riley (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Rochelle Majer Krich, Blues in the Night (Ballantine)
Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Bonfire (Morrow)
Elizabeth Peters, The Golden One (Morrow)

2001 – Rhys Bowen, Murphy's Law (St Martin's Minotaur)

Earlene Fowler, Arkansas Traveler (Berkley)
Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark (Ace)
Rochelle Majer Krich, Shadows of Sin (Avon)
Sujata Massey, The Bride's Kimono (HarperCollins);

2000 – Margaret Maron, Storm Track (Mysterious Press)

Taffy Cannon, Guns and Roses
Jerrilyn Farmer, Killer Wedding
Sujata Massey, The Floating Girl
Elizabeth Peters, He Shall Thunder in the Sky

1999 – Earlene Fowler, Mariner's Compass (Berkley Publishing Group)

Jerrilyn Farmer, Immaculate Reception (Avon)
Carolyn Hart, Death on the River Walk (Avon)
Laura LippmanIn Big Trouble (Avon)
Sujata Massey The Flower Master (HarperCollins)

Laura Lippman

1998 – Laura Lippman, Butchers Hill (Avon Books)

Jan Burke, Liar (Simon & Schuster)
Earlene Fowler, Dove in the Window (Berkley)
Virginia Lanier, Blind Bloodhound Justice (Harper Collins)
Margaret Maron, Home Fires (Mysterious Press)
Elizabeth Peters, The Ape Who Guards the Balance (Avon)

1997 – Kate Ross, The Devil In Music (Viking)

Jan Burke, Hocus (Simon & Schuster)
Deborah Crombie, Dreaming of the Bones (Scribner)
Earlene Fowler, Goose in a Pond (Berkley)
Elizabeth Peters, Seeing a Large Cat (Warner)

1996 – Margaret Maron, Up Jumps The Devil (Mysterious Press)

Earlene Fowler, Kansas Troubles (a Benni Harper Mystery) (Berkley)
Sharan Newman, Strong as Death (Forge)

1995 – Sharyn McCrumb, If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Ballantine)

Joan Hess, Miracles in Maggody
Sharan Newman, The Wandering Arm
Nancy Pickard, Twilight
Walter Satterthwait, Escapade

1994 – Sharyn McCrumb, She Walks These Hills (Scribner)

Carolyn G. Hart, Scandal in Fair Haven
Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Rochelle Majer Krich, Angel of Death
Elizabeth Peters, Night Train to Memphis

1993 – Carolyn Hart, Dead Man's Island (Bantam)

Aaron Elkins, Old Scores
Joan Hess, O Little Town of Maggody
Rochelle Majer Krich, Fair Game
Margaret Maron, Southern Discomfort
Kathy Hogan Trocheck, To Live and Die in Dixie

1992 – Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter (Mysterious Press)

Carolyn G. Hart, Southern Ghost
Sharyn McCrumb, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Anne Perry, Defend and Betray
Elizabeth Peters, The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog

1991 – Nancy Pickard, I.O.U. (Pocket)

Aaron Elkins, Make No Bones (Mysterious Press)
Carolyn G. Hart, The Christie Caper (Bantam)
Charlotte MacLeod, An Owl Too Many (Mysterious Press)
Elizabeth Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon (Warner)

1990 – Nancy Pickard, Bum Steer (Pocket)

Charlaine Harris, Real Murders
Carolyn G. Hart, Deadly Valentine
Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger
Ellis Peters, The Potter's Field

1989 – Elizabeth Peters, Naked Once More (Warner)

Sarah Caudwell, The Siren Sang of Murder
Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder
Margaret Maron, Corpus Christmas
Gillian Roberts, Philly Stakes

1988 – Carolyn G. Hart, Something Wicked (Bantam)

Dorothy Cannell, The Widow's Club
Joan Hess, Mischief in Maggody
Sharyn McCrumb, Paying the Piper
Nancy Pickard, Dead Crazy

