The Macavity Award is named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot's 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.

For more information go to MysteryReaders.org

2009 Winners

Best Novel
WHERE MEMORIES LIE by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow)

Best First Mystery
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)

Best Nonfiction, Critical
AFRICAN-AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS by Frankie Bailey (McFarland)

Best Short Story
"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron in WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE, ed. by Harris & Kelner (Penguin)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery
A ROYAL PAIN by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)

2009 Nominees

Best Mystery Novel
TRIGGER CITY by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
WHERE MEMORIES LIE by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow)
THE DYING BREED (UK)/ THE PRICE OF BLOOD (US) by Declan Hughes (John Murray/ William Morrow)
THE DRAINING LAKE by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur)
CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
THE CRUELEST MONTH by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
THE FAULT TREE by Louise Ure (Minotaur)

Best First Mystery
FINDING NOUF by Zoe Ferraris (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
DEATH OF A COZY WRITER by G. M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
CALUMET CITY by Charlie Newton (Simon & Schuster)
AN INNOCENT CLIENT by Scott Pratt (Onyx)
A CARRION DEATH by Michael Stanley (Harper; Headline)
THE BLOOD DETECTIVE by Dan Waddell (Minotaur)

Best Nonfiction/Critical
AFRICAN AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS: A Historical & Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland)
HARD-BOILED SENTIMENTALITY: The Secret History of American Crime Stories by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia Univ.)
HOW TO WRITE KILLER HISTORICAL MYSTERIES by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
SCECNE OF THE CRIME: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction by David Geherin (McFarland)
EDGAR ALLAN POE: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Harry Lee Poe (Metro)
THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale (Walker)

Best Mystery Short Story
"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron in WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE, ed. by Harris & Kelner (Penguin)
"A Sleep Not Unlike Death" by Sean Chercover in Hardcore Hardboiled, ed. by Todd Robinson (Kensington)
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" by Toni L. P. Kelner in WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE, ed. by Harris & Kelner (Penguin)
"Scratch a Woman" by Laura Lippman in HARDLY KNEW HER (William Morrow)
"Between the Dark and the Daylight" by Tom Piccirilli in EQMM Sep/Oct 2008

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery
A ROYAL PAIN by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
STEALING TRINITY by Ward Larsen (Oceanview)
THE WHISKEY REBELS by David Liss (Thorndike/ Random House UK)
VEIL OF LIES by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
COMPANY OF LIARS by Karen Maitland (Michael Joseph/ Delacorte)
NOX DORMIENDA by Kelli Stanley (Five Star)