Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists

Crime Writers of Canada is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2020 Arthur Ellis Awards.

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo with a $1000 prize 
Greenwood by Michael Christie (MacClelland & Stewart)
Fate by Ian Hamilton (House of Anansi Press)
Hideaway by Nicole Lundrigan (Penguin Random House Canada)
The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley (Simon & Schuster Canada)
In the Dark by Loreth Anne White (Montlake Romance)

The Angela Harrison Memorial Award for Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Maureen Jennings with a $500 prize
Nobody Move by Philip Elliott (Into the Void Press)
Blindshot by Denis Coupal (Linda Leith Publishing)
Past Presence by Nicole Bross (Literary Wanderlust)

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize 
The Red Chesterfield by Wayne Arthurson (University of Calgary Press)

Blood Ties by Barbara Fradkin (Orca Book Publishers)
Too Close to Home by Brenda Chapman (Grass Roots Press)

The Goddaughter Does Vegas by Melodie Campbell (Orca Book Publishers)
The Woman in Apartment 615 by Devon Shepherd (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine)

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize
In Plain Sight, Life is Short and Then You Die by Y.S. Lee (Macmillan Publishers)
Closing Doors by Peter Sellers (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
The Dead Man's Dog by Zandra Renwick (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine)

Best French Crime Book 

Les offrandes by Louis Carmain (VLB Éditeur)
Tempêtes by Andrée Michaud (Éditions Québec Amériques)
Ghetto X by Martin Michaud (Libre Expression)
Le tribunal de la rue Quirion by Guillaume Morrissette (Guy Saint-Jean Éditeur)
Le cercle de cendres by Félix Ravenelle-Arcouette (Héliotrope)

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize
Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Tentacle Terror by Liam O'Donnell & Mike Dean (Orca Book Publishers)
The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari (Penguin Teen)
Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan (Albert Whitman & Company)
Ghosts by David A. Robertson (HighWater Press)

Best Nonfiction Crime Book
The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed with Finding Him by Katie Daubs (MacClelland & Stewart)

The Billionaire Murders by Kevin Donovan (Penguin Random House)
The Court of Better Fiction by Debra Komar (Dundurn Press)
The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice by Vanessa Brown (ECW Press)
Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise by Charlotte Gray (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)

The Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished Crime Manuscript sponsored by Dundurn Press with a $500 prize 

Bert Mintenko and the Serious Business by B.L. Smith
Henry's Bomb Max Folsom, One Bad Day After Another by K.P. Bartlett
The Dieppe Letters by Liz Rachel Walker

The River Cage by Pam Barnsley

The Crime Writers of Canada is pleased to announce its 2020 Grand Master Awards.


The Grand Master Award is presented biennially to recognize a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work who has garnered national and international recognition. This year, the Grand Master Award is presented to Peter Robinson.