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Agatha Awards 2009

The 2009 Agatha Awards went to The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Best Children's/YA), The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Best First Novel) and Dame Agatha's Shorts by Elena Santangelo (Best Nonfiction), with winners in 1 more category. 20 books were nominated across 4 categories.

Winners

Best Children's/YA

  1. The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabensteinsource (opens in a new tab)

Best First Novel

  1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradleysource (opens in a new tab)

Best Nonfiction

  1. Dame Agatha's Shorts by Elena Santangelosource (opens in a new tab)

Best Novel

  1. The Brutal Telling by Louise Pennysource (opens in a new tab)

Nominees

Best Children's/YA

  1. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Case of the Poisoned Pig by Lewis B. Montgomerysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Morgue and Me by John C. Fordsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Other Side of Blue by Valerie O. Pattersonsource (opens in a new tab)

Best First Novel

  1. For Better, for Murder by Lisa Borksource (opens in a new tab)
  2. In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoffsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Posed for Murder by Meredith Colesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncansource (opens in a new tab)

Best Nonfiction

  1. Blood on the Stage 1925-1950 by Amnon Kabatchniksource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Duchess of Death by Richard Hacksource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Talking About Detective Fiction by P. D. Jamessource (opens in a new tab)
  4. The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkarsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Novel

  1. Air Time by Hank Phillippi Ryansource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrettsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Royal Flush by Rhys Bowensource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Swan for the Money by Donna Andrewssource (opens in a new tab)

About the Agatha Awards

Book categories only, from Malice Domestic's Agatha Awards history archive PDF (malicedomestic.net; the old malicedomestic.org site no longer loads) and its MD36 (2024) and MD37 (2025) pages. Year follows Malice Domestic's own label: through 2020 the label is the books' publication year; from 2022 it is the convention year (the 2021-published books were honored in 2022, labeled 2022), so no award carries the 2021 label and 2021 counts are zero. Best Novel became Best Contemporary Novel in 2013; Best Historical Novel starts 2011. The archive lists fewer than five nominees in some years (e.g. 2006-2007 Nonfiction, 2007 First Novel, 2018 Children's/YA). The archive does not mark 2006-2017 winners; those come from Wikipedia's Agatha Award article. The PDF drops some ligature letters, so titles and names were repaired against Wikipedia.

Organization: Malice Domestic. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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