Annal:1997 Agatha Award for Best Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Agatha Award in the year 1997. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
- 1997 Agatha–Novel winner
- Score: 10.47
With flawless period detail and a dapper English detective reminiscent of Lord Peter Wimsey, Kate Ross is charming fans of Anne Perry and Elizabeth George—and earning a loyal following of mystery readers eager to accompany Julian Kestrel from adventure to satisfying adventure.
Traveling on the Continent with his ex-pickpocket valet, Kestrel finds himself caught up in the mysterious and murderous world of the opera. Four years ago, the Italian marquis Ludovico Malvezzi was murdered, and Orfeo, the young English tenor he had been training for a career on the…
Hocus: An Irene Kelly Mystery
- 1998 Barry-Novel nominee
- 1998 Macavity-Novel nominee
- 1997 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 18.48
Sometimes, things at Irene Kelly and Frank Harriman’s house get tense. She’s a tough investigative reporter in southern California and he’s a no-nonsence city detective who likes to hear the bad news first. But their personal and professional lives merge in the fast lane when Frank is kidnapped by Hocus, an unpredictable group of merry pranksters whose tricks turn dirty. Irene is given three days to give them what they want in exchange for her husband or he dies.
While Hocus sends Irene on one wild goose chase after another for clues about its identity and…
- 1998 Macavity-Novel winner
- 1998 Barry-Novel nominee
- 1998 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 1997 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 28.48
After twelve years, the last person Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid expects to hear from is his ex-wife Victoria. But this is no social call. In her biographical research on troubled poet Lydia Brooke, Vic’s uncovered reasons to believe Lydia’s death five years ago was not suicide.
Much to Kincaid’s surprise—and the unease of his partner and lover, Sergeant Gemma James—he finds he can’t refuse Vic’s request to look into the long-closed case. The police report raises questions, but not enough to reopen the investigation—until a second death occurs,…
Goose in the Pond: A Benni Harper Mystery
- 1997 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.47
After spending time—and solving a murder—in Wichita, Kansas, Benni and her new husband Gabe Ortiz are back in San Celina, California. While Benni is jogging in the park next to the library, she happens upon the dead body of a library storyteller. It is a disturbing scene—the woman is still dressed in her Mother Goose costume, lying facedown in the lake. When Benni discovers that some people in the Storyteller’s Guild may have wanted the woman dead, she can’t help investigating. And as Benni sets out to solve a murder, Gabe tries to stop one. Because his surf bum…
Seeing a Large Cat: An Amelia Peabody Mystery
- 1997 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.47
“Stay away from tomb Twenty-A!” says an ominous message delivered by an unseen hand. The year is 1903, the place is Cairo, and with the new century, everything is changing for Amelia Peabody—except her affinity for danger.
Headed for an archaeological dig in the awesome Valley of the Kings, she hopes the desert will yield up its secrets. Instead it will produce a macabre puzzle of murder, passion, and cruel deceit. Besides the warning about the tomb—which only makes it more intriguing to Amelia and her sexy if irascible husband, Emerson—Amelia finds Egypt…
