Macavity Awards

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.^[1] 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.

Awards[]

Best Mystery Novel[]

• 2020 - The Chain, Adrian McKinty
• 2019 – November Road, Lou Berney
• 2018 – Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz
• 2017 – A Great Reckoning, Louise Penny
• 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 (Novel)[]

• 2020 - One Night Gone, Tara Laskowski
• 2019 – Dodging and Burning, John Copenhaver
• 2018 – The Lost Ones, Sheena Kamal
• 2017 – IQ, Joe Ide
• 2016 – Past Crimes, Glen Erik Hamilton
• 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 Mystery Nonfiction/Critical[]

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

• 2020 - Hitchcock and the Censors, John Billheimer
• 2019 – The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman
• 2018 – The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards
• 2017 – Sara Paretsky: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Margaret Kinsman
• 2016 – The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story by Martin Edwards
• 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^[2] by Daniel Stashower
• 2013 – Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke
• 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 Mystery Short Story[]

• 2020 - "Better Days" by Art Taylor
• 2019 – English 398: Fiction Workshop by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)
• 2018 – Windward by Paul D. Marks (Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks; Down & Out Books)
• 2017 – "Parallel Play" by Art Taylor (Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
• 2016 – "The Little Men" by Megan Abbott (MysteriousPress.com/Open Road)
• 2015 – "Honeymoon Sweet" by Craig Faustus Buck (Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014, edited by Dana Cameron; Down & Out Books)
• 2014 – "The Care and Feeding of Houseplants" by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2013)
• 2013 – "The Lord Is My Shamus" by Barb Goffman (Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
• 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 Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery[]

• 2020 - The Secrets We Kept, Lara Prescott
• 2019 – The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey
• 2018 – In Farleigh Field, Rhys Bowen
• 2017 – Heart of Stone, James W. Ziskin
• 2016 – The Masque of a Murderer Susanna Calkins
• 2015 – A Deadly Measure of Brimstone, Catriona McPherson (Minotaur)
• 2014 – Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell
• 2013 – An Unmarked Grave, 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[]

External links[]

• Home page of the Macavity award.