Best Historical Novel

2015 - Laurie R. King, Dreaming Spies

Rhys Bowen, Malice at the Palace
Susanna Calkins, The Masque of a Murderer
Susan Elia Macneal, Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante
Victoria Thompson, Murder on Amsterdam Avenue

2014 - Rhys Bowen, Queen of Hearts

DE Ireland, Wouldn't It Be Deadly
Victoria Thompson, Murder in Murray Hill
Charles Todd, Hunting Shadows
Charles Todd, An Unwilling Accomplice

2013 - Charles Todd, A Question of Honor

Rhys Bowen, Heirs and Graces
Kaye George, Death in the Time of Ice
J. J. Murphy, A Friendly Game of Murder
Victoria Thompson, Murder in Chelsea

2012 – Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder

Rhys Bowen, The Twelve Clues of Christmas
Victoria Thompson, Murder on Fifth Avenue
Charles Todd, An Unmarked Grave
Jacqueline Winspear, Elegy for Eddie

2011 – Rhys Bowen, Naughty in Nice

J. J. Murphy, Murder Your Darlings
Ann Parker, Mercury's Rise
Jeri Westerson, Troubled Bones
Jacqueline Winspear, A Lesson in Secrets

Best Non-Fiction

2015 - Martin Edwards, The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story

Zack Dundas, The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes
Kathryn Harkup, A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie
Jane Ann Turzillo, Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northeast Ohio
Kate White (Editor), Mystery Writers of America, The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For

2014 - Hank Phillippi Ryan, editor, Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer's Journey

Stephen Bates, The Poisoner: The Life and Crimes of Victorian England's Most Notorious Doctor
Kate Flora, Death Dealer: How Cops and Cadaver Dogs Brought a Killer to Justice
Adam Plantinga, 400 Things Cops Know: Street Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman
Lucy Worsley, The Art of the English Murder

2013 - Daniel Stashower, The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War

Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer
Maria Konnikova, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
Verena Rose and Rita Owen, Editors, Not Everyone's Cup of Tea: An Interesting & Entertaining History of Malice Domestic's First 25 Years

John Connolly

2012 – John Connolly, Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels

Joseph Goodrich, Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947–1950
D. P. Lyle More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered
Ben Macintyre, Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies
Mathew Prichard, The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie

2011 – Leslie Budewitz, Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure

John Curran, Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks
Michael Dirda On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling
A. B. Emrys, Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel
Charlaine Harris, The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

2010 – John Curran, Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making

Deborah Blum, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Stephen Doyle & David A. Crowder Sherlock Holmes for Dummies
Katherine Hall Page, Have Faith in Your Kitchen
Yunte Huang, Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History

2009 – Elena Santangelo, Dame Agatha's Shorts (Bella Rosa Books)

Richard Hack, Duchess of Death (Phoenix Books)
P. D. James, Talking About Detective Fiction (Knopf)
Amnon Kabatchnik, Blood on the Stage 1925–1950 (Scarecrow Press)
Joan Schenkar, The Talented Miss Highsmith (St Martin's Press)

2008 – Kathy Lynn Emerson, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (Perseverance Press)

Frankie Y. Bailey, African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study (McFarland & Co.)
Jeffrey Marks, Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography (McFarland & Co.)
Dr. Harry Lee Poe, Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories (Metro Books)
Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher, or The Murder at Road Hill House (Walker & Co.)

2007 – Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (Penguin Press)

Penny Warner, The Official Nancy Drew Handbook (Quirck Productions)

2006 – Chris Roerden, Don't Murder Your Mystery (Bella Rosa Books)

Jim Huang and Austin Lugar, Mystery Muses (The Crum Creek Press)
Daniel Stashower, The Beautiful Cigar Girl (Dutton)

2005 – Melanie Rehak, Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her (Harcourt)

Stuart Kaminsky, Behind the Mystery—Top Mystery Writers (Hothouse Press)
Marvin Lachman, The Heirs of Anthony Boucher (Poisoned Pen Press)
Leslie S. Klinger, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (W.W. Norton)

