Agatha Award (1988-2009)

2008 and prior info from Wikipedia accessed 9/14/10

The Agatha Awards are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write via the same method as Agatha Christie (i.e. closed setting, no sex or violence, amateur detective). At an annual convention in Washington, D.C., the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in five categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.

2009 Agatha Winners - (awarded in 2010 -May 2)
BEST NOVEL
Winner - The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett (Berkley Prime Crime)
Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime)
Air Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan (MIRA)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Winner -The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte Press)
For Better For Murder by Lisa Bork (Midnight Ink)
Posed for Murder by Meredith Cole (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncan (St. Martin’s Press)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST NON-FICTION
Winner - Dame Agatha’s Shorts by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books)
Duchess of Death by Richard Hack (Phoenix Books)
Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Knopf)
Blood on the Stage 1925-1950 by Amnon Kabatchnik (Scarecrow Press)
The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)

BEST CHILDREN'S / YOUNG ADULT:
Winner - The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Viking Juvenile)
The Case of the Poisoned Pig by Lewis B. Montgomery (Kane Press)
The Other Side of Blue by Valerie O. Patterson (Clarion Books)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Philomel)

Best First Novel
2008 - G.M. Malliet, Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)
Sarah Atwell, Through a Glass, Deadly (Berkley Trade)
Krista Davis, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (Penguin Group)
Rosemary Harris, Pushing Up Daisies (Minotaur Books)
Joanna Campbell Slan, Paper, Scissors, Death (Midnight Ink)
2007 - Hank Phillippi Ryan, Prime Time (Harlequin)
Charles Finch, A Beautiful Blue Death (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Beth Groundwater, A Real Basket Case (Five Star Mystery)
Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Grave (Mira)
2006 - Sandra Parshall, The Heat of the Moon (Poisoned Pen Press)
Jane Cleland, Consigned to Death (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily, The Chef Who Died Sauteing (Hilliard & Harris)
Hailey Lind, Feint of Art (Signet)
Karen MacInerney, Murder on the Rocks (Midnight Ink)
2005 - Laura Durham, Better Off Wed (HarperCollins Publishers)
Laura Bradford, Jury of One (Hilliard & Harris)
Shirley Damsgaard, Witch Way to Murder (Avon Books)
Maggie Sefton, Knit One, Kill Two (Berkley Publishing Group)
Lisa Tillman, Blood Relations (Hilliard & Harris)
2004 - Harley Jane Kozak, Dating Dead Men (Doubleday)
Judy Clemens, Till the Cows Come Home (Poisoned Pen Press)
Patricia Harwin, Arson and Old Lace (Pocket Books)
Dorothy Salisbury Davis and Jerome Ross, God Speed the Night
Susan Kandel, I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason (HarperCollins)
Pari Noskin Taichert, The Clovis Incident: A Mystery (University of New Mexico Press)
2003 - Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs (Soho Press Inc.)
Elaine Flinn, Dealing in Murder (Avon)
Erin Hart, The Haunted Ground (Scribner)
S.W. Hubbard, Take the Bait (Pocket)
Maddy Hunter, Alpine for You (Pocket)
Joyce Kreig, Murder off Mike (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Sarah Stewart Taylor, O’ Artful Death (St. Martin's Press)
