The Macavity Award winners were announced at the Bouchercon 2019 Opening Ceremonies in St. Dallas, TX on October 31st.

The Macavity Award is named for the “mystery cat” of T.S. Eliot (OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories.

For more information, go to MysteryReaders.org
 

2019 Winners

Best Novel
NOVEMBER ROAD by Lou Berney (William Morrow)

Best First Novel
DODGING AND BURNING by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Books)

Best Nonfiction
THE REAL LOLITA: A Lost Girl, an Unthinkable Crime, and a Scandalous Masterpiece, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)

Best Short Story
“English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel
THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL: A Mystery of 1920s India, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
 

2019 Nominees

Best Novel

• NOVEMBER ROAD by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
• IF I DIE TONIGHT by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow Paperbacks)
• THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper (Flatiron Books)
• JAR OF HEARTS by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur Books)
• HIROSHIMA BOY by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park Books)
• UNDER MY SKIN by Lisa Unger (Park Row Books)

Best First Novel

• MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
• DODGING AND BURNING by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Books)
• WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• SOMETHING IN THE WATER by Catherine Steadman (Ballantine Books)
• THE CHALK MAN by C.J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Nonfiction

• THE METAPHYSICAL MYSTERIES OF G.K. CHESTERTON: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction, by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland)
• 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)
• CLASSIC AMERICAN CRIME FICTION OF THE 1920s edited by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books)
• I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (Harper)
• AGATHA CHRISTIE: A Mysterious Life, by Laura Thompson (Pegasus Books)
• THE REAL LOLITA: A Lost Girl, an Unthinkable Crime, and a Scandalous Masterpiece, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)

Best Short Story

• “Race to Judgment” by Craig Faustus Buck (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
• “All God’s Sparrows” by Leslie Budewitz (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/Jun 2018)
• “Bug Appétit” by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
• “Three-Star Sushi” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3)
• “The Cambodian Curse” by Gigi Pandian (THE CAMBODIAN CURSE AND OTHER STORIES)
• “English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel

• A LADY'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE AND MURDER: A Countess of Harleigh Mystery, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• CITY OF INK by Elsa Hart (Minotaur Books)
• ISLAND OF THE MAD: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL: A Mystery of 1920s India, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• A DYING NOTE: A Silver Rush Mystery, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A FORGOTTEN PLACE: A Bess Crawford Mystery, by Charles Todd (William Morrow)