Macavity Award: novel

The Macavity Awards are literary awards for mystery writers. Presented annually by the members of Mystery Readers International, the awards are named for the "mystery cat" in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The awards are given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story.

2024: All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby

2023: A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny

2022: Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby

2021: Blacktop Wasteland, by S.A. Cosby

2020: The Chain, by Adrian McKinty

2019: November Road, by Lou Berney

2018: Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz

2017: A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny

2016: The Long and Faraway Gone, by Lou Berney

2015: The Killer Next Door, by Alex Marwood

2014: Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger

2013: The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny

2012: Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, by Sara Gran

2011: Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny

2010: Tower, by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman

2009: Where Memories Lie, by Deborah Crombie

2008: What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman

2007: The Virgin of Small Plains, by Nancy Pickard

2006: The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly

2005: The Killing of the Tinkers, by Ken Bruen

2004: The House Sitter, by Peter Lovesey

2003: Winter and Night, by S.J. Roman

2002: Folly, by Laurie R. King

2001: A Place of Execution, by Val McDermid

2000: The Flower Master, by Sujata Massey

1999: Blood Work, by Michael Connelly

1998: Dreaming of the Bones, by Deborah Crombie

1997: Bloodhounds, by Peter Lovesey

1996: Under the Beetle’s Cellar, by Mary Willis Walker

1995: She Walks These Hills, by Sharyn MCrumb

1994: The Sculptress, by Minette Walters

1993: Bootlegger’s Daughter, by Margaret Maron

1992: I.O.U., by Nancy Pickard

1991: If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O, by Sharyn McCrumb

1990: A Little Class on Murder, by Carolyn Hart

1989: A Thief of Time, by Tony Hillerman

1988: Marriage Is Murder, by Nancy Pickard

1987: A Taste of Death, by P.D. James