Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End since 1952, as well as six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Charlotte MacLeod was a Canadian-American mystery fiction writer.
Joanne Fischmann is an American writer, using the pen name Joanne Fluke. She is best known for her cozy mystery series surrounding a small-town baker, Hannah Swensen. Five movies for the Hallmark Channel have been created based on her Hannah Swensen series. Fluke is also known for making chocolate chip cookies for her readers. Fluke has written under the pseudonyms John Fischer, R.J. Fischer, Jo Gibson, Chris Hunter, Gina Jackson and Kathryn Kirkwood.
The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie. .. loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence, and are not classified as 'hard-boiled.'" At an annual convention in Washington, D.C., the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in six categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Historical Novel; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.
Diane Mott Davidson is an American author of mystery novels that use the theme of food, an idea she got from Robert B. Parker. Several recipes are included in each book, and each novel title is a play on a food or drink word. Her story, "Cold Turkey", won the 1993 Anthony Award for "Best Short-story".
Ed Lynskey is an American poet, critic, and novelist, mostly of crime fiction. He was born in 1956 in Washington, D.C. where he still lives and works. He writes five mystery series, including the P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series, the Isabel & Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series, the Piper & Bill Robin Cozy Mystery Series, the Hope Jones Cozy Mystery Series, the Ginny Dove Cozy Mystery Series, and the Juno Patchen Cozy Mystery Series.
Nancy Warren is a Canadian writer of contemporary romance and cozy mystery. She received her first publication contract after winning Harlequin's 2000 Summer Blaze contest. Since then, she has released more than 100 novels, novellas, and short stories, has been twice nominated for the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award.
Donna Andrews is an American mystery fiction writer of two award-winning amateur sleuth series. Her first book, Murder with Peacocks (1999), introduced Meg Langslow, a blacksmith from Yorktown, Virginia. It won the St. Martin's Minotaur Best First Traditional Mystery contest, the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice awards for best first novel, and the Lefty award for funniest mystery of 1999. The first novel in the Turing Hopper series debuted a highly unusual sleuth—an Artificial Intelligence (AI) personality who becomes sentient—and won the Agatha Award for best mystery that year.
Cozy mysteries, also referred to as "cozies", are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Cozies thus stand in contrast to hardboiled fiction, in which more violence and explicit sexuality are central to the plot. The term "cozy" was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
A Real Basket Case is a mystery novel that was written by Beth Groundwater. The book, published by Five Star Publishing, was initially released on March 21, 2007. It was later re-published in large print in January 2008. The novel follows the story of protagonist Claire Hanover who sets out to discover the identity of her husband's killer.
Jerrilyn Farmer is an American mystery fiction writer, author of a series of humorous 'cozy' mysteries featuring Hollywood caterer 'Madeline Bean'.
Kathy Lynn Emerson is an American writer of historical and mystery novels and non-fiction. She also uses the pseudonyms Kaitlyn Dunnett and Kate Emerson.
Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. In addition, Cleland runs seminars and workshops on various fiction writing and business communications topics. She also delivers keynote speeches. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.
Jeri Westerson, born 1960, is an American novelist of medieval mysteries, Tudor mysteries, historical novels, and paranormal novels, along with LGBTQ mysteries under the pen name Haley Walsh.
G. M. Malliet is an American author of mystery novels and short stories. She is best known as the author of the award-winning Detective Chief Inspector St. Just mysteries and the Rev. Max Tudor mysteries. The first book in her US-based series, Augusta Hawke, appeared in 2022.
Elizabeth J. Duncan is a Canadian writer of cozy mysteries and the author of the ongoing Penny Brannigan series set in North Wales. The first book in the series, A Cold Light of Mourning, was nominated for the Agatha Award and Arthur Ellis Award in 2009. The fourth novel in the series, A Small Hill to Die On, won the Bony Blithe Award in 2013 and the fifth novel, Never Laugh as A Hearse Goes By, was nominated for the same award in 2014.
Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling American writer of mystery novels under her real name and the pen name, "Isabella Alan". She writes for adults and children. She won the Agatha Award for Children's/Young Adult book in 2015 for Andi Unstoppable, and was nominated for an Agatha Award in 2010, 2013, and 2014.
Dandy Gilver is the protagonist of a historical mystery series by Catriona McPherson. The stories are set in Scotland in the interwar period, beginning shortly after World War I and extending into the mid-1930s.
Edith Maxwell is an Agatha Award-winning American mystery author also currently writing as Maddie Day. She writes cozy, traditional, and historical mysteries set in the United States.
Katherine Hall Page is an American writer of cozy mysteries. Page has written twenty-five books in her Faith Fairchild series and four Christie and Company juvenile mysteries. Page has won three Agatha Awards and been nominated for two Edgar Awards. She was also the 2016 lifetime achievement recipient at the Malice Domestic convention.
