Just last month, mystery book lovers found out who wrote books during 2017 that other mystery lovers thought deserved special recognition. I have just updated all of the Agatha Award pages as well as the Edgar Allan Poe Award pages on the Cozy Mystery site.

It’s such an honor for those mystery authors who were nominated by other mystery readers, and of course, a great honor for those who won in their categories. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL NOMINEES AND WINNERS!

I’m going to start off by writing about the Agatha Awards, since those are specifically given for the Cozy Mystery genre. I will be posting the Edgar Awards in a later blog entry, but if you absolutely cannot wait to see them, feel free to visit my site and click on their corresponding pages! (Here’s the Mystery Book Awards page on my site.)

Although these Agatha Awards were given this year, they are for mystery books that were published in 2017. They were awarded on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at the Malice Domestic Convention, which took place in Bethesda, Maryland.

Again, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

2017 Agatha Awards

Best Contemporary Novel
2017:  Glass Houses by Louise Penny (Winner)
Death Overdue by Allison Brook
A Cajun Christmas Killing by Ellen Byron
No Way Home by Annette Dashofy
Take Out by Margaret Maron

Best First Novel
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

Best Historical Novel
2017:  In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen (Winner)
Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott
Called to Justice by Edith Maxwell
The Paris Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
Dangerous to Know by Renee Patrick

Best Short Story
2017:  “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian(Winner)
“Double Deck the Halls” by Gretchen Archer
“Whose Wine Is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman
“The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein
“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor

Best Children’s/Young Adult
2017:  Sydney Mackenzie Knocks ‘Em Dead by Cindy Callaghan (Winner)
City of Angels by Kristi Belcamino
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson
The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley

Best Nonfiction
2017:  From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström (Winner)
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards
American Fire: Love, Arson and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse
Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction by Jess Lourey
Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier by Tatiana de Rosnay

2017:  Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Parnell Hall

P.S. If you want to take a look at the winners from past years, be sure to click on the links on my Mystery Book Awards page. I bet you will recognize a lot of the past winners!