2002 - Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Pip Granger, Not All Tarts Are Apple (Poisoned Pen Press)
Roberta Isleib, Six Strokes Under (Berkley)
Claire M. Johnson, Beat Until Stiff (Poisoned Pen Press)
Nancy Martin, How to Murder a Millionaire (Signet)
Lea Wait, Shadows at the Fair (Scribner)
2001 - Sarah Strohmeyer, Bubbles Unbound (Dutton)
Tim Myer, Innkeeping with Murder (Berkley)
Charles O'Brien, Mute Witness (Poisoned Pen Press)
Andy Straka, A Witness Above (Signet)
2000 - Rosemary Stevens, Death on a Silver Tray (Berkley Prime Crime)
Julie W. Herman, Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death (Overmountain Press)
Irene Marcuse, Death of an Amiable Child (Walker & Company)
Denise Swanson, Murder of a Small Town Honey (Signet)
1999 - Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks (Thomas Dunne Books)
April Henry, Circles of Confusion (HarperTorch)
Kris Neri, Revenge of the Gypsy Queen (Rainbow Books)
Elena Santangelo, By Blood Possessed (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Marcia Talley, Sing It to Her Bones (Dell)
1998 - Robin Hathaway, The Doctor Digs a Grave (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Jerrilyn Farmer, Sympathy for the Devil (Avon)
Jacqueline Fiedler, Tiger's Palette (Pocket)
Judy Fitzwater, Dying to Get Published (Fawcett)
Sharon Kahn, Fax Me a Bagel (Scribner)
1997 - Sujata Massey, The Salaryman's Wife (HarperCollins)
Joanne Dobson, Quieter Than Sleep (Doubleday)
Phyllis Richman, The Butter Did It (HarperCollins)
Penny Warner, Dead Body Language (Bantam)
Barbara Jaye Wilson, Death Brims Over (Avon)
1996 - Anne George, Murder on a Girl's Night Out (Avon Books)
Dale Furutani, Death in Little Tokyo : A Ken Tanaka Mystery (St. Martin’s)
Terris Grimes, Somebody Else's Child (Onyx Books)
Teri Holbrook, The Grass Widow (Bantam Books)
Margaret K. Lawrence, Hearts and Bone: A Novel of Historical Suspense (Avon Books)
Lillian M. Roberts, Riding for a Fall (Gold Medal)
1995 - Jeanne M. Dams, The Body in the Transept (Walker)
Teri Holbrook, A Far and Deadly Cry
Jody Jaffe, Horse of a Different Killer
Virginia Lanier, Death in Bloodhound Red
Martha C. Lawrence, Murder in Scorpio
1994 - Jeff Abbott, Do Unto Others (Ballantine)
Janet Evanovich, One for the Money (Scribner)
Earlene Fowler, Fool's Puzzle
Barbara Burnett Smith, Writers of the Purple Sage
Polly Whitney, Until Death
1993 - Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat (Putnam)
Jan Burke, Goodnight, Irene
Deborah Crombie, A Share in Death
Sharan Newman, Death Comes as Ephiphany
Abigail Padgett, Child of Silence
1992 - Barbara Neely, Blanche on the Lam (St. Martin's Press)
Deborah Adams, All the Great Pretenders
Susan Wittig Albert, Thyme of Death
Carol Higgins Clark, Decked
Miriam Grace Monfredo, Seneca Falls Inheritance
1991 - Mary Willis Walker, Zero at the Bone (St. Martin's Press)
Mary Cahill, Carpool
Mary Daheim, Just Desserts
Rebecca Rothenberg, The Bulrush Murders
Ann Williams, Flowers for the Dead
1990 - Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Belfry (St. Martin's Press)
Pat Burden, Screaming Bones
Diane Mott Davidson, Catering to Nobody
William F. Love, The Chartreuse Clue
Janet L. Smith, Sea of Troubles
1989 - Jill Churchill, Grime and Punishment (Avon Books)
Eleanor Boylan, Working Murder
Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt
Melanie Johnson Howe, The Mother Shadow
Edith Skom, The Mark Twain Murders
1988 - Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance (Bantam)
Caroline Graham, The Killings at Badger's Drift
Corinne Sawyer, The J. Alfred Prufrock Murders
Susannah Stacey, Goodbye Nanny Grey
Dorothy Sucher, Dead Men Don't Give Seminars

