2009 Agatha Nominees Announed

Best Novel:
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry
I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Best First Novel:
Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet )
Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan
Nonfiction:
African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study
by Frankie Y. Bailey
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson
Anthony Boucher, A Bibliography by Jeff Marks
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories
by Dr. Harry Lee Poe
The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher by Kate Summerscale
Best Short Story:
"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe
"Killing Time" by Jane Cleland, Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine
November 2008
"Dangerous Crossing" by Carla Coupe, Chesapeake Crimes 3
"Skull & Cross Examination"by Toni Kelner, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine February2008
"A Nice Old Guy" by Nancy Pickard, Ellery Queen Mystery MagazineAugust 2008
The Agatha Awards honor the "traditional mystery." The award is named after Agatha Christie to honor books like hers. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that: contain no explicit sex,contain no excessive gore or gratuitous violence,usually feature an amateur detective,take place in a confined setting and contain characters who know one another. Novels and stories featuring police officers and private detectives may qualify for the awards, but materials generally classified as "hard-boiled" are not appropriate.The 2008 Agatha Awards will be given for materials first published in the United States by a living author during the calendar year 2008 (January 1-December 31), either in hardcover, as a paperback original, or e-published by an e-publishing firm.