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

• Lev A.C. Rosen: Lavender House (Forge)