Thursday, February 28, 2013

Malice Domestic: The Agatha Award Nominees

Malice Domestic: Agatha Awards
Over at Death in the Stacks, I came across the nominees for the 2012 Agatha Awards. The awards, named for Agatha Christie, honor the 'traditional mystery' and the books nominated contain no explicit sex or excessive gore.

Well, that is a relief. 

The conference - it is celebrating its 25th year - is put on by Malice Domestic the first weekend in May in Bethesda, Maryland. The attendees vote for the winners. 

The guest of honor this year will be Laurie R. King who writes the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes historical mysteries. The international guest of honor will be Peter Robinson who pens the Inspector Banks mysteries which take place in Yorkshire. 

I am happy to see that one of the books nominated in the Best First Novel category is Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown. I met Ms. Brown at the Kentucky Book Fair in November 2012. The action of her mystery takes place in Savannah, Georgia - a city whose beauty is not in the least marred by murder - and I found it to be a fun read. 

The main character in Iced Chiffon is Reagan Summerside, owner of the consignment shop The Prissy Fox, and her attempts to solve the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend.

Another nominee, in the Best Novel category, is G.M. Malliet's The Fatal Winter. I have read everything by Ms. Malliet except this last one but I do have it on reserve at the library.

The Fatal Winter is the second in her series concerning Max Tudor, the handsome, haunted vicar of St. Edwold's in Nether Monkslip. Max was introduced in the book Wicked Autumn (here and here) which I quite enjoyed.

Malliet's other series stars Detective Chief Inspector St. Just. There are three books in that series and they are all quite amusing.

I really must try out some of the past and present books nominated over the past twenty-five years. And who knows, maybe I will just make plans to attend this year's conference. 

If you are interested in reading more about the nominees and the conference, this is the link to the web site: Malice Domestic.

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