Known for honoring outstanding traditional mysteries, and others (with no excessive sex, gore or violence) the Agatha's are a highly sought honor and the nominee list is a great place to find new authors to try.

Links to our copies of the Agatha and Edgar nominated books are given under the Titles of the books; there are also links to the authors' web sites under the Author names.

These links were recently updated to include nominees whose books were on order, that  can now be reserved! The update includes Short Story links that will take you directly to the stories themselves so you can read them online!
 

And now, here's the 2016 List of Agatha Nominees & Winners  (Published in the U.S. for the first time in 2015)

Best Contemporary Novel:
Long Upon the Land, Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)

Bridges Burned, Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
The Child Garden, Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
Nature of the Beast, Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
What You See, Hank Phillipi Ryan (Forge Books)

Best Historical Novel:

Dreaming Spies, Laurie R. King (Bantam)  
Malice at the Palace, Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
The Masque of a Murderer, Susanna Calkins (Minotaur Books)
Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante, Susan Elia Macneal (Banntam)
Murder on Amsterdam Avenue, Victoria Thompson (Berkley)

Best First Novel:

On the Road with Del and Louise, Art Taylor (Henery Press)  
Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman, Tessa Arlen (Minotaur Books)
Macdeath, Cindy Brown (Henery Press) 
Plantation Shudders, Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
Just Killing Time, Julianne Holmes (Berkley) 

Best Nonfiction:

The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)  
The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes, Zack Dundas (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury USA)
Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northeast Ohio, Jane Ann Turzillo (Arcadia Publishing) -- can request through InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For, Kate White (Editor), Harlan Coben (Contributor) and Gillian Flynn (Contributor) (Quirk Books)

Best Short Story:  *with links to the stories themselves!
“A Year Without Santa Claus?” by Barb Goffman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2015)  
“A Questionable Death” by Edith Maxwell, History & Mystery, Oh My (Mystery & Horror, LLC)
“A Killing at the Beausoleil” by Terrie Farley Moran (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2015)
“Suffer the Poor” by Harriette Sackler, History & Mystery, Oh My (Mystery & Horror, LLC)
“A Joy Forever” by B.K. Stevens (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2015)

Best Children’s/Young Adult:

Andi Unstoppable, Amanda Flower (Zonderkidz)  
Pieces and Players, Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press)
Need, Joelle Charbonneau (HMH Books for Young Readers)
Woof, Spencer Quinn (Scholastic Press)
Fighting Chance: A Martial Arts Mystery, B.K. Stevens (Poisoned Pen Press)