The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories.
The year listed is the year of the award, for books published in the previous year.
2024
Best Mystery Novel:
S.A. Cosby: All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books)
- Lou Berney: Dark Ride (Wm. Morrow)
- Tracy Clark: Hide (Thomas & Mercer)
- Angie Kim: Happiness Falls (Hogarth)
- Thomas Perry: Murder Book (Mysterious)
- Colson Whitehead: Crook Manifesto (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
Best First Mystery:
I.S. Berry: The Peacock and the Sparrow (Atria)
- Amy Chua: The Golden Gate (Macmillan Publishing – Minotaur)
- Margot Douaihy: Scorched Grace (Zando/Gillian Flynn Books)
- Ritu Mukerji: Murder by Degrees (Simon & Schuster)
- Josh Pachter: Dutch Threat (Genius Book Publishing)
- Nina Simon: Mother-Daughter Murder Night (Wm. Morrow)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Dru Ann Love & Kristopher Zgorski: “Ticket to Ride” (Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, ed. Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books)
- Barb Goffman: “Real Courage” (Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14, Oct. 2023)
- Curtis Ippolito: “Green and California Bound” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023)
- Lisa Scottoline: “Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand” (Amazon Original Stories)
- Stacy Woodson: “One Night in 1965” (More Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, ed. Michael Bracken, Down & Out Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Sujata Massey: The Mistress of Bhatia House (Soho Crime)
- Cheryl Head: Time’s Undoing (Dutton)
- Naomi Hirahara: Evergreen (Soho Crime)
- William Kent Krueger: The River We Remember (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)
- Claudia Hagadus Long: Our Lying Kin (Kasva Press)
- James McBride: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead Books)
Best Mystery-related Nonfiction/Critical:
Anjili Babbar: Finders: Justice, Faith, and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction (Syracuse University Press)
- Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor: Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction (Mysterious Press/Penzler Publishers)
- Mark Dawidziak: A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe (St. Martin’s Press)
- Zeke Faux: Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall (Crown Currency)
- Robert Morgan: Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe (LSU Press)
2023
Best Mystery Novel:
Louise Penny: A World of Curiosities (Minotaur)
- Laurie R. King: Back to the Garden (Bantam)
- Chris Pavone: Two Nights in Lisbon (MCD)
- Ian Rankin: A Heart Full of Headstones (Little, Brown)
- Deanna Raybourn: Killers of a Certain Age (Berkley)
- Alex Segura: Secret Identity (Flatiron Books)
Best First Mystery:
Nita Prose: The Maid (Ballantine)
- Jacqueline Bublitz: Before You Knew My Name (Atria/EmilyBestler)
- A.J. Devlin: Five Moves of Doom (NeWest Press)
- Ramona Emerson: Shutter (Soho Crime)
- Rob Osler: Devil’s Chew Toy (Crooked Lane Books)
- Jane Pek: The Verifiers (Vintage Books)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Barb Goffman: “Beauty and the Beyotch” (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Jan 2022)
- Brendan DuBois: “The Landscaper’s Wife” (Mystery Tribune, Aug/Sep 2022)
- Donna Moore: “First You Dream, Then You Die” (Black is the Night, Titan Books)
- Anna Scotti: “Schrödinger, Cat” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Mar/Apr 2022)
- Catherine Steadman: “Stockholm” (Amazon Original Stories)
- Jess Walter: “The Angel of Rome” (in The Angel of Rome and Other Stories, Harper)
- Melissa Yi: “My Two-Legs” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Sep/Oct 2022)
Best Nonfiction/Critical:
Martin Edwards: The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators (Collins Crime Club)
- Mary Anna Evans & J.C. Bernthal, editors: The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Academic)
- David Geherin: The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations (McFarland)
- Lucy Worsley: Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman (Pegasus Crime)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Lev A.C. Rosen: Lavender House (Forge)
- Mariah Fredericks: The Lindbergh Nanny (Minotaur)
- Catriona McPherson: In Place of Fear (Hodder & Stoughton)
- Wanda M. Morris: Anywhere You Run (William Morrow)
- Ann Parker: The Secret in the Wall (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Gary Phillips: One-Shot Harry (Soho Crime)
2022
Best Mystery Novel:
S.A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears (Flatiron Books)
- Michael Connelly: The Dark Hours (Little, Brown and Co.)
