The Agatha Award Nominees

Hurray! The Agatha Award nominees have been announced. Winners will be chosen at this year's Malice Domestic Conference in Bethesda, MD, April 28-30. It's a great conference for those who love traditional mysteries. 

​​2022
Best Contemporary Novel
Bayou Book Thief, Ellen Byron (Berkley Prime Crime)
Death By Bubble Tea, Jennifer J. Chow (Berkley)
Fatal Reunion, Annette Dashofy (Level Best Books)
Dead Man's Leap, Tina de Bellegarde (Level Best Books)
A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best Historical Novel
The Counterfeit Wife, Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Amanda Flower (Berkley)
The Lindbergh Nanny, Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
In Place of Fear, Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
Under a Veiled Moon, Karen Odden (Crooked Lane Books)

Best First Novel
Cheddar Off Dead, Korina Moss (St. Martin’s)
Death in the Aegean, M. A. Monnin (Level Best Books)
The Bangalore Detectives Club, Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Devil’s Chew Toy, Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Finalist, Joan Long (Level Best Books)
The Gallery of Beauties, Nina Wachsman (Level Best Books)

Best Short Story
"Beauty and the Beyotch," Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Feb. 2022)
"There Comes a Time," Cynthia Kuhn, Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
"Fly Me to the Morgue," Lisa Q Mathews, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical (Wildside Press)
"The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot," Richie Narvaez, Land of 10,000 Thrills, Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books)
"The Invisible Band," Art Taylor, Edgar & Shamus Go Golden (Down & Out Books)

Best Non-Fiction
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators, Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
The Handbook to Agatha Christie: The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie, Mary Anna Evans and J. C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury Academic)
The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie, Carla Valentine (Sourcebooks)
Promophobia: Taking the Mystery Out of Promoting Crime Fiction, Diane Vallere Ed. (Sisters in Crime)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman, Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)

​Best Children's/YA Mystery
Daybreak on Raven Island, Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young People)
In Myrtle Peril, Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
#shedeservedit, Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books)
Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave Stealer, Frances Schoonmaker (Auctus Publishers)
Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade, Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)

Mystery Fan Conventions for 2019

2019 is going to be a great year for mystery fan conventions and here is a list of some of our favorites. Planning ahead for these conventions is a great idea because the hotels where the cons are held can sell out and airfares can become challenging closer to the dates of the conventions. 

We've given you an array to choose from and a little bit about each convention. These events can be a great way to meet like minded mystery fans, authors and have a great time while talking mystery. Oh, and most conventions give attendees free books. If you want to see what it's like to meet Harlan Coben or Laurie R. King or Jeffrey Deaver or see what the cons are like, click on the links on the author's name. 

Left Coast Crime, Vancouver Canada, March 28-31
American Guest of Honor: CJ Box
Canadian Guest of Honor: Maureen Jennings
Toastmaster: Cathy Ace 

Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors. LCC is held during the first quarter of the year in Western North America. 

Malice Domestic, Bethesda, MD May 3-5
Guest of Honor: Donna Andrews
Toastmaster: Chris Grabenstein
Lifetime Achievement: Parnel Hall

Established in 1989, Malice Domestic™ is an annual fan convention in the metropolitan DC area that celebrates the traditional mystery, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely identified as mysteries which contain no explicit sex, or excessive gore, or violence. 

Thrillerfest, NY, NY, July 9-13
Thrillermaster: John Sanford
Silver Bullet Award Recipient: Harlan Coben
Silver Bullet Award Recipient: James Rollins

Thrillerfest is the premier conference for thriller enthusiasts, bringing together famous authors and new ones along with industry professionals, agents, and fans.

Bouchercon, Dallas, Oct 31 - Nov 3
Lifetime Achievement: Peter Lovesey
American Guest of Honor: Hank Phillipi Ryan
Distinguished Contribution to the Genre: James Patterson

This is the granddaddy of the conventions, named after mystery critic and writer, Anthony Boucher (rhymes with coucher). This year it's over Halloween and features an interactive mystery dinner theater scripted by none other than Heather Graham. It's not to be missed. 

These conventions are all fan and volunteer led. Big thanks to all of those organizers who put in so much hard work. I worked on two Bouchercon committees and one Left Coast Crime committee and organizing these events is super fun, but is also a ton of work. When you go, be sure and thank a volunteer, or better yet sign up to volunteer yourself. 

I haven't covered all of the conventions here. If I missed one that you know of, add it in below in the comment section. 

- Deborah Lacy


You can find Mystery Playground on Twitter @mysteryplaygnd and on Facebook.

2017 Mystery Fan Conventions

Carol and Mary Higgins Clark at Bouchercon (and me)

One of the best ways to get involved in the mystery community is to go to a fan convention. It's actually how I met most of the bloggers and authors that write for Mystery Playground, including Kerry Hammond. I've been to many of these conferences multiple times and I can tell you that mystery lovers are a friendly and fun crowd. 

All of these conferences offer book signing opportunities and unlike other fan conventions, there isn't a separate charge to get something signed - book, t-shirt, bag - whatever. they also have wonderful book rooms, full of new and old book delights for sale and free books in your registration bag. Many of the conferences also have sessions oriented towards authors rather than fans, but that's part of the fun. 

Here's the schedule for 2017, with a few details on what you can expect. There's a little something for everyone.

Sleuthfest, Feb 23-26 
Boca Raton, Florida

Sleuthfest is oriented towards mystery writers instead of fans, but everyone is welcome. It's a smaller conference and the interaction is high. I've met so many long-time friends at this conference, it's a favorite. 

