Honor roll:Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction

Detecting Women 2: Reader's Guide and Checklist for Mystery Series Written by Women

Willetta L. Heising

• 1997 Anthony-Critical winner
• 1997 Barry-Nonfiction winner
• 1997 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 1996 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• Score: 40.47

A reader’s guide and checklist for Mystery Series written by women.More than 600 series detectives created by women over 3400 mystery titles in correct series order titles indexed by mystery type and series setting more than 500 new titles released in 1994 and 1995.

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Melanie Rehak

• 2006 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2006 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 2005 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2006 Anthony-Critical nominee
• Score: 36.56

A plucky “titian-haired” sleuth solved her first mystery in 1930. Eighty million books later, Nancy Drew has survived the Depression, World War II, and the sixties (when she was taken up with a vengeance by women’s libbers) to enter the pantheon of American girlhood. As beloved by girls today as she was by their grandmothers, Nancy Drew has both inspired and reflected the changes in her readers’ lives. Now, in a narrative with all the vivid energy and page-turning pace of Nancy’s adventures, Melanie Rehak solves an enduring literary mystery:

Who created Nancy…

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters

Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, Charles Foley

• 2008 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2007 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2008 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2008 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 32.58

This remarkable annotated collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s previously unpublished private correspondence offers unique insight into one of the world’s most popular authors. For the first time, Conan Doyle emerges from the shadow of Sherlock Holmes, revealing a man whose character and exploits rival that of his famous creation. In particular, Conan Doyle’s correspondence with his mother exposes his endless search for fulfillment and success outside the Holmes stories.

Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle

Daniel Stashower

• 2000 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 1999 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2000 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2000 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 32.5

This fresh, compelling biography examines the extraordinary life and strange contrasts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the struggling provincial doctor who became the most popular storyteller of his age. From his youthful exploits aboard a whaling ship to his often stormy friendships with such figures as Harry Houdini and George Bernard Shaw, Conan Doyle lived a life as gripping as one of his adventures. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written, Teller of Tales sets aside many myths and misconceptions to present a vivid portrait of the man behind the leg of Baker…

They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels

Jim Huang

• 2003 Anthony-Critical winner
• 2003 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 2002 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• Score: 30.53

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: Vol 1 and 2. The Complete Short Stories

Leslie S. Klinger, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• 2005 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2005 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2005 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2004 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 28.55

A cause for international celebration—the most important Sherlock Holmes publication in four decades.

This monumental edition promises to be the most important new contribution to Sherlock Holmes literature since William Baring-Gould’s 1967 classic work. In this boxed set, Leslie Klinger, a leading world authority, reassembles Arthur Conan Doyle’s 56 classic short stories in the order in which they appeared in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century book editions. Inside, readers will find a cornucopia of insights: beginners will benefit from Klinger’s…

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction

Mike Ashley

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2003 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2003 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2002 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 28.53

Never before has there been a comprehensive, inexpensive reference guide and overview to the genre of crime fiction like The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction. Veteran editor Mike Ashley’s historical introduction gives an overview of the crime genre, showing the background and development of crime fiction from the earliest days with Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler through to the modern exponents of the craft such as Elmore Leonard and Ian Rankin. His A to Z covers five hundred entries on the major writers in the crime fiction field, from Edward S.…

Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers

Jim Huang, Austin Lugar

• 2007 Anthony-Critical winner
• 2007 Macavity-Nonfiction winner
• 2006 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 26.57

We asked 100 published writers: “Did a mystery set you on your path to being a writer? Is there a classic mystery that remains important to you today?” This book is the result.

The writers we contacted represent the entire spectrum of the mystery genre, from cozy to hardboiled, from acclaimed veterans to some of the field’s most intriguing newcomers. Young or old, each of these writers reminds us of a basic truism: great writers are great readers first. Their essays reveal the extent to which the discovery of these seminal texts was not just literary inspiration but a life-altering event.

Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir

Tony Hillerman

• 2002 Anthony-Critical winner
• 2001 Agatha–Nonfiction winner
• 2002 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 26.52

When Tony Hillerman looks back at seventy-six years spent getting from hardtimes farm boy to bestselling author, he sees lots of evidence that Providence was poking him along. For example, when an absentminded Army clerk left him off the hospital ship taking the wounded home from France, the mishap put him on a collision course with a curing ceremony held for two Navajo Marines, thereby providing the grist for a writing career that now sees his books published in sixteen languages around the world and often on bestseller lists. Or, for example, when his agent…

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…