2024 Macavity Award Nominees Announced!

The 2024 Macavity Award nominees have been announced!

The Macavity Awards were established in 1987. They’re made up of five different awards – Best Mystery Novel, Best First Mystery Novel, Best Mystery Nonfiction/Critical, Best Mystery Short Story, and the Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery.

The awards are nominated and voted on by members (and friends) of Mystery Readers International, and subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal.

Best Mystery Novel

• Dark Ride by Lou Berney
• Hide by Tracy Clark
• All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
• Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
• Murder Book by Thomas Perry
• Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

The Best Mystery Novel Award past winners include a who’s who of mystery novelists, such as P.D. James, Nancy Pickard, Tony Hillerman, Carolyn Hart, Deborah Crombie, Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Louise Penny, Anthony Horowitz, and so many more.

Best First Mystery

• The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry
• The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
• Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
• Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji
• Dutch Threat by Josh Pachter
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon

Past winners of the Best First Mystery Award include Faye Kellerman, Caroline Graham, C.J. Box, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Jacqueline Winspear, Tana French, Stieg Larsson, Alan Bradley, Joe Ide, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Mia P. Manansala, and Nita Prose.

Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award

• Our Lying Kin by Claudia Hagadus Long
• Time’s Undoing by Cheryl Head
• Evergreen by Naomi Hirahara
• The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
• The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Some of the winners of the Sue Feder Memorial Award include Rhys Bowen, Rebecca Cantrell, Charles Todd, Catriona McPherson, Sujata Massey, Lara Prescott, James Ziskin, Naomi Hirahara, and Lev A.C. Rosen.

Best Short Story

• Real Courage by Barb Goffman
• Green and California Bound by Curtis Ippolito
• Ticket to Ride by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski
• Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand by Lisa Scottoline
• One Night in 1965 by Stacy Woodson

The Best Short Story Award has previously gone to such authors as Sue Grafton, Robert Barnard, Joan Hess, Margaret Maron, Jan Burke, Reginald Hill, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Dana Cameron, Barb Goffman, Art Taylor, Megan Abbott, Gabriel Valjan, and Richard Helms.

Best Mystery Critical/Biographical

• Finders: Justice, Faith, and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction by Anjili Babbar
• Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins and James Traylor
• A Mystery of Mysteries by Mark Dawidziak
• Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux
• Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Robert Morgan

The Best Mystery Nonfiction/Critical Award has undergone a few name changes over the years, but the award has previously gone to such authors as Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, H.R.F. Keating, Ed Gorman, Charlaine Harris, Martin Edwards, Lee Child, and Laurie R. King.

Best of luck to all of the nominees! The winners will be announced on August 28th, 2024 at the Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies in Nashville, Tennessee.

For more on the Macavity Awards, please visit Mystery Readers International.