2004 – Jack French, Private Eye-Lashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives (Bear Manor Media)

Leslie Klinger (editor), The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories (W.W. Norton & Company)

2003 – Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread (editors) and Dennis Forbes (design), Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium (William Morrow & Company)

Colleen A. Barnett, Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction, Volume 3 (Parts 1 & 2) (Poisoned Pen Press)
Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl (editors), A Second Helping of Murder: More Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers (Poisoned Pen Press)
Jeffrey Marks, Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950s (Delphi Books)

2002 – Jim Huang (editor), They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Crum Creek Press)

Mike Ashley (editor), The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction (Avalon Publishing Group)
Colleen Barnett, Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction (Poisoned Pen Press)
Mary Higgins Clark, Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir (Simon and Schuster)
Sue Grafton (editor) with Jan Burke and Barry Zeman, Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America (Writer's Digest Press)

2001 – Tony Hillerman, Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (HarperCollins)

Max Allan Collins, The History of the Mystery (Collector's Press)
G. Miki Hayden, Writing the Mystery: A Start-To-Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional (Intrigue Press)
Jeffrey Marks, Who Was That Lady? (Delphi Books)
The Sisters Wells, Food, Drink, and the Female Sleuth (Authors Choice Press/iUniverse.com)

2000 – Jim Huang (editor), 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century (Crum Creek Press)

Marvin Lachman (editor), The American Regional Mystery
Matthew Bunson, The Complete Christie (Pocket)
Helen Windrath (editor), They Wrote the Book
Martha Dubose (editor), Women of Mystery

1999 – Daniel Stashower, Teller of Tales: the Life of Arthur Conan Doyle (Henry Holt & Company)

Kate Derie, The Deadly Directory (Deadly Serious Press)
Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl, A Taste of Murder: Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers (Poisoned Pen Press)
Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Women III (Purple Moon Press)
Rosemary Herbert, The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (Oxford University Press)

1998 – Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Reader's Walking Guide to Washington D.C. (Passport Books)

Edward Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, Speaking of Murder (Berkley)
Jan Grape, Dean James and Ellen Nehr, Deadly Women (Carroll & Graf)
Victoria Nichols and Susan Thompson, Silk Stalkings II (Scarecrow)
Jean Swanson and Dean James, Killer Books (Berkley)

1997 – Willeta L. Heising, Detecting Men (Pocket Guide) (Purple Moon Press)

Nina King and Robin Winks, Crimes of the Scene (St. Martin's)
Ian Ousby, Guilty Parties (Thames & Hudson)

1996 – Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Women 2 (Purple Moon Press)

Elaine Raco Chase and Anne Wingate, Amateur Detectives: A Writer's Guide to How Private Citizens Solve Criminal Cases (Writer's Digest)
Ron Miller, Mystery: A Celebration (KQED Books)
Barbara Reynolds (editor), The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: The Making of a Detective Novelist (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Jean Swanson and Dean James, By a Woman's Hand, Second Edition (Berkley Publishing Group)

1995 – Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Readers Walking Guide-Chicago (Passport Books, NTC Publishing Group)

Douglas G. Greene, John Dickson Carr: the Man Who Explained Miracles
B.J. Rahn, Ngaio Marsh: the Woman and Her Work
Kate Stine, The Armchair Detective Book of Lists, 2nd edition
Robin Whiteman, The Cadfael Companion', 2nd edition

1994 – Jean Swanson and Dean James, By a Woman's Hand (Berkley Publishing Group)

William L. DeAndrea, Encyclopedia Mysteriosa
Allen J. Hubin, Crime Fiction II
Kathleen Gregory Klein, Great Women Mystery Writers
Charlotte MacLeod, Had She But Known: Mary Roberts Rinehart

1993 – Barbara D'Amato, The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery (Noble Press)

