Macavity Awards

Updated on Jan 09, 2024

Edit

Comment

The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. In recent years a new award, the Sue Feder Historical Mystery, has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.

Best Mystery Novel

2016 - The Long and Faraway Gone, Lou Berney

2015 – The Killer Next Door, Alex Marwood

2014 – Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger

2013 – The Beautiful Mystery, Louise Penny

2012 – Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Sara Gran

2011 – Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny

2010 – Tower, Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman

2009 – Where Memories Lie, Deborah Crombie

2008 – What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman

2007 – The Virgin of Small Plains, Nancy Pickard

2006 – The Lincoln Lawyer, Michael Connelly

2005 – The Killing of the Tinkers, Ken Bruen

2004 – The House Sitter, Peter Lovesey

2003 – Winter and Night, S. J. Rozan

2002 – Folly, Laurie R. King

2001 – A Place of Execution, Val McDermid

2000 – The Flower Master, Sujata Massey

1999 – Blood Work, Michael Connelly

1998 – Dreaming of the Bones, Deborah Crombie

1997 – Bloodhounds, Peter Lovesey

1996 – Under the Beetle's Cellar, Mary Willis Walker

1995 – She Walks These Hills, Sharyn McCrumb

1994 – The Sculptress, Minette Walters

1993 – Bootlegger's Daughter, Margaret Maron

1992 – I.O.U., Nancy Pickard

1991 – If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O, Sharyn McCrumb

1990 – A Little Class on Murder, Carolyn Hart

1989 – A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman

1988 – Marriage is Murder, Nancy Pickard

1987 – A Taste for Death, P. D. James

Best First Mystery

2015 – Invisible City, Julia Dahl

2014 – A Killing at Cotton Hill, Terry Shames

2013 – Don't Ever Get Old, Daniel Friedman

2012 – All Cry Chaos, Leonard Rosen

2011 – Rogue Island, Bruce DeSilva

2010 – The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

2009 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

2008 – In the Woods, Tana French

2007 – Mr. Clarinet, Nick Stone

2006 – Immoral, Brian Freeman

2005 – Dating Dead Men, Harley Jane Kozak

2004 – Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear

2003 – In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming

2002 – Open Season, C. J. Box

2001 – A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss

2000 – Inner City Blues, Paula L. Woods

1999 – Sympathy for the Devil, Jerrilyn Farmer

1998 – Dead Body Language, Penny Warner

1997 – Death in Little Tokyo, Dale Furutani

1996 – The Strange Files of Fremont Jones, Dianne Day

1995 – Do Unto Others, Jeff Abbott

1994 – Death Comes as Epiphany, Sharan Newman

1993 – Blanche on the Lam, Barbara Neely

1992 – (tie) Murder on the Iditarod Trail, Sue Henry and Zero at the Bone, Mary Willis Walker

1991 – Postmortem, Patricia Cornwell

1990 – Grime and Punishment, Jill Churchill

1989 – The Killings at Badger's Drift, Caroline Graham

1988 – The Monkey's Raincoat, Robert Crais

1987 – (tie) The Ritual Bath, Faye Kellerman and A Case of Loyalties, Marilyn Wallace

Best Nonfiction

Note: Until 2004, this category was named "Best Critical/Biographical Mystery Work"

2015 – Writes of Passage: Adventures on the Writer's Journey edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan

2014 – The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower

2013 – no award

2012 – The Sookie Stackhouse Companion by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

2011 – Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)

2010 – Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James (Alfred A. Knopf)

2009 – African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland)

2008 – The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians edited by Roger Sobin (Poisoned Pen Press)

2007 – Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar (Crum Creek)

2006 – Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)

2005 – Forensics for Dummies by D. P. Lyle, MD (Wiley Publishing)

2004 – Make Mine a Mystery: A Reader's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction by Gary Warren Niebuhr (Libraries Unlimited)

2003 – They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Forgotten Mystery Novels, edited by Jim Huang (Crum Creek Press)

2002 – Writing the Mystery: A Start to Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional by G. Miki Hayden (Intrigue)

