“The Night Things Changed” wins an Agatha—and is nominated for a Macavity!

I’m still sorting myself out from Malice Domestic—what a wild time that was! In case you didn’t hear me yodeling from the rooftops, my short story, “The Night Things Changed,” won the 2008 Agatha for Best Short Story! I’m honored—and delighted—beyond belief: the nominees for short story included GoH Nancy Pickard, Toni Kelner (l), Carla Coupe (r), and Jane Cleland.

The Agatha winners in all categories:

Best Novel: The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Best First Novel: Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
Best Non-fiction: How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
Best Short Story: "The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Penguin Group)
Best Children's/Young Adult: The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Children's Books)

There were so many good friends there to celebrate with—so we did! Thank you, everyone! And my thanks to the organizers of Malice Domestic for putting on a wonderful time!

And then, and then, and then...in the airport waiting to go home, I got a message congratulating me on being nominated for a 2009 Macavity Award, also for “The Night Things Changed.” Needless to say, I was glad the airplane had safety belts! The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by the readers of Mystery Readers International and will be presented at Bouchercon Indianapolis. All of the nominees:

Best Mystery Novel:

* Sean Chercover: Trigger City (Wm. Morrow)
* Deborah Crombie: Where Memories Lie (Wm. Morrow)
* Declan Hughes: The Dying Breed (UK) / The Price of Blood (US) (John Murray/ Wm. Morrow)
* Arnaldur Indridason: The Draining Lake (Minotaur)
* Lisa Lutz: Curse of the Spellmans (Simon & Schuster)
* Louise Penny: The Cruelest Month (Minotaur)
* Louise Ure: The Fault Tree (Minotaur)

Best First Mystery:

* Zoe Ferraris: Finding Nouf (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
* Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Knopf)
* G.M. Malliet: Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)
* Charlie Newton: Calumet City (Simon & Schuster)
* Scott Pratt: An Innocent Client (Onyx)
* Michael Stanley: A Carrion Death (Harper; Headline)
* Dan Waddell: The Blood Detective (Minotaur)

Best Nonfiction/Critical:

* Frankie Y. Bailey: African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study (McFarland)
* Leonard Cassuto: Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories (Columbia Univ.)
* Kathy Lynn Emerson: How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries (Perseverance Press)
* David Geherin: Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction (McFarland)
* Harry Lee Poe: Edgar Allan Poe : An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories (Metro)
* Kate Summerscale: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (Walker)

Best Mystery Short Story:

* Dana Cameron: "The Night Things Changed" (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
* Sean Chercover: "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" (Hardcore Hardboiled, ed. by Todd Robinson, Kensington)
* Toni L.P. Kelner: "Keeping Watch Over His Flock" (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
* Laura Lippman: "Scratch a Woman" (Hardly Knew Her, Wm. Morrow)
* Tom Piccirilli: "Between the Dark and the Daylight" (EQMM, Sep/Oct 2008)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery:

* Rhys Bowen: A Royal Pain (Berkley)
* Ward Larsen: Stealing Trinity (Oceanview)
* David Liss: The Whiskey Rebels (Thorndike/ Random House UK)
* Jeri Westerson: Veil of Lies (Minotaur)
* Karen Maitland: Company of Liars (Michael Joseph/ Delacorte)
* Kelli Stanley: Nox Dormienda (Five Star)

Please note: Toni Kelner and I are both nominated for our contributions to Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, the volume she and Charlaine Harris edited! I think this is just…ducky!

Congratulations to all the nominees! And thanks to the members of MRI!

I hope to post more pictures as I get more organized, but for now, all I can say is wow. And thank you.