Agatha Award / Best Novel
Best Novel (English Best Contemporary Novel , until 2013 Best Novel ) is one of the six regular categories in which the American literary prize Agatha Award from Malice Domestic Ltd. is awarded. The prize in this category has been awarded annually since 1989; it honors the best contemporary work published in the previous year by an author from the mystery genre who is based on the works of the well-known British crime writer Agatha Christie (1890–1976). The most successful in this category is the Canadian Louise Penny (2008–2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017), who received seven awards, ahead of the American Margaret Maron with four awards (1993, 1997, 2001 and 2012).
Here is a list of the winners of the Agatha Awards in the Best Novel category (the dates refer to the year of publication of the award-winning work):
| year | Award winners | Novel title | German title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Carolyn Hart | Something wicked | |
| 1990 | Elizabeth Peters | Naked Once More | A surefire bestseller |
| 1991 | Nancy Pickard | Bum Steer | |
| 1992 | Nancy Pickard | IOU | |
| 1993 | Margaret Marron | Bootlegger's Daughter | The shadows of the south |
| 1994 | Carolyn Hart | Dead Man's Island | |
| 1995 | Sharyn McCrumb | She Walks These Hills | Shadows over the mountains |
| 1996 | Sharyn McCrumb | If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him | |
| 1997 | Margaret Marron | Up Jumps the Devil | |
| 1998 | Kate Ross | The Devil in Music | The devil aria |
| 1999 | Laura Lippman | Butchers Hill | Butchers Hill |
| 2000 | Earlene Fowler | Mariner's Compass | The secret message |
| 2001 | Margaret Marron | Storm track | |
| 2002 | Rhys Bowen | Murphy's Law | |
| 2003 | Donna Andrews | You've Got Murder | |
| 2004 | Carolyn Hart | Letter from Home | |
| 2005 | Jacqueline Winspear | Birds of a Feather | |
| 2006 | Katherine Hall Page | The Body in the Snowdrift | |
| 2007 | Nancy Pickard | The Virgin of Small Plains | Snow blossom |
| 2008 | Louise Penny | A fatal grace | Snowed in deep |
| 2009 | Louise Penny | The Cruelest Month | The cruel month |
| 2010 | Louise Penny | A brutal telling | |
| 2011 | Louise Penny | Bury Your Dead | |
| 2012 | Margaret Marron | Three-day town | |
| 2013 | Louise Penny | The Beautiful Mystery | |
| 2014 | Hank Phillippi Ryan | The Wrong Girl | Black truth |
| 2015 | Hank Phillippi Ryan | Truth be told | |
| 2016 | Louise Penny | A great reckoning | |
| 2017 | Louise Penny | Glass Houses | Behind the three pines |
| 2018 | Ellen Byron | Mardi Gras Murder |
Web links
- Agatha Awards on the Malice Domestic website