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Agatha Awards 2013

The 2013 Agatha Awards went to Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein (Best Children's/YA), The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Best Contemporary Novel) and Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz (Best First Novel), with winners in 2 more categories. 24 books were nominated across 5 categories.

Winners

Best Children's/YA

  1. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabensteinsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Contemporary Novel

  1. The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryansource (opens in a new tab)

Best First Novel

  1. Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitzsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Historical Novel

  1. A Question of Honor by Charles Toddsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Nonfiction

  1. The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashowersource (opens in a new tab)

Nominees

Best Children's/YA

  1. Andi Unexpected by Amanda Flowersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Mystery of the Pirate's Treasure by Penny Warnersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Testing by Joelle Charbonneausource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Traitor in the Shipyard: A Caroline Mystery by Kathleen Ernstsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Contemporary Novel

  1. Clammed Up by Barbara Rosssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. How the Light Gets In by Louise Pennysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Pagan Spring by G. M. Mallietsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Flemingsource (opens in a new tab)

Best First Novel

  1. Board Stiff by Kendel Lynnsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walkersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Kneading to Die by Liz Mugaverosource (opens in a new tab)
  4. You Cannoli Die Once by Shelley Costasource (opens in a new tab)

Best Historical Novel

  1. A Friendly Game of Murder by J. J. Murphysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Death in the Time of Ice by Kaye Georgesource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowensource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompsonsource (opens in a new tab)

Best Nonfiction

  1. Georgette Heyer by Jennifer Kloestersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikovasource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Not Everyone's Cup of Tea: An Interesting & Entertaining History of Malice Domestic's First 25 Years by Verena Rose and Rita Owensource (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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