2026 MACAVITY AWARD NOMINEES
The Mystery Readers International has announced the nominees for the 2026 Macavity Awards as follows:
BEST MYSTERY NOVEL: (6)
Crooks, by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
River of Lies, by James L'Etoile (Oceanview Publishing)
The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Scribner)
All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur Books)
BEST FIRST MYSTERY NOVEL: (5)
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Minotaur Books)
Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam Books)
Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best Books)
Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Grove Atlantic)
History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press)
BEST MYSTERY NONFICTION: (6)
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay (Level Best Books)
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, by Michael Cannell (Minotaur Books)
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury Sigma)
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)
Cooler than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins (Mariner Books)
BEST MYSTERY SHORT STORY: (6)
"Six-Armed Robbery," by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (in Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, and Michael Bracken; Wildside Press)
"Hollywood Prometheus," by Christa Faust (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater Books)
"Finding Jimmy Baldwin," by Cheryl Head (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater Books)
"The Devil Himself," by Vaseem Khan (in Double Crossing Van Dine,edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor, Crippen & Landru Publishers)
"The Skies Are Red," by Richie Narvaez (in On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito; Rock and a Hard Place Press)
"Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush," by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2025)
SUE FEDER MEMORIAL HISTORICAL MYSTERY: (6)
Bye Bye Blackbird, by Elizabeth Crowens (Level Best Books)
A Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington Books)
City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best Books)
The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, by Kelly Oliver (Boldwood Books)
The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler (Kensington Books)
No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal (Level Best Books)
The winners will be announced this fall. (July 09, 2026)
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