Annal:2004 Agatha Award for Best Novel
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Agatha Award in the year 2004. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
Birds of a Feather: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
- 2004 Agatha–Novel winner
- Score: 10.54
Maisie Dobbs is back and this time she has been hired to find a wealthy grocery magnate’s daughter who has fled from home. What seems a simple case at first becomes complicated when Maisie learns of the recent violent deaths of three of the heiress’s old friends. Is there a connection between her mysterious disappearance and the murders? Who would kill such charming young women? As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the answers to all her questions lie in the unforgettable agony of The Great War.
Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in England and…
We'll Always Have Parrots: A Meg Lanslow Mystery
- 2004 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.54
Meg Langslow knew the fan convention for her actor-boyfriend’s hit television series was going to be the ultimate in weird. But she came along because she figured Michael could use an occasional dose of sanity-and because it was an inspired place to sell her hand-crafted weapons. And so far, she was dealing pretty well with the costumed fans camped outside, the batch of escaped parrots and monkeys frolicking throughout the hotel…and the minefield of egos lurking behind the show’s success.
But soon after Meg goes head-to-head with egomaniacal series star…
- 2005 Anthony-Novel nominee
- 2005 Edgar–Novel nominee
- 2004 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 18.55
The winner of every major literary award in crime fiction, Laura Lippman brings back her complex and vulnerably human Baltimore P.I., Tess Monaghan, in a tense, expertly spun tale of a family torn asunder by forces it can barely comprehend.
Mark Rubin’s family is missing—and the police can’t do a thing because all the evidence indicates that his wife left willingly. So the successful furrier turns to Tess Monaghan, hoping she can help him find his wife and three children. Tess doesn’t know quite what to make of Rubin, a wealthy Orthodox Jew who refuses to…
High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery
- 2005 Macavity-Novel nominee
- 2004 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 12.55
Judge Deborah Knott has agreed to “tie the knot” with childhood friend Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant, and her numerous relatives are acting as if it’s the love match of the century. It’s not, and suddenly Deborah’s wondering whether friendship, mutual history, and good sex are enough to make a marriage. Her antidote for cold feet? She’s heading for the hills.
When asked to fill in for a vacationing judge in Cedar Gap, a five-hour drive from her flatland home, Deborah readily agrees. It’s the perfect place to clear her head with its fresh mountain air, gorgeous…
- 2004 Agatha–Novel nominee
- Score: 6.54
A dazzling engagement ring and the promise of a fresh start in a new country bring antiques dealer and sometime-sleuth Rei Shimura to Washington, D.C. But while she tries to play catch-up with her beautiful, politically connected cousin, Kendall, and is commissioned to furnish a chic Japanese-fusion restaurant, things start to go haywire. First, Kendall vanishes from the restaurant’s opening-night party, and then Rei is drafted to help Andrea, the restaurant’s elegant, cagey hostess, investigate the disappearance of her own Japanese mother thirty years…
