Annal:2002 Agatha Award for Best First Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Agatha Award in the year 2002. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
In the Bleak Midwinter: A Reverend Clare Ferguson Mystery
- 2003 Barry-1st Novel winner
- 2003 Macavity-1st Novel winner
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel winner
- 2003 Anthony-1st Novel nominee
- Score: 36.53
It’s a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn’t know what to make of her, or how to address “a lady priest” for that matter.
The last thing she…
- 2003 Barry-1st Novel nominee
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel nominee
- Score: 12.53
A first novel serves up an inimitable slice of British life from Coronation Summer, 1953, in a city not much different than that familiar to Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist. Seven-year-old Rosie lives happily with Uncle Bert and pillow-plump Aunt Maggie above their cafe on Old Compton Street. The Soho neighborhood is rife with tough and sinewy London life including pimps and prostitutes, thieves and con men, the bent and the wicked. One day at school Rosie learns her real mum’s a tart. In fact, the Perfumed Lady is not only a tart, she’s addicted to gin—but…
Six Strokes Under: A Golf Lover's Mystery
- 2003 Anthony-Paperback nominee
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel nominee
- Score: 12.53
Cassandra Burdette used to carry clubs on the PGA tour-now she’s swinging them at the Qualifying School for the LPGA Tour. The competition is fierce, but the standout so far is Kaitlin Rupert, whose talent and beauty are eclipsed only by her attitude. Though Kaitlin has a deeply troubled past and a very messy, very public family scandal, any sympathy from other players has been used up by her hostile personality.
But it’s still a shock when Kaitlin’s psychiatrist is found brutally murdered-and even more of a shock when the police look at Cassie as a prime…
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel nominee
- Score: 6.52
Experienced pastry chef Claire Johnson whips up an insiders look at San Francisco’s cutthroat restaurant trade. Cranky Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the in-vogue American Fare, the town’s hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. At work very early one morning, she steps on a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The investigation soon exposes all the dirty secrets that the food business would like to keep secret: the philandering chefs, the silly whims of the dining public, the hiring and illegal aliens,…
How to Murder a Millionaire: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel nominee
- Score: 6.52
When Nora Blackbird’s parents skipped town and left her with a property tax bill for two million, she found herself in dire need of a paycheck. So the former debutante finds work as the society page columnist for a Philly paper. She’s happy to reclaim her place within the city’s elite-until her first party assignment sends her stumbling…upon the murdered body of the host.
Nora’s sisters-sexy Emma and flaky Libby-complicate matters as Nora investigates. And meanwhile, the son of a rumored New Jersey crime boss is pursuing Nora with bone-melting come-ons she can barely resist.
Shadows at the Fair: An Antique Print Mystery
- 2002 Agatha–1st Novel nominee
- Score: 6.52
• Local antiques dealer, dead in a one-car accident on his way home from an antiques exposition in Columbus, Ohio
• Two Scranton, Pennsylvania, antiques dealers dead of smoke inhalation
• Massachusetts antiques dealer dead of substance abuse at an auction in Sharon, Connecticut
• Antiques dealer dies in his booth at the Westchester (New York) Antiques Show
Ignorance is truly bliss for recently widowed Maggie Summer, owner of Shadows Antiques, when she arrives at the prestigious Rensselaer County Spring Antiques Fair. Sadly, she won’t remain ignorant…
