On April 29, 2018, Malice Domestic announced the winners of the 2017 Agatha Awards at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, MD. The Agatha Awards honor the "traditional mystery," books typified by the works of Agatha Christie and others. For the purposes of Malice Domestic, the genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence, and are not classified as "hard-boiled."

For more information on the Agatha Awards and Malice Domestic, please visit http://www.MaliceDomestic.org
 

2017 Winners

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL
GLASS HOUSES: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL
IN FARLEIGH FIELD by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE: A Detective by Day Mystery, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)

BEST NONFICTION
FROM HOLMES TO SHERLOCK: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon, by Mattias Boström (Mysterious Press)

BEST SHORT STORY
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)

BEST CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT
SYDNEY MACKENZIE KNOCKS 'EM DEAD by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

2017 Nominees

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL

• DEATH OVERDUE: A Haunted Library Mystery, by Allison Brook (Crooked Lane Books)
• A CAJUN CHRISTMAS KILLING: A Cajun Country Mystery, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
• NO WAY HOME: A Zoe Chambers Mystery, by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
• TAKE OUT by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
• GLASS HOUSES: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL

• IN FARLEIGH FIELD by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union Publishing)
• MURDER IN AN ENGLISH VILLAGE: A Beryl and Edwina Mystery, by Jessica Ellicott  (Kensington)
• CALLED TO JUSTICE: A Quaker Midwife Mystery, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
• THE PARIS SPY: A Maggie Hope Mystery, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam)
• DANGEROUS TO KNOW: A Lillian Frost and Edith Head Novel, by Renee Patrick (Forge)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

• ADRIFT: A Mer Cavallo Mystery, by Micki Browning (Alibi-Random House)
• THE PLOT IS MURDER: Mystery Bookshop, by V.M. Burns (Kensington)
• HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE: A Detective by Day Mystery, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)
• DAUGHTERS OF BAD MEN by Laura Oles (Red Adept Publishing)
• PROTOCOL: A Maggie O'Malley Mystery, by Kathleen Valenti (Henery Press)

BEST NONFICTION

• FROM HOLMES TO SHERLOCK: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon, by Mattias Boström (Mysterious Press)
• THE STORY OF CLASSIC CRIME IN 100 BOOKS by Martin Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press)
• AMERICAN FIRE: Love, Arson and Life in a Vanishing Land, by Monica Hesse (Liveright Publishing Corp.)
• REWRITE YOUR LIFE: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction, by Jess Lourey (Conari Press)
• MANDERLEY FOREVER: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier, by Tatiana de Rosnay (St. Martin’s Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

• DOUBLE DECK THE HALLS by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
• “Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 SHADES OF CABERNET (Koehler Books)
• “The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
• “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)
• “A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in COAST TO COAST: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea (Down & Out Books)

BEST CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT

• CITY OF ANGELS by Kristi Belcamino (Polis Books)
• SYDNEY MACKENZIE KNOCKS 'EM DEAD by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)
• THE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE by Caroline Carlson (HarperCollins)
• AUDACITY JONES STEALS THE SHOW by Kirby Larson (Scholastic Press)
• THE HARLEM CHARADE by Natasha Tarpley (Scholastic Press)