The Agatha Award

The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie—and are awarded annually by Malice Domestic, Ltd.

2007

Best Novel: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Best First Novel: Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Best Children's/Young Adult: A Light in the Cellar by Sarah Masters Buckey

2006

Best Novel: The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (Random House)

Best First Novel: The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall (Poisoned Pen Press)

Best Children's/Young Adult: Pea Soup Poisonings by Nancy Means Wright (Hilliard & Harris)

2005

Best Novel: The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page (William Morrow)

Best First Novel: Better Off Wed by Laura Durham (Avon Books)

Best Children's/Young Adult: Down The Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams (Laura Geringer Books)

2004

Best Novel: Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press)

Best First Novel: Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak (Doubleday)

Best Children's/Young Adult: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press)

2003

Best Novel: Letter From Home by Carolyn Hart (Berkley Prime Crime)

Best First Novel: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press Inc.)

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel: The 7th Knot by Kathleen Karr (Marshall Cavendish)

2002

Best Novel: You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews (Berkley Prime Crime)

Best First Novel: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel: Red Card: A Zeke Armstrong Mystery by Daniel J. Hale and Matthew LaBrot (Top Publications)

2001

Best Novel: Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen (St Martin's Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel: Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer (Dutton)

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel: Mystery Of The Haunted Caves: A Troop 13 Mystery by Penny Warner (Meadowbrook Press)

2000

Best Novel: Storm Track by Margaret Maron (Mysterious Press)

Best First Novel: Death on a Silver Tray by Rosemary Stevens (Berkley Prime Crime)

1999

Best Novel: Mariner's Compass by Earlene Fowler (Berkley Publishing Group)

Best First Novel: Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews (Thomas Dunne Books)

1998

Best Novel: Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman (Avon Books)

Best First Novel: The Doctor Digs a Grave by Robin Hathaway (St. Martin's Minotaur)

1997

Best Novel: The Devil In Music by Kate Ross (Viking)

Best First Novel: The Salaryman's Wife by Sujata Massey (HarperCollins)

1996

Best Novel: Up Jumps the Devil by Margaret Maron (Mysterious Press)

Best First Novel: Murder on a Girl's Night Out by Anne George (Avon Books)

1995

Best Novel: If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him by Sharyn McCrumb (Ballantine)

Best First Novel: The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams (Walker)

1994

Best Novel: She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb (Scribner)

Best First Novel: Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott (Fawcett)

1993

Best Novel: Dead Man's Island by Carolyn Hart (Bantam)

Best First Novel: Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr (Putnam)

1992

Best Novel: Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (Mysterious Press)

Best First Novel: Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (St. Martin's Press)

1991

Best Novel: I.O.U. by Nancy Pickard (Pocket)

Best First Novel: Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker (St. Martin's Press)

1990

Best Novel: Bum Steer by Nancy Pickard (Pocket )

Best First Novel: The Body In the Belfry by Katherine Hall Page (St. Martin's Press)

1989

Best Novel: Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters (Warner)

Best First Novel: Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill (Avon Books)

1988

Best Novel: Something Wicked by Carolyn G. Hart (Bantam)

Best First Novel: A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George (Bantam)