2001 – The American Regional Mystery by Marvin Lachman (Crossover Press)

2000 – Ross Macdonald by Tom Nolan (Scribner)

1999 – Killer Books by Jean Swanson & Dean James (Berkley)

1998 – Deadly Women by Jan Grape, Dean James and Ellen Nehr (Carroll & Graf)

1997 – Detecting Women 2 by Willetta Heising (Purple Moon Press)

1996 – Detecting Women by Willetta Heising (Purple Moon)

1995 – By a Woman's Hand by Dean James & Jean Swanson

1994 – The Fine Art of Murder edited by Ed Gorman

1993 – Doubleday Crime Club Compendium by Ellen Nehr

1992 – Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony Hillerman by Tony Hillerman & Ernie Bulow

1991 – Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries by Gillian Gill

1990 – The Bedside Companion to Crime by H. R. F. Keating

1989 – Silk Stalkings by Victoria Nichols & Susan Thompson

1988 – Son of Gun in Cheek by Bill Pronzini

1987 – 1001 Midnights by Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini

Best Short Story

2015 – "Honeymoon Sweet" by Craig Faustus Buck (Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out Books)

2014 – no award

2013 – no award

2012 – "Disarming" by Dana Cameron (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, June 2011)

2011 – "Swing Shift" by Dana Cameron (Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side, edited by Charlaine Harris; Berkley)

2010 – "On the House" by Hank Phillippi Ryan (in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers, edited by Kate Flora, Ruth M. McCarty and Susan Oleksiw; Level Best Books)

2009 – "The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron (in Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner; Penguin Books)

2008 – "Please Watch Your Step" by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine, 21/2007)

2007 – "Til Death Do Us Part" by Tim Maleeny (MWA Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, edited by Harlan Coben; Little, Brown)

2006 – "There Is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Sept–Oct 2005)

2005 – "The Widow of Slane" by Terence Faherty (EQMM, March/April 2004)

2004 – "The Grass Is Always Greener" by Sandy Balzo (EQMM, March 2003)

2003 – "Voice Mail" by Janet Dawson (Scam and Eggs, Five Star)

2002 – "The Abbey Ghosts" by Jan Burke (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Jan 2001)

2001 – "A Candle for Christmas" by Reginald Hill (EQMM, January 2000)

2000 – "Maubi and the Jumbies" by Kate Grilley, in Murderous Intent, Fall 1999

1999 – "Of Course You Know That Chocolate Is a Vegetable" by Barbara D'Amato in EQMM, Nov. 98

1998 – "Two Ladies of Rose Cottage" by Peter Robinson in Malice Domestic 6 (Pocket Books)

1997 – "Cruel & Unusual" by Carolyn Wheat from Guilty as Charged (Pocket)

1996 – "Evans Tries an O-Level" by Colin Dexter from Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories (Crown)

1995 – (tie) "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Deborah Adams and "Unharmed" by Jan Burke

1994 – "Checkout" by Susan Dunlap

1993 – "Henrie O's Holiday" by Carolyn Hart

1992 – "Deborah's Judgement" by Margaret Maron

1991 – "Too Much to Bare" by Joan Hess

1990 – "Afraid All the Time" by Nancy Pickard

1989 – "Deja Vu" by Doug Allyn

1988 – "The Woman in the Wardrobe" by Robert Barnard

1987 – "The Parker Shotgun" by Sue Grafton

Sue Feder Historical Mystery

2015 – A Deadly Measure of Brimstone, Catriona McPherson (Minotaur)

2014 – Murder as a Fine Art, by David Morrell

2013 – An Unmarked Grave, by Charles Todd

2012 – Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains, Catriona McPherson (Thomas Dunne/Minotaur)

2011 – City of Dragons, Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)

2010 – A Trace of Smoke, Rebecca Cantrell (Forge)

2009 – A Royal Pain, Rhys Bowen (Berkley)

2008 – Mistress of the Art of Death, Ariana Franklin (Putnam)

2007 – Oh Danny Boy, Rhys Bowen (Minotaur)

2006 – Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

References

Macavity Awards Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA