Agatha Awards

The Agatha Awards, named in honor of Agatha Christie, are nominated and voted on by Malice Domestic fans. The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries which contain no explicit sex or excessive gore or violence; and usually (but not limited to) featuring an amateur detective, a confined setting, and characters who know one another. Agatha Awards are awarded in five categories for works first published in the United States by a living author during a calendar year. (We list only the Best Mystery and Best First Mystery awards.)

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2007 Finalists
(awarded in 2008 for books published in 2007)

Lifetime Achievement:	Peter Lovesey

Best Novel
*	A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
•	The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews
•	Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
•	Hard Row by Margaret Maron
•	Murder with Reservations by Elaine Viets

Best First Novel
*	Prime Time by Hank Phillipi Ryan
•	A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
•	A Real Basket Case by Beth Groundwater
•	Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

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2006 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
•	The Saddlemaker’s Wife by Earlene Fowler
•	Why Casey Had To Die by L.C. Hayden
•	All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming
•	Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

Best First Novel
*	The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall
•	Consigned to Death by Jane Cleland
•	The Chef Who Died Sautéing by Honora Finkelstein & Susan Smily
•	Feint of Art by Hailey Lind
•	Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney

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2005 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page
•	Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews
•	Rituals of the Season by Margaret Maron
•	The Belen Hitch by Pari Noskin Taichert
•	Trouble in Spades by Heather Webber
•	Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

Best First Novel
*	Better Off Wed by Laura Durham
•	Jury of One by Laura Bradford
•	Witch Way to Murder by Shirley Damsgaard
•	Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
•	Blood Relations by Lisa Tillman

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2004 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
•	We’ll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews
•	By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman
•	High Country Fall by Margaret Maron
•	The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey

Best First Novel
*	Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak
•	Till the Cows Come Home by Judy Clemens
•	Arson and Old Lace by Patricia Harwin
•	I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel
•	The Clovis Incident by Pari Noskin Taichert

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2003 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Letter from Home by Carolyn Hart
•	Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews
•	Mumbo Gumbo by Jerrilyn Farmer
•	Dream House by Rochelle Krich
•	Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron
•	Shop Till You Drop by Elaine Viets

Best First Novel
*	Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
•	Dealing in Murder by Elaine Flinn
•	Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
•	Take the Bait by S.W. Hubbard
•	Alpine for You by Maddy Hunter
•	Murder Off Mike by Joyce Krieg
•	O’ Artful Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor

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2002 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	You’ve Got Murder by Donna Andrews
•	Death of Riley by Rhys Bowen
•	Blues in the Night by Rochelle Krich
•	The Body in the Bonfire by Katherine Hall Page
•	The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
•	Not All Tarts Are Apple by Pip Granger
•	Six Strokes Under by Roberta Isleib
•	Beat Until Stiff by Claire M. Johnson
•	How To Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin
•	Shadows at the Fair by Lea Wait

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2001 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen
•	Arkansas Traveler by Earlene Fowler
•	Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
•	Shadows of Sin by Rochelle Krich
•	The Bride’s Kimono by Sujata Massey

Best First Novel
*	Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer
•	Innkeeping with Murder by Tim Myers
•	Mute Witness by Charles O’Brien
•	A Witness Above by Andy Straka
•	An Affinity for Murder by Anne White

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2000 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Storm Track by Margaret Maron
•	Guns and Roses by Taffy Cannon
•	Killer Wedding by Jerrilyn Farmer
•	The Floating Girl by Sujata Massey
•	He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	Death on a Silver Tray by Rosemary Stevens
•	Death Dances to a Reggae Beat by Kate Grilley
•	Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death by Julie Wray Herman
•	The Death of an Amiable Child by Irene Marcuse
•	Murder of a Small-Town Honey by Denise Swanson

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1999 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Mariner’s Compass by Earlene Fowler
•	Immaculate Reception by Jerrilyn Farmer
•	Death on the River Walk by Carolyn Hart
•	In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman
•	The Flower Master by Sujata Massey

Best First Novel
*	Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews
•	Circles of Confusion by April Henry
•	Revenge of the Gypsy Queen by Kris Neri
•	By Blood Possessed by Elena Santangelo
•	Sing It to Her Bones by Marcia Talley

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1998 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman
•	Liar by Jan Burke
•	Dove in the Window by Earlene Fowler
•	Blind Bloodhound Justice by Virginia Lanier
•	Home Fires by Margaret Maron
•	The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	The Doctor Digs a Grave by Robin Hathaway
•	Sympathy for the Devil by Jerrilyn Farmer
•	Tiger’s Palette by Jacqueline Fiedler
•	Dying to Get Published by Judy Fitzwater
•	Fax Me a Bagel by Sharon Kahn

