Macavity Mastery

Winners were unveiled for the 2025 Macavity Awards. The honors, named after "Macavity: The Mystery Cat," in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Congratulations to all!

Best Mystery Novel:  California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

Other finalists:

• Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime)
• Served Cold by James L’Etoile (Level Best Books)
• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)
• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

Best First Mystery:  Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

Other finalists:

• Outraged by Brian Copeland (Dutton)
• A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)
• You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)
• The Expatby Hansen Shi (Pegasus Crime)
• Holy City by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Mystery Short Story:  “Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)

Other finalists:

• “The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman (in Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy)
• “Curse of the Super Taster” by Leslie Karst (in Black Cat Weekly, Feb 23, 2024)
• “Two for One” by Art Taylor (in Murder, Neat)
• “Satan’s Spit” by Gabriel Valjan (in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem)
• “Reynisfjara” by Kristopher Zgorski (in Mystery Most International)

Best Historical Mystery:  Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)

Other finalists:

• The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Soho Crime)
• The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann (Lake Union)
• A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Best Nonfiction/Critical:  Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

Other finalists:

• Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft edited by Phyllis M. Betz (McFarland)
• Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)
• Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis (Pegasus Crime)
• The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson  (Crown)
• On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett by Ashley Lawson  (Ohio State University Press)