Agatha Awards: Best Novel

The Agatha Awards are named after mystery writer Agatha Christie and are awarded annually to living American authors (or authors first published in the US) in five categories:

• Best Novel
• Best First Mystery: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/25268
• Best Short Story
• Best Non-Fiction: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/25270
• Best Children’s/YA Mystery

"The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery – books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is generally characterized by mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another. Novels and stories featuring police officers and private detectives may qualify for the Agatha, but materials generally classified as “hard boiled” are not appropriate."

(found at: http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards.html)