- Val McDermid: 1979 (Atlantic Monthly)
- Alan Parks: Bobby March Will Live Forever (World Noir)
- Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Henry Holt)
- Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle (Doubleday)
Best First Mystery:
Mia P. Manansala: Arsenic and Adobo (Berkley)
- Alexandra Andrews: Who is Maude Dixon? (Little, Brown)
- Abigail Dean: Girl A (Viking)
- Erin Flanagan: Deer Season (University of Nebraska Press)
- Wanda M. Morris: All Her Little Secrets (William Morrow)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
- Tracy Clark: “Lucky Thirteen” (Midnight Hour, Crooked Lane Books)
- Steve Hockensmith: “Curious Incidents” (EQMM, January/February 2021)
- R.T. Lawton: “The Road to Hana” (AHMM, May/June 2021)
- G.M. Malliet: “The White Star” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
- Gigi Pandian: “The Locked Room Library” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
- Dave Zeltserman: “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
Best Nonfiction/Critical:
Lee Child with Laurie R. King, editors: How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America (Scribner)
- Mark Aldridge: Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World (HarperCollins)
- Margalit Fox: The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History (Random House)
- Richard Greene: The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene (W.W. Norton)
- James McGrath Morris: Tony Hillerman: A Life (University of Oklahoma)
- John Tresch: The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Edward White: The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense (W.W. Norton)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Naomi Hirahara: Clark and Division (Soho Crime)
- Rhys Bowen: The Venice Sketchbook (Lake Union)
- Susan Elia MacNeal: The Hollywood Spy (Bantam)
- Sujata Massey: The Bombay Prince (Soho Crime)
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Velvet was the Night (Del Rey)
- Lori Rader-Day: Death at Greenway (William Morrow)
2021
Best Mystery Novel:
S.A. Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland (Flatiron Books)
- Caroline B. Cooney: Before She Was Helen (Ecco)
- Matt Coyle: Blind Vigil (Oceanview Publishing)
- Louise Penny: All the Devils Are Here (Minotaur)
- Ivy Pochoda: These Women (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Michael Robotham: When She Was Good (Scribner)
Best First Mystery:
David Heska Wanbli Weiden: Winter Counts (Ecco)
- Deepa Anappara: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Random House)
- Nev March: Murder in Old Bombay (Minotaur)
- Richard Osman: The Thursday Murder Club (Pamela Dorman Books)
- Stephanie Wrobel: Darling Rose Gold (Berkley)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Gabriel Valjan: “Elysian Fields” (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; Wildside Press)
- Barb Goffman: “Dear Emily Etiquette” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2020)
- Art Taylor: “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ‘74” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2020)
- Elaine Viets: “Dog Eat Dog” (The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell, edited by Josh Pachter; Untreed Reads Publishing)
- James W. Ziskin: “The Twenty-Five Year Engagement” (In League with Sherlock Holmes : Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King; Pegasus Crime)
Best Mystery Critical/Biographical:
Sheila Mitchell: H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime (Level Best Books)
- Leslie Brody: Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy (Seal Press)
- Martin Edwards, editor: Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club (HarperCollins)
- Erin E. MacDonald: Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (McFarland)
- Craig Sisterson: Southern Cross Crime: The Pocket Essential Guide to the Crime Fiction, Film & TV of Australia and New Zealand (Oldcastle Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
James Ziskin: Turn to Stone (Seventh Street Books)
- Rhys Bowen: The Last Mrs. Summers (Berkeley)
- Elsa Hart: The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne (Minotaur)
- Catriona McPherson: The Turning Tide (Quercus)
- Ann Parker: Mortal Music (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Ovidia Yu: The Mimosa Tree Mystery (Constable)
2020
Best Mystery Novel:
Adrian McKinty: The Chain (Mulholland)
- Steph Cha: Your House Will Pay (Ecco)
- William Kent Krueger: This Tender Land (Atria)
- Laura Lippman: Lady in the Lake (Wm. Morrow)
- Hank Philippi Ryan: The Murder List (Forge)
- James Sallis: Sarah Jane (Soho Crime)
Best First Mystery:
Tara Laskowski: One Night Gone (Graydon House)
- Tori Eldridge: The Ninja Daughter (Agora Books)
- Samantha Downing: My Lovely Wife (Penguin)
- Angie Kim: Miracle Creek (Sarah Crichton Books)
- J.P. Pomare: Call Me Evie (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
- Lauren Wilkinson: American Spy (Random House)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Art Taylor: “Better Days” (EQMM, May/June 2019)
- Michael Chandos: “West Texas Barbecue” (The Eyes of Texas, edited by Michael Bracken—Down & Out Books)
- Barb Goffman: “Alex’s Choice” (Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman—Wildside Press)
- Terence Faherty: “The Cardboard Box” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2019)
- G.M. Malliet: “Whiteout” (EQMM, Jan/Feb 2019)
- Dave Zeltserman: “Brother’s Keeper” (EQMM, May/June 2019)
Best Mystery Nonfiction/Critical:
John Billheimer: Hitchcock and the Censors (University Press of Kentucky)
- Laird R. Blackwell: Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story (McFarland)
- Ursula Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan (Bloomsbury)
- Peter Houlahan: Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History (Counterpoint)
- Mo Moulton: The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women (Basic Books)
- James Polchin: Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall (Counterpoint Press)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Lara Prescott: The Secrets We Kept (Vintage)
- Susanna Calkins: Murder Knocks Twice (Minotaur)
- L.A. Chandlar: The Pearl Dagger (Kensington)
- Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder (Kensington)
- Sujata Massey: The Satapur Moonstone (Soho Crime)
- Edith Maxwell: Charity’s Burden (Midnight Ink)
2019
Best Novel:
Lou Berney: November Road (William Morrow)
- Alison Gaylin: If I Die Tonight (William Morrow)
- Jane Harper: The Lost Man (Flat Iron Books)
- Jennifer Hillier: Jar of Hearts (Minotaur Books)
- Naomi Hirahara: Hiroshima Boy (Prospect Park Books)
- Lisa Unger: Under My Skin (Harlequin – Park Row Books)
Best First Novel:
John Copenhaver: Dodging and Burning (Pegasus Books)
- Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer (Doubleday)
- Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
- Catherine Steadman: Something in the Water (Ballantine)
- C.J. Tudor: The Chalk Man (Crown)
Best Nonfiction:
Sarah Weinman: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World (HarperCollins)
- Laird R. Blackwell: The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction (McFarland)
- Margalit Fox: Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer (Random House)
- Leslie S. Klinger: Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s (Pegasus Books)
- Michelle McNamara: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (HarperCollins)
- Laura Thompson: Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life (Pegasus Books)
Best Short Story:
Art Taylor: “English 398: Fiction Workshop” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)
- Craig Faustus Buck: “Race to Judgment” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
- Leslie Budewitz: “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/Jun 2018)
- Barb Goffman: “Bug Appétit” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
- Barry Lancet: “Three-Star Sushi” (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3)
- Gigi Pandian: “The Cambodian Curse” (The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel:
Sujata Massey: The Widows of Malabar Hill (Soho Crime)
- Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Kensington)
- Elsa Hart: City of Ink (Minotaur)
- Laurie R. King: Island of the Mad (Bantam)
- Ann Parker: A Dying Note (Poisoned Pen)
- Charles Todd: A Forgotten Place (William Morrow)
2018
Best Novel:
Anthony Horowitz: Magpie Murders (Harper)
- Karen Dionne: The Marsh King’s Daughter (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
- Attica Locke: Bluebird, Bluebird (Mulholland)
- Louise Penny: Glass Houses (Minotaur)
- Thomas Perry: The Old Man (Mysterious Press)
- Don Winslow: The Force (Wm. Morrow)
Best First Novel:
Sheena Kamal: The Lost Ones (Wm. Morrow)
- Kellye Garrett: Hollywood Homicide (Midnight Ink)
- Jane Harper: The Dry (Flatiron)
- Jordan Harper: She Rides Shotgun (Ecco)
- Kristen Lepionka: The Last Place You Look (Minotaur)
- Wendall Thomas: Lost Luggage (Poisoned Pen)
Best Nonfiction:
Martin Edwards: The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (Poisoned Pen/British Library)
- Mattias Bostrom: From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon (Mysterious Press)
- Lawrence P. Jackson: Chester B. Himes: A Biography (W.W. Norton)
- Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James: The Man From the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery (Scribner)
- Michael Sims: Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes (Bloomsbury)
- Tori Telfer: Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History (Harper Perennial)
Best Short Story:
Paul D. Marks: “Windward” (Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, Down & Out Books)
- Craig Faustus Buck: “As Ye Sow” (Passport to Murder: Bouchercon Anthology 2017, Down and Out Books)
- Matt Coyle: “The #2 Pencil” (Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, Down & Out Books)
- Terence Faherty: “Infinite Uticas” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)
- Barb Goffman: “Whose Wine is it Anyway?” (50 Shades of Cabernet, Koehler Books)
- Art Taylor: “A Necessary Ingredient” (Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, Down & Out Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel:
Rhys Bowen: In Farleigh Field (Lake Union Publishing)
- Renee Patrick: Dangerous to Know (Forge)
- James R. Benn: The Devouring (Soho Crime)
- James W. Ziskin: Cast the First Stone (Seventh Street Books)
- Charles Todd: Racing the Devil (Wm. Morrow)
- Abir Mukherjee: A Rising Man (Pegasus)
2017
Best Novel:
Louise Penny: A Great Reckoning (Minotaur)
- Megan Abbott: You Will Know Me (Little, Brown)
- Matt Coyle: Dark Fissures (Oceanview)
- Noah Hawley: Before the Fall (UK, Hodder & Stoughton; US, Grand Central Publishing)
- Mick Herron: Real Tigers (UK, John Murray; US, Soho)
- Laura Lippman: Wilde Lake (Wm. Morrow)
Best First Novel:
Joe Ide: IQ (Mulholland Books)
- Fiona Barton: The Widow (UK, Bantam; US, NAL)
- Flynn Berry: Under the Harrow (Penguin)
- Bill Beverly: Dodgers (No Exit Press)
- Renee Patrick: Design for Dying (Forge)
Best Short Story:
Art Taylor: “Parallel Play” (Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, Wildside Press)
- Lawrence Block: “Autumn at the Automat” (In Sunlight or in Shadow, Pegasus Books)
- Craig Faustus Buck: “Blank Shot” (Black Coffee, Darkhouse Books)
- Greg Herren: “Survivor’s Guilt” (Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016, Down & Out Books)
- Paul D. Marks: “Ghosts of Bunker Hill” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dec. 2016)
- Joyce Carol Oates: “The Crawl Space” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2016)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel:
James W. Ziskin: Heart of Stone (Seventh Street Books)
- Susanna Calkins: A Death Along the River Fleet (Minotaur)
- Lyndsay Faye: Jane Steele (UK: Headline Review; US, G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
- Edith Maxwell: Delivering The Truth (Midnight Ink)
- Catriona McPherson: The Reek of Red Herrings (US: Minotaur; UK: Houghton Stodder)
- Ann Parker: What Gold Buys (Poisoned Pen Press)
Best Nonfiction:
Margaret Kinsman: Sara Paretsky: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (McFarland)
- Jane K. Cleland: Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats (Writer’s Digest Books)
- Ruth Franklin: Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright Publishing)
- David J. Skal: Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula (Liveright Publishing)
- Kate Summerscale: The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer (Penguin)
2016
Best Mystery Novel:
Lou Berney: The Long and Faraway Gone (Morrow)
- Sharon Bolton: Little Black Lies (Minotaur)
- Tim Hallinan: The Hot Countries (Soho)
- Catriona McPherson: The Child Garden (Midnight Ink)
- Michael Robotham: Life or Death (Mulholland)
- Don Winslow: The Cartel (Knopf)
Best First Mystery:
Glen Erik Hamilton: Past Crimes (Morrow)
- Patricia Abbott: Concrete Angel (Polis)
- Chris Holm: The Killing Kind (Mulholland)
- David Joy: Where All Light Tends to Go (Putnam)
- Ausma Zehanat Khan: The Unquiet Dead (Minotaur)
- Art Taylor: On the Road with Del and Louise (Henery)
Best Critical/Biographical:
Martin Edwards: The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story (HarperCollins)
- Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Sigma)
- Suzanne Marrs & Tom Nolan, editors: Meanwhile There Are Letters: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and Ross Macdonald (Arcade)
- Val McDermid: Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime (Grove)
- Nathan Ward: The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett (Bloomsbury)
Best Short Story:
Megan Abbott: “The Little Men” (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road)
- Mat Coward: “On Borrowed Time” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 2015)
- Loren D. Estleman: “Sob Sister” (Detroit Is Our Beat: Tales of the Four Horsemen, Tyrus)