Keynote:  David Baldacci

Guest Authors: Jeff Lindsey, SJ Rozan, Jane Cleland, Jess Lourey, Reed Farrel Coleman

Left Coast Crime, March 16-19
Honolulu, Hawaii
Left Coast is a medium sized convention with 400-500 attendees. It's big enough to draw big name authors, but small enough so you can actually meet them. There are tours available so you can see sights outside of the convention with other mystery-loving fans. 

Lifetime Achievement Guests of Honor: Faye and Jonathan Kellerman

Guests of Honor: Dana Stabenow, Colin Cotterill

Toastmaster: Laurie R. King

Malice Domestic, April 28-30
Focused on traditional mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie, "Malice" as it's affectionately called, draws between 300-500 people each year. Despite it's name, you couldn't find a friendlier bunch of friends and fans. 

Lifetime Achievement Award: Charlaine Harris

Guest of Honor: Elaine Viets

Fan Guest of Honor: Lucy Zahray

Toastmaster: Marcia Talley

Poirot Award: Martin Edwards

New England Crime Bake, November 10-12
Held in New England each year, Crime Bake hosts a many authors from that region but also around the country. This conference is for both readers and writers. I love the intimacy of this conference. 

Guest of Honor: Lisa Gardiner 

Bouchercon, October 12-15, Toronto 
This is the granddaddy of all the mystery conventions, which also makes it the biggest with between 1000-1700 attendees. Because this convention is bigger, it draws more authors both new and established for you to get to know. The best place to meet your favorite authors here is in the book signing line or at the bar. 

Canadian Guest of Honor: Louise Penny

American Guest of Honor: Megan Abbot

International Guest of Honor: Christopher Brookmyre

Bcon 4Kids Guest of Honor: Chris Grabenstein

Distinguished Contribution to the Genre: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

These are just the conventions that I've attended. If you have a mystery event that I missed, please feel free to add it below and I'll include it on our list.

Final Day of Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans - Blood on the Bayou

It's the last day of Bouchercon New Orleans and everyone is wrapping it up and packing their books into their suitcases, hoping that each bag weighs less than 50 pounds. We will post more Bouchercon highlights later, but here are a few fun photos of the conference.

Mystery Playground's Deborah Lacy's short story is in the Blood on the Bayou Anthology alongside David Morrell.

David Morrell received the Lifetime Achievement Award and was interviewed by Lee Child.

The parade to the Anthony Awards was rained on but not rained out. Fans and authors turned up for the festivities.

Stay tuned for more recaps from Bouchercon 2016.

Bouchercon 2017 - Highlights From New Orleans at Blood on the Bayou

Greetings from the Big Easy and Bouchercon 2017, the World Mystery Convention. Here are some highlights of the conference so far.

The opening ceremonies included mini floats that transported all of our guests of honor to the stage.

Our American Guest of Honor, Harlan Coben, was interviewed by Michael Connelly and both were entertaining and funny. There was a book signing afterwards and Harlan posed for photos.

The panels have been fun, including one where authors participated in a competition and elimination game. 

We attended a tea with writing duo Charles Todd and Caroline Todd, along with Deborah Crombie, to hear about their latest books.

Lee Child is here, and he interviewed David Morrell, who is receiving the Lifetime Achievement award.

221B Con in Atlanta, Part Three: The Costumes

Kerry's back to show us some of the costumes from the conference she attended.

221B Con is a yearly Sherlock Holmes convention held in Atlanta. It draws hundreds of people from around the country who share the love of all things Sherlock. The people who meet to celebrate Holmes and Watson use their creativity to make elaborate and fun costumes. There are no costume rules and all creations are welcome. There were so many, that it would have been impossible to show them all. Some people dabbled in the dress-up and simply wore tights with bees on them, to show Sherlock’s interest in beekeeping, and others wore the wallpaper print from the BBC show Sherlock on random items from tights to scarves. Below are a few of the costumes I found particularly creative.

There were quite a few people who dressed in period attire from the original Sherlock stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He wrote from 1891 until the early 1920s, so this covers the Edwardian and Victorian Eras. This woman sews her own gowns and presented on a costume panel at the conference, offering tips on dressing the part.

The BBC Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is very popular and a lot of attendees dressed in things that related to the show. This girl was dressed as Molly Hooper, who works at the morgue and has a crush on Sherlock. If you look closely, she has an employee ID card with Molly’s name on it pinned to her lab coat. She also has the wallpaper print on her collar.

You don’t need to dress as a specific person. This girl put together a dress that looked like the door to 221B Baker Street. She even has a door knocker attached below the numbers. I thought this was extremely creative.

The conference celebrated Dr. Who as well as Sherlock Holmes, and there were a lot of fans who dressed up in their favorite Dr. Who costumes. This girl made her outfit, which is a Tardis, complete with lights. Her purse is K-9.

221B Con in Atlanta, Part Two: The Swag

Kerry tells us more about the Sherlock Holmes 221B Con in Atlanta. 

I’ve already given a few particulars about the recent Sherlock Holmes conference that I attended: 221B Con. I also wanted to show some of the creativity that went into the whole event. The fans that attended went all out. They had fun dressing in costumes and attending panels on topics such as Costuming on a Budget and Villains of Sherlock Holmes. There were name badge stickers with clever sayings and bracelets advertising different groups. In addition, some of the hardcore fans of the genre took it to the next level and decorated their hotel doors with their favorite items of interest. 

Some of them celebrated the shipping of Sherlock and Molly (see previous Mystery Playground post containing conference vocabulary terms: shipping refers to a relationship that the fans create between two characters.)

Other attendees clearly love the BBC Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and our guest of honor David Nellist.

It was anything goes when it came to showing your love for everything Sherlock and Watson. It was a lot of fun to walk down the hall and see what each fan had created. The Victorian episode, The Abominable Bride, was a big favorite. This door represents that episode and several girls at the conference dressed up as brides.