Agatha Award Winners 2025: Celebrating Traditional Mysteries

Named for Agatha Christie, these awards celebrate the best in the kind of mysteries typified by the British author. This generally means stories without explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence.

Members of Malice Domestic, an annual mystery fan convention that’s been meeting since 1989, nominate authors in six categories including best contemporary novel, best historical novel, and best first novel. Those who actually attend the convention in Maryland select the winners.

This year’s award winners:

Best Contemporary Novel

 A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE by Gigi Pandian. Book #3 in Pandian’s Secret Staircase series featuring illusionist Tempest Raj. The author describes the books as “A new locked-room mystery series in which an illusionist builds magical architectural details into people’s homes while solving impossible crimes.” Pandian is the bestselling author of two other cozy mystery series and a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color.

Also nominated:

• A COLLECTION OF LIES by Connie Berry
• A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE by Gigi Pandian
• A VERY WOODSY MURDER by Ellen Byron
• FONDUE OR DIE by Korina Moss
• THE DARK WIVES by Ann Cleeves

Best Historical Novel 

TO SLIP THE BONDS OF EARTH by Amanda Flower. Book #1 in Flower’s Katharine Wright mystery series featuring the younger sister of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Katharine, a Latin teacher and suffragette, must find the brothers’ as-yet-unpatented flyer plans when they’re stolen at a party. Flower also writes the Agatha Award-winning series featuring Emily Dickinson’s maid, among other series.

Also nominated:

• HALL OF MIRRORS by John Copenhaver
• THE LAST HOPE by Susan Elia MacNeal
• THE PARIS MISTRESS by Mally Becker
• THE WHARTON PLOT by Mariah Fredericks

Best First Novel 

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID by K.T. Nguyen. Annie “Anh Le” Shaw is a first-generation Vietnamese-American artist whose picture-picture perfect life begins to unravel. It’s described as “a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.” Visit the author’s website.

Also nominated:

• A DEADLY ENDEAVOR by Jenny Adams
• GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ by Jennifer K. Morita
• HOUNDS OF THE HOLLYWOOD BASKERVILLES by Elizabeth Crowens
• THREADS OF DECEPTION by Elle Jauffret

Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery

 SASQUATCH OF HARRIMAN LAKE by K.B. Jackson

Also nominated:

• FIRST WEEK FREE AT THE ROOMY TOILET: A JUNE KNIGHT MYSTERY by Josh Pachter
• SID JOHNSON & THE WELL-INTENDED CONSPIRACY by Frances Schoonmaker
• THE BIG GREY MAN OF BEN MACDHUI by K.B. Jackson
• THE SHERLOCK SOCIETY by James Ponti

Best Short Story

 “THE POSTMAN ALWAYS FLIRTS TWICE” by Barb Goffman, Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy

Also nominated:

• “A MATTER OF TRUST” by Barb Goffman, Three Strikes–You’re Dead
• “REYNISFJARA” by Kristopher Zgorski, Mystery Most International
• “SATAN’S SPIT” by Gabriel Valjan, Tales of Music, Murder and Mayhem: Bouchercon 2024
• “SINS OF THE FATHER” by Kerry Hammond, Mystery Most International

Best Nonfiction 

WRITING THE COZY MYSTERY: AUTHORS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THEIR CRAFT Edited by Phyllis M. Betz

Also nominated:

• ABINGDON’S BOARDINGHOUSE MURDER by Greg Lilly
• AGATHA CHRISTIE, MARPLE: EXPERT ON WICKEDNESS by Mark Aldridge
• SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE MURDERERS: CRITIQUING THE COLUMBO KILLERS by Chris Chan
• THE BOOKSHOP: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BOOKSTORE by Evan Friss

You can check out last year’s winners here.

Want even more? To see a downloadable list of nominees and winners for all categories since the awards began in 1988, click here.