- Barb Goffman: “A Year Without Santa Claus” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, January/February 2015)
- Travis Richardson: “Quack and Dwight” (Jewish Noir, ed. Kenneth Wishnia, PM Press)
- B.K. Stevens: “A Joy Forever” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, March 2015)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:
Susanna Calkins: The Masque of a Murderer (Minotaur)
- Shelley Freydont: A Gilded Grave (Berkley Prime Crime)
- C. Joseph Greaves: Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo) (Bloomsbury)
- Philip Kerr: The Lady from Zagreb (Marian Wood/Putnam)
- Jennifer Kincheloe: Secret Life of Anna Blanc (Seventh Street)
- Laurie R. King: Dreaming Spies (Bantam)
2015
Best Mystery Novel:
Alex Marwood: The Killer Next Door (Penguin)
- Sophie Littlefield: The Missing Place (Gallery)
- Peter May: The Lewis Man (Quercus)
- Catriona McPherson: The Day She Died (Midnight Ink)
- Louise Penny: The Long Way Home (Minotaur)
- Terry Shames: The Last Death of Jack Harbin (Seventh Street)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Julia Dahl: Invisible City (Minotaur)
- Kristi Belcamino: Blessed Are the Dead (Witness Impulse)
- Tom Bouman: Dry Bones in the Valley (W. W. Norton)
- Sarah Hilary: Someone Else’s Skin (Penguin)
- Elizabeth Little: Dear Daughter (Viking)
- Lori Rader-Day: The Black Hour (Seventh Street)
Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction:
Hank Phillippi Ryan, editor: Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer’s Journey (Henery Press)
- Charles Brownson: The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis (McFarland)
- J.W. Ocker: Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe (Countryman)
- Adam Plantinga: 400 Things Cops Know: Street Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (Quill Driver)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Craig Faustus Buck: “Honeymoon Sweet” (Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out)
- Barb Goffman: “The Shadow Knows” (Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
- Paul D. Marks: “Howling at the Moon” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)
- Travis Richardson: “The Proxy” (Thuglit #13, Sept./Oct. 2014)
- Art Taylor: “The Odds Are Against Us” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2014)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:
Catriona McPherson: A Deadly Measure of Brimstone (Minotaur)
- Rhys Bowen: Queen of Hearts (Berkley Prime Crime)
- Alan Finn: Things Half in Shadow (Gallery)
- Robert Harris: An Officer and a Spy (Knopf)
- Malla Nunn: Present Darkness (Atria)
- Charles Todd: Hunting Shadows (Wm. Morrow)
2014
Best Mystery Novel:
William Kent Krueger: Ordinary Grace (Atria Books)
- Thomas H. Cook: Sandrine’s Case (Mysterious Press)
- Mick Herron: Dead Lions (Soho Crime)
- Alex Marwood: The Wicked Girls (Penguin Books)
- Louise Penny: How the Light Gets In (Minotaur Books)
- Ian Rankin: Standing in Another Man’s Grave (Reagan Arthur Books)
Best First Mystery:
Terry Shames: A Killing at Cotton Hill (Seventh Street Books)
- Matt Coyle: Yesterday’s Echo (Oceanview Publishing)
- Becky Masterman: Rage Against the Dying (Minotaur Books)
- Jenny Milchman: Cover of Snow (Ballantine Books)
- Derek Miller: Norwegian by Night (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Art Taylor: “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013)
- Reed Farrel Coleman: “The Terminal” (Kwik Krimes, edited by Otto Penzler; Thomas & Mercer)
- John Connolly: “The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” (Bibliomysteries: Short Tales about Deadly Books, edited by Otto Penzler; Bookspan)
- Martin Limon: “The Dragon’s Tail” (Nightmare Range: The Collected Sueno and Bascom Short Stories, Soho Books)
- Gigi Pandian: “The Hindi Houdini” (Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, edited by Ramona DeFelice Long; Wildside Press)
- Travis Richardson: “Incident on the 405” (The Malfeasance Occasional: Girl Trouble, edited by Clare Toohey; Macmillan)
Best Nonfiction:
Daniel Stashower: The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War (Minotaur Books)
- Roseanne Montillo: The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley’s Masterpiece (William Morrow)
- Charles J. Rzepka: Being Cool: The Work of Elmore Leonard (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:
David Morrell: Murder as a Fine Art (Little, Brown)
- Susanna Calkins: A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate (Minotaur Books)
- Robert Kresge: Saving Lincoln (ABQ Press)
- Catriona McPherson: Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses (Minotaur Books)
- Stuart Neville: Ratlines (Soho Crime)
2013
Best Mystery Novel:
Louise Penny: The Beautiful Mystery (Minotaur)
- Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl (Crown)
- Peter May: The Black House (Silver Oak)
- Hank Philippi Ryan: The Other Woman (Forge)
- B.A. Shapiro: The Art Forger (Algonquin Books)
- Ariel S. Winter: The Twenty Year Death (Hard Case Crime)
- Ben H. Winters: The Last Policeman (Quirk Books)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Daniel Friedman: Don’t Ever Get Old (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunn)
- Susan M. Boyer: Low Country Boil (Henery Press)
- Susan Elia MacNeal: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (Random House – Bantam)
- Chris Pavone: The Expats (Crown)
Best Mystery Non-Fiction:
John Connolly and Declan Burke, editors: Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels (Simon & Schuster – Atria/Emily Bestler)
- Paul French: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China (Penguin)
- Otto Penzler, editor: In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero (BenBella/Smart Pop)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Barb Goffman: “The Lord Is My Shamus” (Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, Wildside)
- Karin Slaughter: “The Unremarkable Heart” (Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance, Little, Brown – Mulholland Books)
- B.K. Stevens: “Thea’s First Husband” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2012)
- Art Taylor: “When Duty Calls” (Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder, Wildside Press)
- Jim Fusilli: “Blind Justice” (Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance, Little, Brown – Mulholland Books)
- Jeffrey Deaver: “The Sequel” (a novella) (The Strand Magazine, November 2012-February 2013)
Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award:
Charles Todd: An Unmarked Grave (HarperCollins)
- Rebecca Cantrell: A City of Broken Glass (Forge)
- Susan Elia MacNeal: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy (Random House – Bantam)
- Charles Todd: The Confession (HarperCollins)
- Jacqueline Winspear: Elegy For Eddie (HarperCollins)
2012
Best Mystery Novel:
Sara Gran: Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
- Anne Holt: 1222 (translated by Marlaine Delargy) (Scribner)
- Anthony Horowitz: The House of Silk (Mulholland Books)
- Michael Koryta: The Ridge (Little, Brown)
