The Macavity Award
The
Macavity Award is named for the
"mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats). Each
year the members of Mystery
Readers International
organization vote for their favorite mysteries in several categories. 
indicates
a review by Mysterious
Reviews.
2009
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
(Knopf)
2008
◊ Best Mystery Novel: What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: In the Woods by Tana French (Viking)
2007
◊ Best Mystery Novel: The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone (HarperCollins)
2006
◊ Best Mystery Novel: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
2005
◊ Best Mystery Novel: The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak (Doubleday)
2004
◊ Best Mystery Novel: The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey (Soho)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho)
2003
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan (St. Martin's Minotaur)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin's Minotaur)
2002
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Folly by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Open Season by C. J. Box (Putnam)
2001
◊ Best Mystery Novel: A Place of Execution by Val McDermid (St. Martin's Minotaur)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss (Random House)
2000
◊ Best Mystery Novel: The Flower Master by Sujata Massey (HarperCollins)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods (W. W. Norton)
1999
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Blood Work by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Sympathy for the Devil by Jerrilyn Farmer (Avon)
1998
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie (Scribner)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Dead Body Language by Penny Warner (Bantam)
1997
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey (Mysterious Press)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: Death in Little Tokyo by Dale Furutani (St. Martin's Press)
1996
◊ Best Mystery Novel: Under the Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker (Doubleday)
◊ Best First Mystery Novel: The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Dianne Day (Doubleday)
1995
◊ Best Novel: She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
◊ Best First Novel: Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott
1994
◊ Best Novel: The Sculptress by Minette Walters
◊ Best First Novel: Death Comes as Epiphany by Sharan Newman
1993
◊ Best Novel: Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
◊ Best First Novel: Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
1992
◊ Best Novel: I.O.U. by Nancy Pickard
◊ Best First Novel (tie): Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry
◊ Best First Novel (tie): Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker
1991
◊ Best Novel: If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb
◊ Best First Novel: Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
1990
◊ Best Novel: A Little Class on Murder by Carolyn Hart
◊ Best First Novel: Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill
1989
◊ Best Novel: A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman
◊ Best First Novel: The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham
1988
◊ Best Novel: Marriage is Murder by Nancy Pickard
◊ Best First Novel: The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais
1987
◊ Best Novel: A Taste for Death by P. D. James
◊ Best First Novel (tie): The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman
◊ Best First Novel (tie): A Case of Loyalties by Marilyn Wallace