The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Well, I just finished the Anthony Awards, and think that maybe it’s time to take a break from these award listings, and start reading again! After all, it’s my enjoyment of reading mystery novels that got me interested in putting this website together.

I know that some of you might have noticed the new Google ads on the right side of the site. My husband has "gently convinced" me that I need to start paying my server’s fees, so, alas, that is why they are up. (Don’t even ask me what a server does…….. I thought that everything I put on the site simply was stored in my computer, but that is not the case.) My "server" isn’t even in the state we live!

Enough about that!

I am almost finished with my first Madoc Rhys novel (by Charlotte MacLeod- writing as Alisa Craig), and am still not quite sure what my opinion is. I am enjoying the novel, but I think that because I have read so many of the Peter Shandy and Sarah Kelling novels (that she wrote as MacLeod) that I still hold an allegiance to those works. Also, since I am devoting a lot of the time I used to spend reading to the Cozy Mystery site, I am reading sluggishly slow. I know that can affect a person’s enjoyment of a book.

Well, now that I have decided to slow down on the mystery awards’ lists, I will have plenty of time to read. And, since Charlotte MacLeod is one of my favorite authors, I believe that Alisa Craig will be, too!

I haven’t written a blog in a few days. I am sure that the reason is….. I am obsessively trying to get all of the mystery book awards posted. So far, I have only finished "the Agathas."

At first, I was going to put all of the Agatha Awards on one page. But, that idea didn’t pan out. There was so much information to list. I thought that it was especially important to not just post the actual winners but to also list all of the nominated authors and books for each year. I don’t know how they were able to pick just one winner when the nominations were such outstanding examples of the cozy mystery novel at its best.

The reason I decided to put all of the nominations and winners is that I believe that the Agatha Awards are the very closest awards that we "cozy mystery" book lovers can find. I was absolutely amazed to see so many of my favorite authors on the Agatha Awards list. The detailed lists should provide some help if you are having a difficult time choosing your next new author.

I thought it was particularly interesting to look at the nominations and winners to sort of "follow" a particular author’s progress while becoming a best-selling author. You can see that some authors first submitted short stories, quickly following the stories with novels. It really was interesting to me….

If you take a minute to peruse the list, you will probably find a lot of your favorite cozy mystery writers and their books. Or, you might find your next "favorite author."

As I said in my previous blog entry, the Agatha Awards are given out at the Malice Domestic conventions each year. I did not, however, list the different  categories that are awarded.

The different categories include awards for the best novel, the best first mystery written by an author, best mystery short story, and non-fiction. Also included among the categories are best children’s mystery…. for either children or young adults, less than 18 years of age.

The Agatha Committee tallies nominations that are sent in by registrant of the Malice Domestic convention and Friends of Malice, and then make a list with the top five eligible works for each category.  During the Malice Domestic convention, the final votes are made and the awards are given out. They will be awarding the 2006 awards this May. 

The 2005 Agatha Award winners are as follows:

Best Novel:  The Body in the Snowdrift…  Katherine Hall Page

Best First Novel:  Better Off Wed…  Laura Durham

Best Short Story:  Driven to Distraction…  Marcia Talley

Tie** Best Children/Young Adult:  Down the Rabbit Hole…  Peter Abrahams

Tie** Best Children/Young Adult:  Flush…  Carl Hiaasen 

Best Non-Fiction:  Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her…  Melanie Rehak

Also given at the Malice Domestic convention is the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2005 this award was given to H. F. R. Keathing.