- Louise Penny: A Trick of the Light (Minotaur)
- Marcus Sakey: The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes (Dutton)
- Duane Swierczynski: Hell & Gone (Mulholland Books)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Leonard Rosen: All Cry Chaos (Permanent Press)
- Sara J. Henry: Learning to Swim (Crown)
- Darrell James: Nazareth Child (Midnight Ink)
- Alice LaPlante: Turn of Mind (Atlantic Monthly)
- Taylor Stevens: The Informationist (Crown)
- S.J. Watson: Before I Go To Sleep (Harper)
Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction:
Charlaine Harris: The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (Ace)
- Leslie Budewitz: Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Linden)
- John Curran: Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks (HarperCollins)
- A.B. Emrys: Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel (McFarland)
- T.J. English: The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge (William Morrow)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Dana Cameron: “Disarming” (EQMM, June 2011)
- Trina Corey: “Facts Exhibiting Wantonness” (EQMM, Nov. 2011)
- Daryl Wood Gerber: “Palace by the Lake” (Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology, Wildside Press)
- Barb Goffman: “Truth and Consequences” (Mystery Times Ten, Buddhapuss Ink)
- Kathleen Ryan: “Heat of Passion” (A Twist of Noir, Feb. 14, 2011)
- Peter Turnbull: “The Man Who Took His Hat Off to the Driver of the Train” (EQMM, March/April 2011)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:
Catriona McPherson: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains (Thomas Dunne/Minotaur)
- Rhys Bowen: Naughty in Nice (Berkley)
- Jim Fusilli: Narrows Gate (AmazonEncore)
- Ann Parker: Mercury’s Rise (Poisoned Pen)
- Jeri Westerson: Troubled Bones (Minotaur)
- Jacqueline Winspear: A Lesson in Secrets (Harper)
2011
Best Mystery Novel:
Louise Penny: Bury Your Dead (Minotaur)
- James Lee Burke: The Glass Rainbow (Simon & Schuster)
- Tana French: Faithful Place (Viking)
- Timothy Hallinan: The Queen of Patpong (HarperCollins-William Morrow)
- Deon Meyer: Thirteen Hours (Grove Atlantic)
- Nancy Pickard: The Scent of Rain and Lightning (Ballantine)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Bruce DeSilva: Rogue Island (Forge-Tom Doherty Associates)
- Hilary Davidson: The Damage Done (Forge)
- Paul Doiron: The Poacher’s Son (Minotaur)
- Sasscer Hill: Full Mortality (Wildside)
- Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts (Viking)
Best Mystery-Related Nonfiction:
John Curran: Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making (HarperCollins)
- Deborah Blum: The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (Penguin)
- Maxim Jakubowski, editor: Following the Detectives: Real Locations in Crime Fiction (New Holland)
- Yunte Huang: Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History (W.W. Norton)
- David Morrell and Hank W. Wagner, editors: Thrillers: 100 Must Reads (Oceanview Publishing)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Dana Cameron: “Swing Shift” (Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side, Berkley)
- Doug Allyn: “The Scent of Lilacs” (EQMM)
- Keith Gilman: “Devil’s Pocket” (Philadelphia Noir, Akashic)
- Richard Helms: “The Gods for Vengeance Cry” (EQMM)
- G.M. Malliet: “Bookworm” (Chesapeake Crimes: They Had It Comin’, Wildside)
Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:
Kelli Stanley: City of Dragons (Minotaur)
- Barbara Hamilton: A Marked Man (Berkley)
- David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House)
- Charles Todd: The Red Door (HarperCollins-William Morrow)
- Kenneth Wishnia: The Fifth Servant (HarperCollins-William Morrow)
2010
Best Mystery Novel:
Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman: Tower (Busted Flush Press)
- Megan Abbott: Bury Me Deep (Simon & Schuster)
- Deborah Crombie: Necessary as Blood (Wm. Morrow)
- Jo Nesbø: Nemesis (translated by Don Bartlett) (HarperCollins)
- Louise Penny: The Brutal Telling (Minotaur)
- S.J. Rozan: The Shanghai Moon (Minotaur)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Alan Bradley: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Delacorte)
- Jamie Freveletti: Running from the Devil (Wm. Morrow)
- Sophie Littlefield: A Bad Day for Sorry (Minotaur)
- Stuart Neville: The Ghosts of Belfast (Soho Crime)
- Malla Nunn: A Beautiful Place to Die (Picador)
Best Mystery Nonfiction:
P.D. James: Talking About Detective Fiction (Alfred A. Knopf)
- John Buntin: L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City (Random House: Harmony Books)
- Craig McDonald: Rogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life (Bleak House Books)
- Otto Penzler, editor: The Line Up: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives (Little, Brown & Co)
- Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo: Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art (Penguin Press)
- Elena Santangelo: Dame Agatha’s Shorts: An Agatha Christie Short Story Companion (Bella Rosa Books)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Hank Phillippi Ryan: “On the House” (Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers, Level Best Books)
- Ace Atkins: “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” (Crossroad Blues, Busted Flush Press)
- Dana Cameron: “Femme Sole” (Boston Noir, Akashic Books)
- Jim Fusilli: “Digby, Attorney at Law” (AHMM, May 2009)
- Carolyn Hart: “Your Turn” (Two of the Deadliest, Harper)
- Marcus Sakey: “The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away” (Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can’t Put Down, Mira)
- Luis Alberto Urrea: “Amapola” (Phoenix Noir, Akashic Books)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery:
Rebecca Cantrell: A Trace of Smoke (Forge)
- Stefanie Pintoff: In the Shadow of Gotham (Minotaur)
- Charles Todd: A Duty to the Dead (Wm. Morrow)
- Jeri Westerson: Serpent in the Thorns (Minotaur)
- Jacqueline Winspear: Among the Mad (Henry Holt)
2009
Best Mystery Novel:
Deborah Crombie: Where Memories Lie (Wm. Morrow)
- Sean Chercover: Trigger City (Wm. Morrow)
- Declan Hughes: The Dying Breed (UK) / The Price of Blood (US) (John Murray/ Wm. Morrow)
- Arnaldur Indridason: The Draining Lake (Minotaur)
- Lisa Lutz: Curse of the Spellmans (Simon & Schuster)
- Louise Penny: The Cruelest Month (Minotaur)
- Louise Ure: The Fault Tree (Minotaur)
Best First Mystery:
Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Knopf)
- Zoe Ferraris: Finding Nouf (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
- G.M. Malliet: Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)
- Charlie Newton: Calumet City (Simon & Schuster)
- Scott Pratt: An Innocent Client (Onyx)
- Michael Stanley: A Carrion Death (Harper; Headline)
- Dan Waddell: The Blood Detective (Minotaur)
Best Nonfiction/Critical:
Frankie Y. Bailey: African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study (McFarland)
- Leonard Cassuto: Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories (Columbia Univ.)
- Kathy Lynn Emerson: How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (Perseverance Press)
- David Geherin: Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction (McFarland)
- Harry Lee Poe: Edgar Allan Poe : An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories (Metro)
- Kate Summerscale: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (Walker)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Dana Cameron: “The Night Things Changed” (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
- Sean Chercover: “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” (Hardcore Hardboiled, ed. by Todd Robinson, Kensington)
- Toni L.P. Kelner: “Keeping Watch Over His Flock” (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
- Laura Lippman: “Scratch a Woman” (Hardly Knew Her, Wm. Morrow)
- Tom Piccirilli: “Between the Dark and the Daylight” (EQMM, Sep/Oct 2008)
Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:
Rhys Bowen: A Royal Pain (Berkley)
- Ward Larsen: Stealing Trinity (Oceanview)
- David Liss: The Whiskey Rebels (Thorndike/ Random House UK)
- Jeri Westerson: Veil of Lies (Minotaur)
- Karen Maitland: Company of Liars (Michael Joseph/ Delacorte)
- Kelli Stanley: Nox Dormienda (Five Star)
2008
Best Mystery Novel:
Laura Lippman: What the Dead Know (Morrow)
- Reed Farrel Coleman: Soul Patch (Bleak House)
- John Connolly: The Unquiet (Hodder & Stoughton*/Atria)
- David Corbett: Blood of Paradise (Ballantine Mortalis)
- Deborah Crombie: Water Like a Stone (Morrow)
Best First Mystery:
Tana French: In the Woods (Hodder & Stoughton*/Viking)
- Joe Hill: Heart-Shaped Box (William Morrow)
- Lisa Lutz: The Spellman Files (Simon & Schuster)
- Tim Maleeny: Stealing the Dragon (Midnight Ink)
- Matt Beynon Rees: The Collaborator of Bethlehem (Soho)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Rhys Bowen: “Please Watch Your Step” (The Strand Magazine, Spring 2007)
- Donna Andrews: “A Rat’s Tale” (EQMM, Sep-Oct 2007)
- Jon L. Breen: “The Missing Elevator Puzzle” (EQMM, Feb 2007)
- Beverle Graves Myers: “Brimstone P.I.” (AHMM, May 2007)
- Gillian Roberts: “The Old Wife’s Tale” (EQMM, Mar-Apr 2007)
Best Mystery Non-Fiction:
Roger Sobin, editor/compiler: The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Barry Forshaw: Rough Guide to Crime Fiction (Penguin Rough Guides)
- Jean Gould O’Connell: Chester Gould: A Daughter’s Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy (McFarland & Company)
- Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley, editors: Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (HarperPress*/Penguin)
- Lee Lofland: Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers (Howdunit Series, Writers Digest Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:
Ariana Franklin: Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
- Rhys Bowen: Her Royal Spyness (Penguin)
- Jason Goodwin: The Snake Stone (Faber & Faber*/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Clare Langley-Hawthorne: Consequences of Sin (Viking*/Penguin)
- Joyce Carol Oates: The Gravedigger’s Daughter (HarperCollins Ecco)
*UK publisher (first edition)
2007
Best Mystery Novel:
Nancy Pickard: The Virgin of Small Plains (Ballantine)
- Christine Falls by Benjamin Black [John Banville] (Henry Holt/Picador)
- The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- The Dead Hour by Denise Mina (Bantam)
- Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart)
- All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Nick Stone: Mr. Clarinet (Michael Joseph Ltd/Penguin – U.K./ HarperCollins – U.S)
- Consigned to Death by Jane K. Cleland (Minotaur)
- 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers by Troy Cook (Capital Crime Press)
- King of Lies by John Hart (Minotaur)
- A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read (Mysterious)
Best Nonfiction:
Jim Huang and Austin Lugar, editors: Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today’s Mystery Writers (Crum Creek)
- The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower (Dutton)
- Don’t Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Ending Up D.O.A. by Chris Roerden (Bella Rosa Books)
Best Short Story:
Tim Maleeny: “Til Death Do Us Part” (MWA Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, edited by Harlan Coben; Little, Brown)
- “Provenance” by Robert Barnard (EQMM, Jul 2006)
- “Disturbance in the Field” by Roberta Isleib (Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers, edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, & Susan Oleksiw; Level Best Books)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery:
Rhys Bowen: Oh Danny Boy (Minotaur)
- The Lightning Rule by Brett Ellen Block (Morrow)
- The Bee’s Kiss by Barbara Cleverly (Constable & Robinson)
- Dark Assassin by Anne Perry (Ballantine)
- Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear (Holt)
2006
Best Mystery Novel:
Michael Connelly: The Lincoln Lawyer (Little, Brown)
- One Shot by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)
- The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)
- Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books)
- Strange Affair by Peter Robinson (William Morrow)
- The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow (Knopf)
- Solomon vs. Lord by Paul Levine (Bantam)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Brian Freeman: Immoral (St. Martin’s)
- All Shook Up by Mike Harrison (ECW Press)
- Baby Game by Randall Hicks (Wordslinger Press)
Best Nonfiction:
Melanie Rehak: Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her (Harcourt)
- Tracks to Murder by Jonathan Goodman (Kent State University)
- Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed by Stuart Kaminsky; photographed by Laurie Roberts (Hothouse Press)
- New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels, edited by Leslie S. Klinger (Norton)
- Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach (Norton)
Best Short Story:
Nancy Pickard: “There Is No Crime on Easter Island” (EQMM, Sept-Oct 2005)
- “It Can Happen” by David Corbett in San Francisco Noir (Akashic Books)
- “Everybody’s Girl” by Robert Barnard (EQMM, May 2005)
- “The Big Road” by Steve Hockensmith (AHMM, May 2005)
Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award:
Jacqueline Winspear: Pardonable Lies (Henry Holt)
- In Like Flynn by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Spectres in the Smoke by Tony Broadbent (St. Martin’s)
