The Agatha Awards are obviously named after Agatha Christie ... a prolific myster writer in the 20th century.
The awards are given each year in April for books published in the US in the previous year. The awards presentation is at the Malice Domestic Convention - it was at Arlington, Virginia in 2008.
Agatha Awards are given in five categories. Requirements for the books are that they should be written as a traditional mystery ... like Agatha Christie would have written. Jim calls these books "cozies".
They should not have excessive violence or profanity or explicit sex. The stories usually feature an amateur detective rather than police officers or private detectives.
Here are the 2008 Nominees for Best Novel:
Donna Andrews
Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Rhys Bowen
Her Royal Spyness
Margaret Maron
Hard Row
Louise Penny
A Fatal Grace
Winner!
Elaine Viets
Murder With Reservations
... and the 2008 Nominees for Best First Novel:
Charles Finch
A Beautiful Blue Death
Beth Groundwater
A Real Basket Case
Deanne Rayburn
Silent In The Grave
Hank Phillippi Ryan
Prime Time
Winner!
Here are the awards given for Best Novel since 1989:
Year
Author
Book
2008
Louise Penny
Fatal Grace
2007
Nancy Pickard
The Virgin of Small Plains
2006
Katherine Hall Page
The Body in the Snowdrift
2005
Jacqueline Winspear
Birds of a Feather
2004
Carolyn Hart
Letter From Home
2003
Donna Andrews
You've Got Murder
2002
Rhys Bowen
Murphy's Law
2001
Margaret Maron
Storm Track
2000
Earlene Fowler
Mariner's Compass
1999
Laura Lippman
Butchers Hill
1998
Kate Ross
The Devil In Music
1997
Margaret Maron
Up Jumps The Devil
1996
Sharyn McCrumb
If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him
1995
Sharyn McCrumb
She Walks These Hills
1994
Carolyn Hart
Dead Man's Island
1993
Margaret Maron
Bootlegger's Daughter
1992
Nancy Pickard
I.O.U.
1991
Nancy Pickard
Bum Steer
1990
Elizabeth Peters
Naked Once More
1989
Carolyn G. Hart
Something Wicked
Here are the awards given for Best First Novel since 1989:
