Macavity Awards (1987-2008)

The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories -- best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. In recent years a new award, the Sue Feder Historical Mystery, has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.

Best Mystery Novel

* 2008 - What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman
* 2007 - The Virgin of Small Plains, Nancy Pickard
* 2006 - The Lincoln Lawyer, Michael Connelly
* 2005 - The Killing of the Tinkers, Ken Bruen
* 2004 - The House Sitter, Peter Lovesey
* 2003 - Winter and Night, S. J. Rozan
* 2002 - Folly, Laurie R. King
* 2001 - A Place of Execution, Val McDermid
* 2000 - The Flower Master, Sujata Massey
* 1999 - Blood Work, Michael Connelly
* 1998 - Dreaming of the Bones, Deborah Crombie
* 1997 - Bloodhounds, Peter Lovesey
* 1996 - Under the Beetle's Cellar, Mary Willis Walker
* 1995 - She Walks These Hills, Sharyn McCrumb
* 1994 - The Sculptress, Minette Walters
* 1993 - Bootlegger's Daughter, Margaret Maron
* 1992 - I.O.U., Nancy Pickard
* 1991 - If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O, Sharyn McCrumb
* 1990 - A Little Class on Murder, Carolyn Hart
* 1989 - A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman
* 1988 - Marriage is Murder, Nancy Pickard
* 1987 - A Taste for Death, P. D. James

Best First Mystery

* 2008 - In The Woods, Tana French
* 2007 - Mr. Clarinet, Nick Stone
* 2006 - Immoral, Brian Freeman
* 2005 - Dating Dead Men, Harley Jane Kozak
* 2004 - Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear
* 2003 - In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming
* 2002 - Open Season, C. J. Box
* 2001 - A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss
* 2000 - Inner City Blues, Paula L. Woods
* 1999 - Sympathy for the Devil, Jerrilyn Farmer
* 1998 - Dead Body Language, Penny Warner
* 1997 - Death in Little Tokyo, Dale Furutani
* 1996 - The Strange Files of Fremont Jones, Dianne Day
* 1995 - Do Unto Others, Jeff Abbott
* 1994 - Death Comes as Epiphany, Sharan Newman
* 1993 - Blanche on the Lam, Barbara Neely
* 1992 - (tie) Murder on the Iditarod Trail, Sue Henry
and Zero at the Bone, Mary Willis Walker
* 1991 - Postmortem, Patricia Cornwell
* 1990 - Grime and Punishment, Jill Churchill
* 1989 - The Killings at Badger's Drift, Caroline Graham
* 1988 - The Monkey's Raincoat, Robert Crais
* 1987 - (tie) The Ritual Bath, Faye Kellerman and A Case of Loyalties, Marilyn
Wallace


Sue Feder Historical Mystery

* 2008: Mistress of the Art of Death, Ariana Franklin
* 2007: Oh Danny Boy, Rhys Bowen (added#1 Murphy's Law)
* 2006: Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear (added#1 Maisie Dobbs)