Alzina Stone Dale, Dorothy L. Sayers
Michael C. Gerald, The Poisonous Pen of Agatha Christie
Edward Gorman, The Fine Art of Murder
Marvin Lachman, A Reader's Guide to the American Novel of Detection
Ellen A. Nehr, The Doubleday Crime Club Compendium 1928–91

Best Short Story

Anne Perry

Aaron Elkins

2015 - "A Year Without Santa Claus?" by Barb Goffman Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2015
2014 - "The Odds Are Against Us" by Art Taylor, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 2014
2013 - "The Care and Feeding of House Plants" by Art Taylor, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013
2012 – "Mischief in Mesopotamia" by Dana Cameron, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2012
2011 – "Disarming" by Dana Cameron, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
2010 – "So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini
2009 – "On the House" by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Level Best Books)
2008 – "The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Penguin Group)
2007 – "A Rat's Tale" by Donna Andrews Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
2006 – "Sleeping with the Plush" by Toni Kelner Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
2005 – "Driven to Distraction" by Marcia Talley-Chesapeake Crimes II, Quiet Storm Publishing
2004 – "Wedding Knife" by Elaine Viets (Chesapeake Crimes, Coordinating Editor: Donna Andrews, Quiet Storm Publishing)
2003 – "No Man’s Land" by Elizabeth Foxwell in Blood On Their Hands (Berkley Prime Crime)
2002 – "The Dog That Didn't Bark" by Margaret Maron, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 2002 and "Too Many Cooks" by Marcia Talley, Much Ado About Murder, edited by Anne Perry (Berkley Prime Crime)
2001 – "The Would-Be-Widower" by Katherine Hall Page, Malice Domestic X (Avon Books)
2000 – "The Man in the Civil Suit" by Jan Burke, Malice Domestic 9 (Avon Books)
1999 – "Out of Africa" by Nancy Pickard, Mom, Apple Pie, and Murder (Berkley Publishing Group)
1998 – "Of Course You Know That Chocolate Is A Vegetable" by Barbara D'Amato, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 1998
1997 – "Tea for Two" by M.D. Lake, Funnybones (Penguin)
1996 – "Accidents Will Happen" by Carolyn Wheat, Malice Domestic 5 (Pocket)
1995 – "The Dog Who Remembered Too Much" by Elizabeth Daniels Squire, Malice Domestic 4 (Pocket)
1994 – "The Family Jewels" by Dorothy Cannell, Malice Domestic 3 (Pocket)
1993 – "Kim's Game" by M.D. Lake, Malice Domestic 2 (Pocket)
1992 – "Nice Gorilla" by Aaron and Charlotte Elkins, Malice Domestic 1 (Pocket)
1991 – "Deborah's Judgment" by Margaret Maron, A Woman's Eye (Delacourte Press)
1990 – "Too Much To Bare" by Joan Hess, Sisters in Crime 2 (Berkley Publishing Group)
1989 – "A Wee Doch And Doris" by Sharyn McCrumb, Mistletoe Mysteries (Mysterious Press )
1988 – "More Final Than Divorce" by Robert Barnard, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Best Children/Young Adult Fiction

Blue Balliett

2015 - Andi Unstoppable by Amanda Flower
2014 – The Code Buster's Club, Case #4: The Mummy's Curse by Penny Warner
2013 – Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
2012 – The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse by Penny Warner
2011 – The Black Heart Crypt by Chris Grabenstein
2010 – The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith
2009 – The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
2008 - The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein
2006 – Pea Soup Poisonings by Nancy Means Wright (Hilliard & Harris)
2005 – Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams, HarperCollins Publishers and Flush by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf)
2004 – Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press)
2003 – The 7th Knot by Kathleen Karr (Marshall Cavendish)
2002 – Red Card: A Zeke Armstrong Mystery (The Zeke Armstrong Mysteries, 1) by Daniel J. Hale & Matthew LaBrot (Top Publications)
2001 – ''Mystery Of The Haunted Caves: A Troop 13 Mystery by Penny Warner (Meadowbrook Press)