Psst! Wanna tip about where to find your next great read? Spend some time with 2022’s Macavity Award winners and nominees. You’ll find favorites, I’m sure. More importantly – who are the new kids on the block you’ll want to sample?
The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are literary awards for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the “mystery cat” of T. S. Eliot‘s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Why should I care about nominees? Mystery Readers International is one of largest organization of mystery readers in the world. Its members include fans, critics, writers, publishers, and editors. Past winners include Sue Grafton, Michael Connelly, and Tana French. The award is given in five categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story and the Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery.
2022 Macavity Award Nominees
Best Mystery Novel:
- S.A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears (Flatiron Books) winner
- Michael Connelly: The Dark Hours (Little, Brown and Co.)
- Val McDermid: 1979 (Atlantic Monthly)
- Alan Parks: Bobby March Will Live Forever (World Noir)
- Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Henry Holt)
- Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle (Doubleday)
Best First Mystery:
- Mia P. Manansala: Arsenic and Adobo (Berkley) winner
- Alexandra Andrews: Who is Maude Dixon? (Little, Brown)
- Abigail Dean: Girl A (Viking)
- Erin Flanagan: Deer Season (University of Nebraska Press)
- Wanda M. Morris: All Her Little Secrets (William Morrow)
Best Mystery Short Story:
- Richard Helms: “Sweeps Week” (EQMM, July/August 2021) winner
- Tracy Clark: “Lucky Thirteen” (Midnight Hour, Crooked Lane Books)
- Steve Hockensmith: “Curious Incidents” (EQMM, January/February 2021)
- R.T. Lawton: “The Road to Hana” (AHMM, May/June 2021)
- G.M. Malliet: “The White Star” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
- Gigi Pandian: “The Locked Room Library” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
- Dave Zeltserman: “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins” (EQMM, July/August 2021)
Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
Naomi Hirahara: Clark and Division (Soho Crime)
- Rhys Bowen: The Venice Sketchbook (Lake Union) winner
- Susan Elia MacNeal: The Hollywood Spy (Bantam)
- Sujata Massey: The Bombay Prince (Soho Crime)
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Velvet was the Night (Del Rey)
- Lori Rader-Day: Death at Greenway (William Morrow)
