Louise Penny's The Brutal Telling spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list after its release in 2009. Louise Penny's The Brutal Telling spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list after its release in 2009. (Courtesy HGB Canada)

The Brutal Telling by Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny has been nominated for an Agatha Award in the U.S. for best novel of 2009.

The latest murder thriller by the Toronto-born journalist debuted in the top 20 on the New York Times bestseller list and remained there for three weeks.

The Agatha Awards, to be handed out May 1 at a ceremony in the U.S., honour works that typify those written by British author Agatha Christie. The novels must not contain explicit sex or violence.

Penny, who now lives in a village south of Montreal, is a favourite of the American prizes, which honoured her with a best novel accolade in 2007 for Dead Cold and then the next year for The Cruelest Month.

Her mysteries revolve around Chief Insp. Armand Gamache, head of the homicide department of the Sûreté du Québec, and murders that occur in the bucolic Quebec countryside.

Penny, who once worked for the CBC before leaving to write her mystery novels, burst onto the mystery scene with her first Insp. Gamache book, Still Life, in 2005.

The debut novel garnered several prizes including the New Blood Dagger award in the U.K. and the Arthur Ellis Award in Canada for best first crime novel.

The Brutal Telling — her fifth book, which concerns the murder of a new inn owner in the fictional Quebec village of Three Pines — is up against:

  • Swan for the Money, Donna Andrews.
  • Bookplate Special, Lorna Barrett.
  • Royal Flush, Rhys Bowen.
  • Air Time, Hank Phillippi Ryan.

Other prizes for best short story and best children's/young adult fiction will also be handed out.