Mystery Readers International announced the winners of the 2023 Macavity Awards on October 23.
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, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and “friends of MRI” nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories.
BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
Louise Penny: A World of Curiosities (Minotaur)
BEST FIRST MYSTERY
Nita Prose: The Maid (Ballantine)
BEST MYSTERY SHORT STORY
Barb Goffman: “Beauty and the Beyotch” (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Jan 2022)
BEST NONFICTION/CRITICAL
Martin Edwards:The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators (Collins Crime Club)
SUE FEDER MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL MYSTERY
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.
BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
S.A. Cosby:Razorblade Tears (Flatiron Books)
BEST FIRST MYSTERY
Mia P. Manansala:Arsenic and Adobo (Berkley)
BEST MYSTERY SHORT STORY
Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (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)
SUE FEDER MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL MYSTERY
Mystery Readers International announced the finalists for the 2022 Macavity Awards on July 25.
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.
BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
Michael Connelly:The Dark Hours (Little, Brown and Co.)
S.A. Cosby:Razorblade Tears (Flatiron Books)
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
Alexandra Andrews:Who is Maude Dixon? (Little, Brown)
Abigail Dean:Girl A (Viking)
Erin Flanagan:Deer Season (University of Nebraska Press)
Mia P. Manansala:Arsenic and Adobo (Berkley)
Wanda M. Morris:All Her Little Secrets (William Morrow)
BEST MYSTERY SHORT STORY
Tracy Clark: “Lucky Thirteen” (Midnight Hour, Crooked Lane Books)
Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
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
Mark Aldridge:Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World (HarperCollins)
Lee Child with Laurie R. King, editors: How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America (Scribner)
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
Rhys Bowen:The Venice Sketchbook (Lake Union)
Naomi Hirahara:Clark and Division (Soho Crime)
Susan Elia MacNeal:The Hollywood Spy (Bantam)
Sujata Massey:The Bombay Prince (Soho Crime)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia:Velvet was the Night (Del Rey)
Mystery Readers International announced the winners of the 2021 Macavity Awards on August 25.
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.
Best Mystery Novel:
S.A. Cosby:Blacktop Wasteland (Flatiron Books)
Best First Mystery:
David Heska Wanbli Weiden:Winter Counts (Ecco)
Best Mystery Short Story:
Gabriel Valjan: “Elysian Fields” (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; Wildside Press)
Best Mystery Critical/Biographical:
Sheila Mitchell:H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime (Level Best Books)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths (Quercus, Quercus Fiction)
Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (Penguin Random House UK, Viking)
The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway (Little, Brown Book Group, Constable)
Death in the Eastby Abir Mukherjee (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood (Quercus, Quercus Fiction)
The public is invited to vote for the winner here. The award will be announced Thursday July 22. The author will receive £3,000, and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.
MCILVANNEY PRIZE LONGLIST
The McIlvanney Prize recognizes excellence in Scottish crime writing, and includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.. Here is the McIlvanney Prize 2021 longlist:
The Cut, Chris Brookmyre (Little,Brown)
The Silent Daughter, Emma Christie (Wellbeck)
Before the Storm, Alex Gray (Little, Brown)
Dead Man’s Grave, Neil Lancaster (HarperCollins, HQ)
The Coffinmaker’s Garden, Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)
Still Life, Val McDermid (Little,Brown)
Bad Debt, William McIntyre (Sandstone)
The Less Dead, Denise Mina (Vintage)
How To Survive Everything, Ewan Morrison (Saraband)
Edge of the Grave, Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
The April Dead, Alan Parks (Canongate)
Hyde, Craig Russell (Constable)
Waking the Tiger, Mark Wightman (Hobeck Books)
MACAVITY AWARDS FINALISTS
Mystery Readers International announced the finalists for the 2021 Macavity Awards on June 1.
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.
Best Mystery Novel:
Caroline B. Cooney:Before She Was Helen (Ecco)
S.A. Cosby:Blacktop Wasteland (Flatiron Books)
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:
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)
Art Taylor: “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ‘74” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2020)
Gabriel Valjan: “Elysian Fields” (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; Wildside Press)
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:
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)
Sheila Mitchell:H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime (Level Best Books)
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:
Rhys Bowen:The Last Mrs. Summers (Berkeley)
Elsa Hart:The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne (Minotaur)
Mystery Readers International announced the 2020 Macavity Awards winners on October 16 durng Bouchercon.
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.
Best Mystery Novel
Adrian McKinty:The Chain (Mulholland)
Best First Mystery
Tara Laskowski:One Night Gone (Graydon House)
Best Mystery Short Story
Art Taylor: “Better Days” (EQMM, May/June 2019)
Best Mystery Nonfiction/Critical
John Billheimer:Hitchcock and the Censors (University Press of Kentucky)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery
Mystery Readers International announced the finalists for the 2020 Macavity Awards on July 16.
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.
Best Mystery Novel
Steph Cha:Your House Will Pay (Ecco)
William Kent Krueger:This Tender Land (Atria)
Laura Lippman:Lady in the Lake (Wm. Morrow)
Adrian McKinty:The Chain (Mulholland)
Hank Philippi Ryan:The Murder List (Forge)
James Sallis:Sarah Jane (Soho Crime)
Best First Mystery
Tori Eldridge:The Ninja Daughter (Agora Books)
Samantha Downing:My Lovely Wife (Penguin)
Angie Kim:Miracle Creek (Sarah Crichton Books)
Tara Laskowski:One Night Gone (Graydon House)
J.P. Pomare:Call Me Evie (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Lauren Wilkinson:American Spy (Random House)
Best Mystery Short Story
Michael Chandos: “West Texas Barbecue” (The Eyes of Texas, edited by Michael Bracken—Down & Out Books)
Mystery Readers International announced the winners of the 2019
Macavity Awards on October 31 at Bouchercon in Dallas, TX.
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.
Best Novel
Lou Berney:November Road
(William Morrow)
Best First Novel
John Copenhaver:Dodging and Burning (Pegasus
Books)
Best Nonfiction
Sarah Weinman:The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping
of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
(HarperCollins)
Mystery Readers
International announced the finalists for the 2019 Macavity Awards on July 25.
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.
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:
Oyinkan Braithwaite:My Sister, the Serial Killer
(Doubleday)
John Copenhaver:Dodging and Burning
(Pegasus Books)
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:
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)
Sarah Weinman:The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping
of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
(HarperCollins)
