On May 4, 2019, Malice Domestic announced the winners of the 2018 Agatha Awards at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, MD during Malice Domestic 31. 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
 

2018 Winners

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL
MARDI GRAS MURDER: A Cajun Country Mystery, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)

BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL
THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

BEST FIRST NOVEL (tie)
A LADY'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE AND MURDER: A Countess of Harleigh Mystery, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
CURSES BOILED AGAIN: A Lobster Shack Mystery, by Shari Randall (St. Martin’s Press)

BEST NONFICTION
MASTERING PLOT TWISTS: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers, by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books)

BEST SHORT STORY (tie)
“All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
“The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY
POTION PROBLEMS: Just Add Magic, Book 2 by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

2018 Nominees

BEST CONTEMPORARY NOVEL

• MARDI GRAS MURDER: A Cajun Country Mystery, by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
• BEYOND THE TRUTH: A Detective Byron Mystery, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Witness Impulse)
• CRY WOLF: A Zoe Chambers Mystery, by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
• KINGDOM OF THE BLIND: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
• TRUST ME by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)

BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL

• FOUR FUNERALS AND MAYBE A WEDDING: A Royal Spyness Mystery, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• THE GOLD PAWN: An Art Deco Mystery, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington)
• THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• TURNING THE TIDE: A Quaker Midwife Mystery, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
• MURDER ON UNION SQUARE: A Gaslight Mystery, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

• A LADY'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE AND MURDER: A Countess of Harleigh Mystery, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• LITTLE COMFORT: A Hester Thursby Mystery, by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
• WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink)
• DEADLY SOLUTION: A Maeve Malloy Mystery, by Keenan Powell (Level Best Books)
• CURSES BOILED AGAIN: A Lobster Shack Mystery, by Shari Randall (St. Martin’s Press)

BEST NONFICTION

• MASTERING PLOT TWISTS: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers, by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books)
• WRITING THE COZY MYSTERY by Nancy J. Cohen (Orange Grove Press)
• CONAN DOYLE FOR THE DEFENSE: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox (Random House)
• AGATHA CHRISTIE: A Mysterious Life, by Laura Thompson (Pegasus Books)
• WICKED WOMEN OF OHIO by Jane Ann Turzillo (History Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

• “All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
• “A Postcard for the Dead” by Susanna Calkins in FLORIDA HAPPENS: Tales of Mystery, Mayhem, and Suspense from the Sunshine State (Three Rooms Press)
• “Bug Appetit” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
• “The Case of the Vanishing Professor” by Tara Laskowski (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
• “English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY

• POTION PROBLEMS: Just Add Magic, Book 2 by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)
• WINTERHOUSE by Ben Guterson (Henry Holt)
• A SIDE OF SABOTAGE: A Quinnie Boyd Mystery, by C.M. Surrisi (Carolrhoda Books)