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Macavity Awards

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 four categories.

The year listed is the year of the award, for books published in the previous year.

2008

Best Mystery Novel:

  • 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)
  • Laura Lippman: What the Dead Know (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:

  • Donna Andrews: "A Rat's Tale" (EQMM, Sep-Oct 2007)
  • Rhys Bowen: "Please Watch Your Step" (The Strand Magazine, Spring 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:

  • 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)
  • Roger Sobin, editor/compiler: The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians (Poisoned Pen Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:

  • Rhys Bowen: Her Royal Spyness (Penguin)
  • Ariana Franklin: Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
  • 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:
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (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)

 

 Janet Rudolph

Best First Mystery Novel:
Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone (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:
Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar (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:
"Til Death Do Us Part" by Tim Maleeny (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)

 

 Tim Maleeny

Sue Feder Historical Mystery:
Oh Danny Boy by Rhys Bowen (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)
 Rhys Bowen

Credit for above photos: Karen Laubenstein

 

2006

Best Mystery Novel:
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (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:
Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's)

  • All Shook Up by Mike Harrison (ECW Press)
  • Baby Game by Randall Hicks (Wordslinger Press)

Best Nonfiction:
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (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:
"There Is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (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:
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (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:
The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen (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)
Janet and Ken

 

Best First Mystery Novel:
Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak (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)
Harley Jane Kozak

Best Nonfiction:
Forensics for Dummies by D.P. Lyle, MD (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)
 D.P. Lyle

Best Short Story:
"The Widow of Slane" by Terence Faherty (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)
 Terence Faherty

[space]

Previous Winners

2004

Best Mystery Novel: The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey (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: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (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: Make Mine a Mystery: A Reader's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction by Gary Warren Niebuhr (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: "The Grass Is Always Greener" by Sandy Balzo (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: Winter and Night by S.J. Rozan (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: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (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: They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels, edited by Jim Huang (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: "Voice Mail" by Janet Dawson (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: Folly by Laurie R. King (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: Open Season by C. J. Box (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: Writing the Mystery: A Start to Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional by G. Miki Hayden (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: "The Abbey Ghosts" by Jan Burke (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
Mystery writer Val McDermid (left) and MRJ Editor Janet A. Rudolph, at Semana Negra, Spain, the International Association of Crime Writers Conference.

Best Mystery Novel: A Place of Execution by Val McDermid (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: A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss (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: The American Regional Mystery by Marvin Lachman (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: "A Candle for Christmas" by Reginald Hill (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: The Flower Master by Sujata Massey (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: Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods (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: Ross Macdonald by Tom Nolan (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: "Maubi and the Jumbies" by Kate Grilley, in 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: Blood Work by Michael Connelly (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: Sympathy for the Devil by Jerrilyn Farmer (Avon)

  • Tiger's Palette by Jacqueline Fiedler (Pocket)
  • The Doctor Digs a Grave by Robin Hathaway (St. Martin's)

Best Critical/Biographical: Killer Books by Jean Swanson & Dean James (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: "Of Course You Know That Chocolate Is a Vegetable" by Barbara D'Amato in 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: Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie (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: Dead Body Language by Penny Warner (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: Deadly Women by Jan Grape, Dean James and Ellen Nehr (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: "Two Ladies of Rose Cottage" by Peter Robinson in 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

1997

Best Mystery Novel: Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey (Mysterious)

Best First Mystery Novel: Death in Little Tokyo by Dale Furutani (St. Martin's Press)

Best Non-Fiction: Detecting Women 2 by Wiletta Heising (Purple Moon Press)

Best Mystery Short Story: "Cruel & Unusual" by Carolyn Wheat from Guilty As Charged (Pocket)

1996

Best Mystery Novel: Under the Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker (Doubleday)

Best First Mystery Novel: The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Dianne Day (Doubleday)

Best Critical/Biographical: Detecting Women by Willetta L. Heising (Purple Moon)

Best Mystery Short Story: "Evans Tries an O-Level" by Colin Dexter from Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories (Crown)

1995

Best Novel: She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb

Best First Novel: Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott

Best Critical/Biographical: By a Woman's Hand by Dean James & Jean Swanson

Best Short Story (tie): "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Deborah Adams; "Unharmed" by Jan Burke

1994

Best Novel: The Sculptress by Minette Walters

Best First Novel: Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman

Best Critical/Biographical: The Fine Art of Murder edited by Ed Gorman

Best Short Story: "Checkout" by Susan Dunlap

1993

Best Novel: Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron

Best First Novel: Blanche on the Lam by BarbaraNeely

Best Critical/Biographical: Doubleday Crime Club Compendium by Ellen Nehr

Best Short Story: "Henrie O's Holiday" by Carolyn Hart

1992

Best Novel: I.O.U. by Nancy Pickard

Best First Novel (tie): Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry; Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker

Best Critical/Biographical: Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony Hillerman by Tony Hillerman & Ernie Bulow

Best Short Story: "Deborah's Judgement" by Margaret Maron

1991

Best Novel: If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb

Best First Novel: Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

Best Critical/Biographical: Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries by Gillian Gill

Best Short Story: "Too Much to Bare" by Joan Hess

1990

Best Novel: A Little Class on Murder by Carolyn Hart

Best First Novel: Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill

Best Critical/Biographical: The Bedside Companion to Crime by H.R.F. Keating

Best Short Story: "Afraid All the Time" by Nancy Pickard

1989

Best Novel: A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman

Best First Novel: The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham

Best Critical/Biographical: Silk Stalkings by Victoria Nichols & Susan Thompson

Best Short Story: "Deja Vu" by Doug Allyn

1988

Best Novel: Marriage is Murder by Nancy Pickard

Best First Novel: The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais

Best Critical/Biographical: Son of Gun in Cheek by Bill Pronzini

Best Short Story: "The Woman in the Wardrobe" by Robert Barnard

1987

Best Novel: A Taste for Death by P.D. James

Best First Novel (tie): The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman; A Case of Loyalties by Marilyn Wallace

Best Critical/Biographical: 1001 Midnights by Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini

Best Short Story: "The Parker Shotgun" by Sue Grafton

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