Malice Domestic announced the 2018 Agatha Award winners on May 4.

The Agatha Awards honor the “traditional mystery,” books typified by the works of Agatha Christie and others. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence, and are not classified as “hard-boiled.” 

The winners were selected by a vote of the attendees at Malice Domestic 31, held May 3-5, 2019.

Best Contemporary Novel

• Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)

Best Historical Novel  

•  The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

Best First Novel

(tie)

• A Ladies Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
•  Curses Boiled Again by Shari Randall (St. Martin’s)

Best Short Story

(tie)

• “All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
• “The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

Best Young Adult Mystery

• Potion Problems(Just Add Magic) by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin) 

Best Non-fiction

• Mastering Plot Twists by Jane Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books)

Big congrats to all of tonight’s Agatha Award winners at @Malice_Domestic, especially our very own, Ellen Byron @ellenbyronla
She took home the teapot for Best Contemporary Novel! Woot!

If you see her, give her a hug from all the Chicks! pic.twitter.com/VmCi0zek9T

— Chicks on the Case (@chicksonthecase) May 5, 2019