The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery—-books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is generally characterized by mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another. Novels and stories featuring police officers and private detectives may qualify for the Agatha, but materials generally classified as “hard boiled” are not appropriate.
The Agatha Prize Page

Year	Best Novel	Best First Novel	Best Nonfiction
2006	The Virgin of Small Plains Nancy Pickard	The Heat of the Moon Sandra Parshall	Don't Murder Your Mystery : 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques to Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A Chris Roerden
2005	Better Off Wed Laura Durham	The Body in the Snowdrift Katherine Hall Page	Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her D.P. Lyle
2004	Birds of a Feather Jacqueline Winspear	Dating Dead Men Harley Jane Kozak	Private Eye-Lashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives Jack French
2003	Letter From Home Carolyn Hart	Maisie Dobbs Jacqueline Winspear	Amelia Peabody’s Egypt: A Compendium Elizabeth Peters & Kristen Whitbread
2002	You've Got Murder Donna Andrews	In the Bleak Midwinter Julia Spencer-Fleming	The Dog That Didn't Bark Margaret Maron & Too Many Cooks Marcia Talley
2001	Murphys Law Rhys Bowen	Bubbles Unbound Sarah Strohmeyer	The Would-Be-Widower Katherine Hall Page
2000	Storm Track Margaret Maron	Death on a Silver Tray Rosemary Stevens	100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century Jim Huang