Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Agatha Award Nomination for Best First Novel

After failing to make it to the next round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, I was feeling a bit down, but I just got some news that sent me flying through the stratosphere! A REAL BASKET CASE was one of four books nominated in the Best First Novel category of the Agatha Awards, which are given out annually at the Malice Domestic conference. The Agatha Awards are one of the biggies in the mystery community. They honor the traditional mystery—-books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is generally characterized by mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another. The whole press release is below.

2007 Agatha Awards Nominees Announced

Malice Domestic has announced the nominees for the 2007 Agatha Awards. Agathas will be given in the categories of Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, Best Non-Fiction and Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel. The awards will be presented at the Malice Domestic XX convention during the Agatha Awards Banquet on April 26, 2008.

Malice Domestic XX Agatha Nominees:

Best Novel

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, by Donna Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
Hard Row, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
A Fatal Grace, by Louise Penny (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Murder With Reservations, by Elaine Viets (NAL)

Best First Novel

A Beautiful Blue Death, by Charles Finch (St. Martin's Minotaur)
A Real Basket Case, by Beth Groundwater (Five Star)
Silent In The Grave, by Deanna Raybourn (Mira)
Prime Time, by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Harlequin)

Best Nonfiction

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life In Letters, by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower (Penguin Press)
The Official Nancy Drew Handbook, by Penny Warner (Quirck Productions)

Best Short Story

"A Rat's Tale", by Donna Andrews (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct, 2007)
"Please Watch Your Step", by Rhys Bowen (The Strand, Spring, 2007)
"Casino Gamble", by Nan Higginson (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)
"Popping Round To The Post", by Peter Lovesey (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November, 2007)
"Death Will Clean Your Closet", by Elizabeth Zelvin (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)

Best Children's/Young Adult

A Light In The Cellar, by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl)
Bravo Zulu, Samantha!, by Kathleen Benner Duble (Peachtree Publishers)
Cover-Up: Mystery At The Super Bowl, by John Feinstein (Knopf [Random House])
The Falconer's Knot, by Mary Hoffman (Bloomsbury USA Childrens' Books)
Theodosia And The Serpents Of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers (Houghton Mifflin)

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