HOLLY HERNANDEZ AND THE DEATH OF DISCO, by Richie Narvaez, won the Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Book at last night’s Malice Domestic crime fiction conference.
“I am beyond overwhelmed,” says Narvaez. “This book is dedicated to my teachers. A substitute teacher in junior high school lent me a copy of Murder on the Orient Express, which changed my life, and so this is like coming full circle.”
Other awardees included All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny, Best Contemporary Novel; The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen, for Best Historical Novel; and Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer, for Best First Novel; “Dear Emily Etiquette” by Barb Goffman, for Best Short Story; Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer by Joan Harrison, for Best Non-Fiction. The winners were announced at More Than Malice, the Virtual Malice Domestic Festival this year.
The prestigious Agatha Awards are named for Dame Agatha Christie and are awarded to mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre. The first Agathas were awarded in 1988.