The 2022 Agatha Awards were presented by Malice Domestic, a nonprofit group that holds an annual fan convention. The Agathas celebrate the traditional mystery, best represented by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous sex.
These awards are for books published in 2022. The awards were presented at the Malice Domestic Convention that ran April 28-30, 2023. The nominees are selected by the Malice Domestic members and the winners are chosen by the attendees of the conference. Agatha Awards are for works first published in the United States by a living author during the calendar year.
Best Contemporary Novel
Winner A World of Curiousities by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Other Nominations
Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron (Berkley Prime Crime)
Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow (Berkley)
Fatal Reunion by Annette Dashofy (Level Best Books)
Dead Man’s Leap by Tina de Bellegarde (Level Best Books)
Best Historical Novel
Winner Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower (Berkley)
Other Nominations
The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden (Crooked Lane Books)
Best First Novel
Winner Cheddar Off Dead by Korina Moss (St. Martin’s)
Other Nominations
Death in the Aegean by M. A. Monnin (Level Best Books)
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Finalist by Joan Long (Level Best Books)
The Gallery of Beauties by Nina Wachsman (Level Best Books)
Best Short Story
Winner “Beauty and the Beyotch,” by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Feb. 2022)
Other nominees
“There Comes a Time,” by Cynthia Kuhn, Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
“Fly Me to the Morgue,” by Lisa Q. Mathews, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
“The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot,” by Richie Narvaez, Land of 10,000 Thrills, Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books)
“The Invisible Band,” by Art Taylor, Edgar & Shamus Go Golden (Down & Out Books)
Best Non-Fiction
Winner Promophobia: Taking the Mystrey Out of Promoting Crime Fiction by Diane Vallere Ed. (Sisters in Crime)
Other nominees
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie by Mary Anna Evans and J. C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury Academic)
Summary of The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (Sourcebooks)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)
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Best Children’s / YA Mystery
Winner Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)
Other nominees
Daybreak at Raven Island by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young People)
In Myrtle Peril by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
#shedeservedit by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books)
Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave Stealer by Frances Schoonmaker (Auctus Publishers)