Malice Domestic announced the 2025 Agatha Awards on April 26 at a ceremony in Bethesda, MD.

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.” 

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL

• A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian

​BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL

• To Slip The Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower

​BEST FIRST NOVEL

• You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen

BEST SHORT STORY

•  “The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman, Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy

​BEST NON-FICTION

• Writing The Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft Edited by Phyllis M. Betz

BEST CHILDREN’S/YA MYSTERY

• The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui by K.B. Jackson