Best Novel
2008 - Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month (Minotaur Books)
Donna Andrews, Six Geese A-Slaying (Minotaur Books)
Rhys Bowen, A Royal Pain (Penguin Group)
Anne Perry, Buckingham Palace Gardens (Random)
Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want (Minotaur Books)
2007 - Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Donna Andrews, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Rhys Bowen, Her Royal Spyness (Penguin Group)
Margaret Maron, Hard Row (Grand Central Publishing)
Elaine Viets, Murder with Reservations (NAL)
2006 - Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains (Random House)
Earlene Fowler, The Saddlemaker's Wife
L. C. Hayden, Why Casey Had to Die
Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains
Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh
Jacqueline Winspear, Messenger of Truth
2005 - Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Snowdrift (William Morrow)
Donna Andrews, Owls Well That Ends Well (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Margaret Maron, Rituals of the Season(Mysterious Press & Warner Books)
Pari Noskin Taichert, The Belen Hitch (University of NM Press)
Heather Webber, Trouble in Spades (Avon/HarperCollins Publishers)
Jacqueline Winspear, Pardonable Lies (Henry Holt Books)
2004 - Jacqueline Winspear, Birds of a Feather (Soho Press)
Donna Andrews, We'll Always Have Parrots (Thomas Dunne Books)
Laura Lippman, By a Spider's Thread (HarperCollins)
Margaret Maron, High Country Fall (Mysterious Press)
Sujata Massey, The Pearl Diver (HarperCollins)
2003 - Carolyn Hart, Letter From Home (Berkley Prime Crime)
Donna Andrews, Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Jerrilyn Farmer, Mumbo Gumbo (William Morrow & Company)
Rochelle Krich, Dream House (Ballantine Books)
Margaret Maron, Last Lessons of Summer (Mysterious Press)
Elaine Viets, Shop till You Drop (Signet)
2002 - Donna Andrews, You've Got Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)
Rhys Bowen, Death of Riley (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Rochelle Krich, Blues in the Night (Ballantine)
Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Bonfire (Morrow)
Elizabeth Peters, The Golden One (Morrow)
2001 - Rhys Bowen, Murphy's Law (St Martin's Minotaur)
Earlene Fowler, Arkansas Traveler (Berkley)
Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark (Ace)
Rochelle Krich, Shadows of Sin (Avon)
Sujata Massey, The Bride's Kimono (HarperCollins);
2000 - Margaret Maron, Storm Track (Mysterious Press)
Taffy Cannon, Guns and Roses
Jerrilyn Farmer, Killer Wedding
Sujata Massey, The Floating Girl
Elizabeth Peters, He Shall Thunder in the Sky
1999 - Earlene Fowler, Mariner's Compass (Berkley Publishing Group)
Jerrilyn Farmer, Immaculate Reception (Avon)
Carolyn Hart, Death on the River Walk (Avon)
Laura LippmanIn Big Trouble (Avon)
Sujata Massey The Flower Master (HarperCollins)
1998 - Laura Lippman, Butchers Hill (Avon Books)
Jan Burke, Liar (Simon & Schuster)
Earlene Fowler, Dove in the Window (Berkley)
Virginia Lanier, Blind Bloodhound Justice (Harper Collins)
Margaret Maron, Home Fires (Mysterious Press)
Elizabeth Peters, The Ape Who Guards the Balance (Avon)
1997 - Kate Ross, The Devil In Music (Viking)
Jan Burke, Hocus (Simon & Schuster)
Deborah Crombie, Dreaming of the Bones (Scribner)
Earlene Fowler, Goose in a Pond (Berkley)
Elizabeth Peters, Seeing a Large Cat (Warner)
1996 - Margaret Maron, Up Jumps The Devil (Mysterious Press)
Earlene Fowler, Kansas Troubles (a Benni Harper Mystery) (Berkley)
Sharan Newman, Strong as Death (Forge)
1995 - Sharyn McCrumb, If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Ballantine)
Joan Hess, Miracles in Maggody
Sharan Newman, The Wandering Arm
Nancy Pickard, Twilight
Walter Satterthwait, Escapade
1994 - Sharyn McCrumb, She Walks These Hills (Scribner)
Carolyn G. Hart, Scandal in Fair Haven
Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Rochelle Majer Krich, Angel of Death
Elizabeth Peters, Night Train to Memphis
1993 - Carolyn Hart, Dead Man's Island (Bantam)
Aaron Elkins, Old Scores
Joan Hess, O Little Town of Maggody
Rochele Majer Krich, Fair Game
Margaret Maron, Southern Discomfort
Kathy Hogan Trocheck, To Live and Die in Dixie
1992 - Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter (Mysterious Press)
Carolyn G. Hart, Southern Ghost
Sharyn McCrumb, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Anne Perry, Defend and Betray
Elizabeth Peters, The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog
1991 - Nancy Pickard, I.O.U. (Pocket)
Aaron Elkins, Make No Bones (Mysterious Press)
Carolyn G. Hart, The Christie Caper (Bantam)
Charlotte MacLeod, An Owl Too Many (Mysterious Press)
Elizabeth Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon (Warner)
1990 - Nancy Pickard, Bum Steer (Pocket)
Charlaine Harris, Real Murders
Carolyn G. Hart, Deadly Valentine
Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger
Ellis Peters, The Potter's Field
1989 - Elizabeth Peters, Naked Once More (Warner)
Sarah Caudwell, The Siren Sang of Murder
Carolyn G. Hart, A Little Class on Murder
Margaret Maron, Corpus Christmas
Gillian Roberts, Philly Stakes
1988 - Carolyn G. Hart, Something Wicked (Bantam)
Dorothy Cannell, The Widow's Club
Joan Hess, Mischief in Maggody
Sharyn McCrumb, Paying the Piper
Nancy Pickard, Dead Crazy