- The War of the World Murders by Max Allan Collins
- Night’s Child by Maureen Jennings (McClelland and Stewart)
2005
Best Mystery Novel:
Ken Bruen: The Killing of the Tinkers (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Cold Case by Robin Burcell (Avon)
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Doubleday)
- High Country Fall by Margaret Maron (Mysterious Press)
- California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker (HarperCollins)
- Playing with Fire by Peter Robinson (William Morrow)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Harley Jane Kozak: Dating Dead Men (Doubleday)
- Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo (Five Star)
- Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara (Delta)
- Whiskey Sour by J A Konrath (Hyperion)
- Misdemeanor Man by Dylan Schaffer (Bloomsbury)
Best Nonfiction:
D.P. Lyle, MD: Forensics for Dummies (Wiley Publishing)
- Famous American Crimes & Trials, Vol. 1 by Frankie Y. Bailey & Steven Chermak (Praeger Publishers)
- Just the Facts: True Tales of Cops & Criminals by Jim Doherty (Deadly Serious Press)
- The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton)
- Latin American Mystery Writers: An A-to-Z Guide by Darrell B. Lockhart (Greenwood Press)
Best Short Story:
Terence Faherty: “The Widow of Slane” (EQMM, March/April 2004)
- “Viscery” by Sandra Balzo (EQMM, December 2004)
- “The Lady’s Not for Dying” by Alana White (Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine, Winter 2004)
2004
Best Mystery Novel:
Peter Lovesey: The House Sitter (Soho)
- The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt (Putnam)
- For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s)
- The Guards by Ken Bruen (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Done for a Dime by David Corbett (Ballantine)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs (Soho)
- Night of the Dance by James Hime, St. Martin’s Minotaur
- Death of a Nationalist by Rebecca C. Pawel (Soho)
- The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Best Bio/Critical Mystery Work:
Gary Warren Niebuhr: Make Mine a Mystery: A Reader’s Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction (Libraries Unlimited)
- Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction, Vol. 3 by Colleen A Barnett (Poisoned Pen Press)
- A Second Helping of Murder: More Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers by Jo Grossman & Robert Weibezahl (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson (Bloomsbury)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Sandy Balzo: “The Grass Is Always Greener” (EQMM, March 2003)
- “Rogues Gallery” by Robert Barnard (EQMM, March 2003)
- “Texas Two-Step” by Diana Deverell (AHMM, February 2003)
- “No Man’s Land” by Beth Foxwell (Blood On Their Hands, ed. by Lawrence Block, Berkley Prime Crime)
- “War Crimes” by G. Miki Hayden (A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, ed. by Jeffery Deaver, Berkley Prime Crime)
- “Child Support” by Ronnie Klaskin (A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, ed. by Jeffery Deaver, Berkley Prime Crime)
- “Red Meat” by Elaine Viets (Blood On Their Hands, ed. by Lawrence Block, Berkley Prime Crime)
2003
Best Mystery Novel:
S.J. Rozan: Winter and Night (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Nine by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)
- Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews (Harper Collins)
- City of Bones by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
- Jolie Blon’s Bounce by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Julia Spencer-Fleming: In the Bleak Midwinter (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- A Valley To Die For by Radine Trees Nehring (St. Kitts Press)
- The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King (Dutton)
- The Distance by Eddie Muller (Scribner)
Best Bio/Critical Mystery Work:
Jim Huang, editor: They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Crum Creek Press)
- The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction edited by Mike Ashley (Carroll & Graf)
- The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir by Eddie Muller (Overlook Press)
- Intent to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel by Jeff Marks (Deadly Alibi Press)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Janet Dawson: “Voice Mail” (Scam and Eggs, Five Star)
- “Boot Scoot” by Diana Deverell (AHMM, October 2002)
- “The Adventure of the Rara Avis” by Carolyn Wheat (Murder, My Dear Watson, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon Lellenberg & Daniel Stashower; Carroll & Graf)
- “An Empire’s Reach” by Brendan DuBois (AHMM, Nov 2002)
- “Too Many Cooks” by Marcia Talley (Much Ado About Murder, edited by Anne Perry, Berkley Prime Crime)
- “Bible Belt” by Toni L.P. Kelner (EQMM, June 2002)
2002
Best Mystery Novel:
Laurie R. King: Folly (Bantam)
- Mystic River by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)
- The Deadhouse by Linda Fairstein (Scribner)
- Tell No One by Harlan Coben (Delacorte)
- Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker (Hyperion)
Best First Mystery Novel:
C. J. Box: Open Season (G.P. Putnam’s)
- The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton (Scribner)
- Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
- Perhaps She’ll Die by M.K. Preston (Intrigue)
Best Bio/Critical Mystery Work:
G. Miki Hayden: Writing the Mystery: A Start to Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional (Intrigue)
- Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins)
- The History of Mystery by Max Allan Collins (Collectors Press)
- My Name’s Friday: The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb by Michael J. Hayde (Cumberland House)
- Who Was that Lady? Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Mystery by Jeffrey Marks (Delphi Books)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Jan Burke: “The Abbey Ghosts” (AHMM, Jan 2001)
- “My Bonnie Lies” by Ted Hertel (The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers, Michael Hemmingson, editor; Carroll & Graf)
- “Bitter Waters” by Rochelle Krich (Criminal Kabbalah, Lawrence W. Raphael, editor; Jewish Lights)
- “The Would-Be Widower” by Katherine Hall Page (Malice Domestic 10, Nevada Barr, editor; Avon)
2001
Best Mystery Novel:
Val McDermid: A Place of Execution (St. Martin’s)
- Guns and Roses by Taffy Cannon (Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co.)
