Annal:2001 Macavity Award for Best Nonfiction

The American Regional Mystery

Marvin Lachman

• 2001 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 2001 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2000 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 22.51

Penzler Pick, February 2001: More than 30 years ago, Marvin Lachman began writing a series of articles for a now defunct mystery fan magazine (fanzine, to the informed), The Mystery Reader’s Newsletter. The subject was regional mysteries, which previously had not been written about. When that pioneering newsletter folded, it was picked up by the greatest of all mystery fanzines, The Armchair Detective, under the impressive editorship of Allen J. Hubin. The series required 14 installments, running from February 1970 to October 1977. The…

The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Martin Booth

• 2001 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2001 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 12.51

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography: “I have had a life which, for variety and romance, could, I think, hardly be exceeded.” In the years since his death, Doyle has been almost uniquely identified with his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, who remains among the world’s most identifiable figures, fictional or real. Doyle was much more than the author of the Holmes stories, but his very success with the series has clouded nearly every attempt to address his life. Martin Booth’s The Doctor and the Detective redresses the balance. It’s the…

Women of Mystery: The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists

Martha Hailey Dubose, Margaret C. Thomas

• 2001 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2001 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2001 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2000 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 24.51

In this remarkable book, Martha Hailey DuBose has given those multitudes of readers who love the mystery novel an indispensable addition to their libraries. Unlike other works on the subject, Women of Mystery is not merely a directory of the novelists and their publications with a few biographical details. DuBose combines extensive research into the lives of significant women mystery writers from Anna Katherine Green and Mary Roberts Rinehart with critical essays on their work, anecdotes, contemporary reviews and opinions and some of the women’s own…

100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century

Jim Huang

• 2001 Anthony-Critical winner
• 2000 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2001 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 26.51

The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th century represents the accumulated wisdom of the most knowledgeable people in the business. These are the books we most enjoy, the books we present to our customers over and over again, and the books that we ourselves return to when we want to visit with cherished friends.

In this book, we journey through our list of 100, with essays contributed by bookselles across the United States and Canada. The book also features individual booksellers’ lists of titles that did not…