Best Non-Fiction
2008 - Kathy Lynn Emerson, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (Perseverance Press)
Frankie Y. Bailey, African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study (McFarland & Co.)
Jeff Marks, Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography (McFarland & Co.)
Dr. Harry Lee Poe, Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories (Metro Books)
Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher, or The Murder at Road Hill House (Walker & Co.)
2007 - Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (Penguin Press)
Penny Warner, The Official Nancy Drew Handbook (Quirck Productions)
2006 - Chris Roerden, Don't Murder Your Mystery (Bella Rosa Books)
Jim Huang and Austin Lugar, Mystery Muses (The Crum Creek Press)
Daniel Stashower, The Beautiful Cigar Girl (Dutton)
2005 - Melanie Rehak, Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her (Harcourt)
Stuart Kaminsky, Behind the Mystery—Top Mystery Writers (Hothouse Press)
Marvin Lachman, The Heirs of Anthony Boucher (Poisoned Pen Press)
Leslie S. Klinger, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (W.W. Norton)
2004 - Jack French, Private Eye-Lashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives (Bear Manor Media)
Leslie Klinger (editor), The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories (W.W. Norton & Company)
2003 - Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread (editors) and Dennis Forbes (design), Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium (William Morrow & Company)
Colleen A. Barnett, Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction, Volume 3 (Parts 1 & 2) (Poisoned Pen Press)
Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl (editors), A Second Helping of Murder: More Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers (Poisoned Pen Press)
Jeffrey Marks, Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950s (Delphi Books)
2002 - Jim Huang (editor), They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Crum Creek Press)
Mike Ashley (editor), The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction (Avalon Publishing Group)
Colleen Barnett, Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction (Poisoned Pen Press)
Mary Higgins Clark, Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir (Simon and Schuster)
Sue Grafton (editor) with Jan Burke and Barry Zeman, Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America (Writer's Digest Press)
2001 - Tony Hillerman, Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (HarperCollins)
Max Allan Collins, The History of the Mystery (Collector's Press)
G. Miki Hayden, Writing the Mystery: A Start-To-Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional (Intrigue Press)
Jeffrey Marks, Who Was That Lady? (Delphi Books)
The Sisters Wells, Food, Drink, and the Female Sleuth (Authors Choice Press/iUniverse.com)
2000 - Jim Huang (editor), 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century (Crum Creek Press)
Marvin Lachman (editor), The American Regional Mystery
Matthew Bunson, The Complete Christie (Pocket)
Helen Windrath (editor), They Wrote the Book
Martha Dubose (editor), Women of Mystery
1999 - Daniel Stashower, Teller of Tales: the Life of Arthur Conan Doyle (Henry Holt & Company)
Kate Derie, The Deadly Directory (Deadly Serious Press)
Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl, A Taste of Murder: Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers (Poisoned Pen Press)
Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Women III (Purple Moon Press)
Rosemary Herbert, The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (Oxford University Press)
1998 - Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Reader's Walking Guide to Washington D.C. (Passport Books)
Edward Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, Speaking of Murder (Berkley)
Jan Grape, Dean James and Ellen Nehr, Deadly Women (Carroll & Graf)
Victoria Nichols and Susan Thompson, Silk Stalkings II (Scarecrow)
Jean Swanson and Dean James, Killer Books (Berkley)
1997 - Willeta L. Heising, Detecting Men (Pocket Guide) (Purple Moon Press)
Nina King and Robin Winks, Crimes of the Scene (St. Martin's)
Ian Ousby, Guilty Parties (Thames & Hudson)
1996 - Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Women 2 (Purple Moon Press)
Elaine Raco Chase and Anne Wingate, Amateur Detectives: A Writer's Guide to How Private Citizens Solve Criminal Cases (Writer's Digest)
Ron Miller, Mystery: A Celebration (KQED Books)
Barbara Reynolds (editor), The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: The Making of a Detective Novelist (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Jean Swanson and Dean James, By a Woman's Hand, Second Edition (Berkley Publishing Group)
1995 - Alzina Stone Dale, Mystery Readers Walking Guide-Chicago (Passport Books, NTC Publishing Group)
Douglas Greene Ngaio, John Dickson Carr: the Man Who Explained Miracles
B.J. Rahn, Marsh: the Woman and Her Work
Kate Stine, The Armchair Detective Book of Lists, 2nd edition
Robin Whiteman, The Cadfael Companion', 2nd edition
1994 -
Jean Swanson and Dean James, By a Woman's Hand (Berkley Publishing Group)
William L. DeAndrea, Encyclopedia Mysteriosa
Allen J. Hubin, Crime Fiction II
Kathleen Gregory Klein, Great Women Mystery Writers
Charlotte MacLeod, Had She But Known: Mary Roberts Rinehart
1993 - Barbara D'Amato, The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery (Noble Press)
Alzina Stone Dale, Dorothy L. Sayers
Michael C. Gerald, The Poisonous Pen of Agatha Christie
Edward Gorman, The Fine Art of Murder
Marvin Lachman, A Reader's Guide to the American Novel of Detection
Ellen A. Nehr, The Doubleday Crime Club Compendium 1928-91

Best Children/Young Adult Fiction
2006 - Pea Soup Poisonings by Nancy Means Wright (Hilliard & Harris)
2005 - Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams, and Flush by Carl Hiaasen 
2004 - Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press)
2003 - The 7th Knot by Kathleen Karr (Marshall Cavendish)
2002 - Red Card: A Zeke Armstrong Mystery by Daniel J. Hale
2001 - ''Mystery Of The Haunted Caves: A Troop 13 Mystery by Penny Warner