AGATHA AWARDS BEST FIRST NOVELS

2021:  Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala  (Winner)
Murder in the Master by Judy L. Murray
Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes 
The Turncoat’s Widow by Mally Becker
A Dead Man’s Eyes by Lori Duffy Foster

2020:  Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer (Winner)
A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison
Winter Witness by Tina deBellegarde
Derailed by Mary Keliikoa
Murder Most Sweet by Laura Jensen Walker

2019:  One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski  (Winner)
A Dream of Death by Connie Berry
Murder Once Removed by S. C. Perkins
When It’s Time for Leaving by Ang Pompano
Staging is Murder by Grace Topping

2018:  Tie:
              A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (winner)
              Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall (winner)
Little Comfort by Edwin Hill
What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix
Deadly Solution by Keenan Powell

2017:  Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett (Winner)
Adrift by Micki Browning
The Plot Is Murder by V.M. Burns
Daughters of Bad Men by Laura Oles
Protocol by Kathleen Valenti

2016:  The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn (winner)
Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper
Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
Decanting a Murder by Nadine Nettmann
Design for Dying by Renee Patrick

2015:  On the Road with Del and Louise by Art Taylor (Winner)
Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman by Tessa Arlen
Macdeath by Cindy Brown
Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron
Just Killing Time by Julianne Holmes
2014:  Well Read, Then Dead by Terrie Farley Moran (Winner)
Circle of Influence by Annette Dashofy
Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris
Finding Sky by Susan O’Brien
Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber

2013:  Death al Dente by Leslie Budewitz (Winner)
You Cannoli Die Once by Shelley Costa
Board Stiff by Kendel Lynn
Kneading to Die by Liz Mugavero
Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker

2012:  Lowcountry Boil by Susan M. Boyer (Winner)
Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown
A Scrapbook of Secrets by Mollie Cox Bryan
A Killer Read by Erika Chase
Faithful Unto Death by Stephanie Jaye Evans

2011:  Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry  (Winner)
Dire Threads by Janet Bolin
Choke by Kaye George
Who Do, Voodoo? by Rochelle Staab
Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend

2010:  The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames (Winner)
Murder at the PTA by Laura Alden
Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower
Full Mortality by Sasscer Hill
Diamonds for the Dead by Alan Orloff

2009: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Winner)
For Better For Murder by Lisa Bork
Posed for Murder by Meredith Cole
The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth J. Duncan
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff

2008: Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Winner)
Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell 
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris
Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan

2007: Prime Time by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Winner)
A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
A Real Basket Case by Beth Groundwater
Silent In The Grave by Deanna Raybourn

2006: The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall (Winner)
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

2005: Better Off Wed by Laura Durham (Winner)
Blood Relations by Lisa Tillman
Jury of One by Laura Bradford
Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
Witch Way to Murder by Shirley Damsgaard

2004: Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak  (Winner)
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: A Mystery by Pari Noskin Taichert

2003: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear  (Winner)
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

2002: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming  (Winner)
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

2001: Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer   (Winner)
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

2000: Death on a Silver Tray by Rosemary Stevens (Winner)
Death Dances to a Reggae Beat by Kate Grilley
Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death by Julie Wray Herman
Death of an Amiable Child by Irene Marcuse
Murder of a Small Town Honey by Denise Swanson

1999: Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews  (Winner)
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

1998: The Doctor Digs A Grave by Robin Hathaway  (Winner)
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

1997: Salaryman’s Wife by Sujata Massey   (Winner)
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

1996: Murder on a Girl’s Night Out by Anne George  (Winner)
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

1995: The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams  (Winner)
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

1994: Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott (Winner)
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

1993: Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr  (Winner)
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

1992: Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely  (Winner)
All the Great Pretenders by Deborah Adams
Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert
Decked by Carol Higgins Clark
The Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo

1991: Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker  (Winner)
Carpool by Mary Cahill
Just Desserts by Mary Daheim
The Bulrush Murders by Rebecca Rothenberg
Flowers for the Dead by Ann Williams

1990: The Body in the Belfry by Katherine Hall Page (Winner)
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

1989: Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill   (Winner)
Working Murder by Eleanor Boylan
A Question of Guilt by Frances Fyfield
The Mother Shadow by Melanie Johnson Howe
The Mark Twain Murders by Edith Skom

1988: A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George   (Winner)
The Killings at Badger’s Drift by Caroline Graham
The J. Alfred Prufrock Murders by Corinne Holt Sawyer
Goodbye, Nanny Grey by Susannah Stacey
Dead Men Don’t Give Seminars by Dorothy Sucher