Malice Domestic announced the 2025 Agatha Award nominees on February 3.

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.” 

A ballot listing each category’s nominees will be given to all members of Malice Domestic 37, which will be held April 25-27, 2025 in Bethesda, MD.

The Agatha Award Nominees (for works published in 2024)

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL

• A Collection of Lies by Connie Berry
• A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian
• A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron
• Fondue or Die by Korina Moss
• The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves

​BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL

• Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver
• The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal
• The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker
• The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks
• To Slip The Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower

​BEST FIRST NOVEL

• A Deadly Endeavor by Jenny Adams
• Ghosts of Waikīkī by Jennifer K. Morita
• Hounds of The Hollywood Baskervilles by Elizabeth Crowens
• Threads of Deception by Elle Jauffret
• You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen

BEST SHORT STORY

• “A Matter of Trust” by Barb Goffman, Three Strikes–You’re Dead
• “Reynisfjara” by Kristopher Zgorski, Mystery Most International
• “Satan’s Spit” by Gabriel Valjan, Tales of Music, Murder and Mayhem: Bouchercon 2024
• “Sins of The Father” by Kerry Hammond, Mystery Most International
• “The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman, Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy

​BEST NON-FICTION

• Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly
• Agatha Christie, Marple: Expert on Wickedness by Mark Aldridge
• Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing The Columbo Killers by Chris Chan
• The Bookshop: A History of The American Bookstore by Evan Friss
• Writing The Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft Edited by Phyllis M. Betz

BEST CHILDREN’S/YA MYSTERY

• First Week Free At The Roomy Toilet: A June Knight Mystery by Josh Pachter
• Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson
• Sid Johnson & The Well-Intended Conspiracy by Frances Schoonmaker
• The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui by K.B. Jackson
• The Sherlock Society by James Ponti