The Kiss of Death Chapter of RWA is happy to announce the 2026 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense Contest will open February 14, 2026.  

The Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for published and unpublished authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots.

The contest provides helpful feedback by trained judges. Winning or placing in the competition adds a boost to the entrant’s writing career. There are two divisions within the contest: Published and Unpublished. Entries should be received between February 14, 2026 – March 31, 2026. Finalists for each division will be announced in May [Unpublished] and June [Published]. Winners are traditionally announced during the Awards Ceremony at the Death by Chocolate Party held annually during the RWA® National Conference in July. 

In 2021, we held a YouTube livestream of the Awards Ceremony. You can watch the recording here.

Categories

• Short Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works with a central romance that have a word count of 40k-65k.
• Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words with a central romance set in a time that predates the end of World War II.
• Mainstream Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words where the mystery/suspense is the main plot.
• Paranormal (PTTF) Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works over 65,000 words with a central romance and in which paranormal, fantasy, time travel, and/or futuristic Relements play a significant role.
• Long Romantic Mystery/Suspense: works with a central romance that have a word count of 65k and above.
• Novella Mystery/Suspense: works between 25,000 and 40,000 words where the mystery/suspense is the main plot. The novella may have other elements, such as romance, paranormal, historical, or contemporary.

*Announcement*

The 2026 Daphne du Maurier Awards Ceremony will be held on Tuesday July 14, 2026 in Albuquerque, New Mexico after Kiss of Death’s annual Death By Chocolate Party. Winners will be posted to the website AFTER the RWA National Conference closes (Around July 20th 2026). 

Kiss of Death’s Contest Committee and The Board of Directors would like to offer our thanks to all who entered the contest this year, especially for their patience as we navigated technical difficulties. We appreciate each and every person who takes the time to enter this contest, and wish them the best in all their writing endeavors. Score sheets will be sent after the awards ceremony.

The 2026 Finalists: 

Listed Alphabetically by Author Last Name,  * Denotes Kiss of Death Member 

Unpublished

Mainstream Mystery/Suspense

 “Blind Side Of The Sun” — Michael Nikitin

“What He Saw In The Darkness” — D.S. Mori

“Forever Everly” — Coby Nicole Sauce

Romantic Mystery/Suspense

“Chained” — Jennifer Estes *

“Veilbound” — Cat St. Martin

“Mind Linkers” — Michele Wyan

 Published *Coming Soon*

If you have any questions feel free to email either the Contest Chair at KODContest@gmail.com or Treasurer at KOD144Treasurer@gmail.com. 

The Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense – 2025 Finalists 

PUBLISHED DIVISION:

COZY MYSTERY SUSPENSE FINALISTS

Charlie’s Secrets — Lorena McCourtney

The Burning of Rosemont Abbey — Naomi Stephens

Ghost Appeal — Louisa West

HISTORICAL & PARANORMAL ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE FINALISTS

Charlotte and the Seductive Spymaster — Grace Calloway

With Winter Comes Darkness — Robbi Neal

A Hope Unburied— Kimberley Woodhouse

LONG ROMANTIC SUSPENSE FINALISTS

Don’t Look Back —Rachel Grant

Stolen Beauty —Isabel Jolie

Locked Down— Lori Matthews

MAINSTREAM FINALISTS

The Third Estate Secrets of the Manor — D R Berlin 

Shady Justice — Rena Koontz

Cold Vengeance—Nancy Mehl

NOVELLA & SHORT ROMANTIC SUSPENSE FINALISTS

Tracking the Missing — Sami A. Abrams

Raider Unleashed— Lori Matthews

Wyoming Undercover Escape — Juno Rushdan

We asked our 2023 finalists what their favorite writing craft books were, and asked our published finalists to share writing advice. You can read their answers by clicking HERE.