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1997 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	The Devil in Music by Kate Ross
•	Hocus by Jan Burke
•	Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie
•	Goose in the Pond by Earlene Fowler
•	Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	The Salaryman’s Wife by Sujata Massey
•	Quieter Than Sleep by Joanne Dobson
•	The Butter Did It by Phyllis Richman
•	Dead Body Language by Penny Warner
•	Death Brims Over by Barbara Jaye Wilson

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1996 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Up Jumps the Devil by Margaret Maron
•	Kansas Troubles by Earlene Fowler
•	The Grass Widow by Teri Holbrook
•	Hearts and Bones by Margaret Lawrence
•	Strong as Death by Sharan Newman

Best First Novel
*	Murder on a Girls’ Night Out by Anne George
•	Biggie and the Poisoned Politician by Nancy Bell
•	Death in Little Tokyo by Dale Furutani
•	Somebody Else's Child by Terris McMahan Grimes
•	Riding for a Fall by Lillian Roberts

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1995 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him by Sharyn McCrumb
•	Miracles in Maggody by Joan Hess
•	The Wandering Arm by Sharan Newman
•	Twilight by Nancy Pickard
•	Escapade by Walter Satterthwait

Best First Novel
*	The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams
•	A Far and Deadly Cry by Teri Holbrook
•	Horse of a Different Killer by Jody Jaffe
•	Death in Bloodhound Red by Virginia Lanier
•	Murder in Scorpio by Martha C. Lawrence

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1994 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
•	Scandal in Fair Haven by Carolyn Hart
•	The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
•	Angel of Death by Rochelle Krich
•	Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott
•	One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
•	Fool’s Puzzle by Earlene Fowler
•	Writers of the Purple Sage by Barbara Burnett Smith
•	Until Death by Polly Whitney

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1993 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Dead Man’s Island by Carolyn Hart
•	Old Scores by Aaron Elkins
•	O Little Town of Maggody by Joan Hess
•	Fair Game by Rochelle Krich
•	Southern Discomfort by Margaret Maron
•	To Live and Die in Dixie by Kathy Hogan Trocheck

Best First Novel
*	Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
•	Goodnight, Irene by Jan Burke
•	A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie
•	Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman
•	Child of Silence by Abigail Padgett

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1992 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Bootlegger’s Daughter by Margaret Maron
•	Southern Ghost by Carolyn Hart
•	The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb
•	Defend and Betray by Anne Perry
•	The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
•	All the Great Pretenders by Deborah Adams
•	Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert
•	Decked by Carol Higgins Clark
•	Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo

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1991 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	I.O.U. by Nancy Pickard
•	Make No Bones by Aaron Elkins
•	The Christie Caper by Carolyn Hart
•	An Owl Too Many by Charlotte MacLeod
•	The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters

Best First Novel
*	Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker
•	Carpool by Mary Cahill
•	Just Desserts by Mary Daheim
•	The Bulrush Murders by Rebecca Rothenberg
•	Flowers for the Dead by Ann M. Williams

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1990 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Bum Steer by Nancy Pickard
•	Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
•	Deadly Valentine by Carolyn Hart
•	The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry
•	The Potter’s Field by Ellis Peters

Best First Novel
*	The Body in the Belfry by Katherine Hall Page
•	Screaming Bones by Pat Burden
•	Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
•	The Chartreuse Clue by William F. Love
•	Sea of Troubles by Janet L. Smith

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1989 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters
•	The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell
•	A Little Class on Murder by Carolyn Hart
•	Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron
•	Philly Stakes by Gillian Roberts

Best First Novel
*	Grime & Punishment by Jill Churchill
•	Working Murder by Eleanor Boylan
•	A Question of Guilt by Frances Fyfield
•	The Mother Shadow by Melodie Johnson Howe
•	The Mark Twain Murders by Edith Skom

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1988 Awards & Finalists

Best Novel
*	Something Wicked by Carolyn Hart
•	The Widow’s Club by Dorothy Cannell
•	Mischief in Maggody by Joan Hess
•	Paying the Piper by Sharyn McCrumb
•	Dead Crazy by Nancy Pickard

Best First Novel
*	A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George
•	The Killings at Badger’s Drift by Caroline Graham
•	The J. Alfred Prufrock Murders by Corinne Holt Sawyer
•	Goodbye, Nanny Gray by Susannah Stacey
•	Dead Men Don’t Give Seminars by Dorothy Sucher

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