Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.
To be eligible for the award, the mystery novel must have been published in the previous calendar year.
This category has had multiple names since its inception and reviews the best mystery-related critical, biographical, and otherwise nonfiction titles.
The Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award was established in 2006 to honor Sue Feder, "a reviewer, scholar and dedicated mystery fan, who had founded the [now defunct] Historical Mystery Appreciation Society.