Members of the Mystery Readers International recently named the winners of this year's Macavity Awards.  This honor, named after the "mystery cat" in T. S. Elliot's OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS, is bestowed on mysteries published in the previous year, and is divided into four categories.

BEST NOVEL
THE LINCOLN LAWYER by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
IMMORAL by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST NONFICTION
GIRL SLEUTH: NANCY DREW AND THE WOMEN WHO CREATED HER by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)

BEST SHORT STORY
"There Is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (EQMM, Sept-Oct 2005)

SUE FEDER HISTORICAL MYSTERY AWARD
PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

For more information and past winners go to http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html

Members of the Mystery Readers International recently named the nominees of this year's Macavity Awards.  This honor, named after the "mystery cat" in T. S. Elliot's OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS, is bestowed on mysteries published in the previous year, and is divided into four categories.

BEST NOVEL
ONE SHOT by Lee Child (Delacorte Press)
THE JAMES DEANS by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)
THE LINCOLN LAWYER by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
VANISH by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books)
STRANGE AFFAIR by Peter Robinson (William Morrow)
THE POWER OF THE DOG by Don Winslow (Knopf)
SOLOMON VS. LORD by Paul Levine (Bantam)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
IMMORAL by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
ALL SHOOK UP by Mike Harrison (ECW Press)
BABY GAME by Randall Hicks (Wordslinger Press)
THE FIREMAKER by Peter May (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST NONFICTION
TRACKS TO MURDER by Jonathan Goodman (Kent State University)
BEHIND THE MYSTERY: TOP MYSTERY WRITERS INTERVIEWED by Stuart Kaminsky; photographed by Laurie Roberts (Hothouse Press)
NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE NOVELS edited by Leslie S. Klinger (Norton)
GIRL SLEUTH: NANCY DREW AND THE WOMEN WHO CREATED HER by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)
SPOOK: SCIENCE TACKLES THE AFTERLIFE by Mary Roach (Norton)

BEST SHORT STORY
"It Can Happen" by David Corbett in San Francisco Noir (Akashic Books)
"Everybody's Girl" by Robert Barnard (EQMM, May 2005)
"The Big Road" by Steve Hockensmith (AHMM, May 2005)
"There Is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (EQMM, Sept-Oct 2005)

SUE FEDER HISTORICAL MYSTERY AWARD
IN LIKE FLYNN by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE by Tony Broadbent (St. Martin's)
THE WAR OF THE WORLD MURDERS by Max Allan Collins
NIGHT'S CHILD by Maureen Jennings (McClelland and Stewart)
PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

For more information and past winners go to http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html

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 nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories.

During the 2005 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, held in Chicago from September 1-4, Mystery Readers International presented the Macavity Awards to the best crime fiction writers of the past year.

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)

BEST NONFICTION
FORENSICS FOR DUMMIES by D.P. Lyle, MD (Wiley Publishing)

BEST SHORT STORY
"The Widow of Slane" by Terence Faherty (EQMM, March/April 2004)

For more information and past winners go to http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html

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 nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories. Winners will be announced at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, held this year in Chicago, September 1-4.

BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
COLD CASE by Robin Burcell (Avon)
DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay (Doubleday)
HIGH COUNTRY FALL by Margaret Maron (Mysterious Press)
CALIFORNIA GIRL by T. Jefferson Parker (HarperCollins)
PLAYING WITH FIRE by Peter Robinson (William Morrow)

BEST FIRST MYSTERY NOVEL
UNCOMMON GROUNDS by Sandra Balzo (Five Star)
SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI by Naomi Hirahara (Delta)
WHISKEY SOUR by J. A. Konrath (Hyperion)
DATING DEAD MEN by Harley Jane Kozak (Doubleday)
MISDEMEANOR MAN by Dylan Schaffer (Bloomsbury)

BEST NONFICTION
FAMOUS AMERICAN CRIMES & TRIALS, VOL. 1 by Frankie Y. Bailey & Steven Chermak (Praeger Publishers)
JUST THE FACTS: True Tales of Cops & Criminals, by Jim Doherty (Deadly Serious Press)
THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES: The Complete Short Stories, edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton)
LATIN AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS: An A-to-Z Guide, by Darrell B. Lockhart (Greenwood Press)
FORENSICS FOR DUMMIES by D.P. Lyle, MD (Wiley Publishing)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Viscery" by Sandra Balzo (EQMM, December 2004)
"The Widow of Slane" by Terence Faherty (EQMM, March/April 2004)
"The Lady's Not for Dying" by Alana White (Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine, Winter 2004)

For more information and past winners go to http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html