- The Bottoms by Joe Lansdale (Mysterious Press)
- Half Moon Street by Anne Perry (Ballantine)
- The Whole Truth by Nancy Pickard (Pocket)
Best First Mystery Novel:
David Liss: A Conspiracy of Paper (Random House)
- Death Dances to a Reggae Beat by Kate Grilley (Berkley Prime Crime)
- Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death by Julie Wray Herman (Silver Dagger Mysteries)
- Crow in Stolen Colors by Marcia Simpson (Berkley Prime Crime)
Best Non-Fiction:
Marvin Lachman: The American Regional Mystery (Crossover Press)
- The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Martin Booth (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur)
- Women of Mystery: the Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists by Martha Hailey Dubose with additional
essays by Margaret Caldwell Thomas (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur) - 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century edited by Jim Huang (Crum Creek Press)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Reginald Hill: “A Candle for Christmas” (EQMM, January 2000)
- “The Man in the Civil Suit” by Jan Burke
in Malice Domestic 9 (Avon) - “The Chosen” by Joyce Christmas in Unholy Orders (Intrigue Press)
2000
Best Mystery Novel:
Sujata Massey: The Flower Master (HarperCollins)
- River of Darkness by Rennie Airth (Viking)
- L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais (Doubleday)
- In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson (Avon)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Paula L. Woods: Inner City Blues (W.W. Norton)
- Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews (St Martin’s)
- Murder in the Marais by Cara Black (Soho)
- Revenge of the Gypsy Queen by Kris Neri (Rainbow Books)
Best Non-Fiction:
Tom Nolan: Ross Macdonald (Scribner)
- A Taste of Murder, edited by Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl (Dell)
- Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle by Daniel Stashower (Henry Holt)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Kate Grilley: “Maubi and the Jumbies” (Murderous Intent, Fall 1999)
- “Paleta Man” by Laurie King in Irreconcilable Differences, ed. by Lia Matera (HarperCollins)
- “Heroes” by Anne Perry in Murder & Obsession, ed. by Otto Penzler (Delacorte Press)
- “Show Me the Bones” by Carolyn Wheat in Diagnosis Dead, ed. by Jonathan Kellerman (PocketBooks)
1999
Best Mystery Novel:
Michael Connelly: Blood Work (Little, Brown)
- Blind Descent by Nevada Barr (Putnam)
- Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman (Avon)
- Home Fires by Margaret Maron (Mysterious)
- Blue by Abigail Padgett (Mysterious)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Jerrilyn Farmer: Sympathy for the Devil (Avon)
- Tiger’s Palette by Jacqueline Fiedler (Pocket)
- The Doctor Digs a Grave by Robin Hathaway (St.
Martin’s)
Best Critical/Biographical:
Jean Swanson & Dean James: Killer Books (Berkley)
- Mystery Reader’s Walking Guide to Washington, DC by Alzina Stone Dale (Passport Books)
- Speaking of Murder by Ed Gorman and Martin Greenberg (Berkley)
- Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller (St. Martin’s)
- Silk Stalkings II by Victoria Nichols and Susan Thompson (Scarecrow)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Barbara D’Amato: “Of Course You Know That Chocolate Is a Vegetable” (EQMM, Nov. 98)
- “Sleeping Dogs Lie” by Laurien Berenson in Canine Crimes (Ballantine)
- “A Simple Philosophy” by Harlan Coben in Malice Domestic 7 (Avon)
- “The Village Vampire & the Oboe of Death” by Dean James in Malice Domestic 7 (Avon)
1998
Best Mystery Novel:
Deborah Crombie: Dreaming of the Bones (Scribner)
- Hocus by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)
- Trunk Music by Michael Connelly (Little Brown)
- The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Harcourt
Brace) - The Ax by Donald Westlake (Mysterious)
Best First Mystery Novel:
Penny Warner: Dead Body Language (Bantam)
- Killing Floor by Lee Child (Putnam)
- Off the Face of the Earth by Aljean Harmetz (Scribner)
- Charm City by Laura Lippman (Avon)
- The Salaryman’s Wife by Sujata Massey (HarperPaperbacks)
Best Non-Fiction:
Jan Grape, Dean James and Ellen Nehr: Deadly Women (Carroll & Graf)
- “G” is for Grafton by Natalie Kaufman and Carol Kay (Henry Holt)
- The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master
Thief by Ben Macintyre (Farrar Straus Giroux) - Guilty Parties: A Mystery Lover’s Companion by Ian Ousby (Thames & Hudson)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Peter Robinson: “Two Ladies of Rose Cottage” (Malice Domestic 6, Pocket Books)
- “Real Bullets This Time” by William Bankier in EQMM, July 1997
- “Find Miriam” by Stuart Kaminsky in New Mystery Magazine, Summer 1997
- “The Corbett Correspondence” by Edward Marston & Peter Lovesey in Malice Domestic 6
- “Etiquette Lesson” by Polly Whitney in Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine