The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence 2022 Shortlists

 

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) have announced the Shortlists for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Started in 1984, the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, then known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.

Winners will be announced Thursday 26 May 2022.

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) have announced the Shortlists for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Started in 1984, the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, then known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, recognises the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.

Winners will be announced Thursday 26 May 2022.

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize

Find You First by Linwood Barclay (William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)

Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla, (Simon & Schuster)

Under the Outlaw Moon by Dietrich Kalteis (ECW Press)

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (Doubleday Canada)

The Hunted by Roz Nay (Simon & Schuster)

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize

The Push by Ashley Audrain (Viking Canada)The Captive by Fiona King Foster (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)

Windfall: A Henry Lysyk Mystery by Byron TD Smith (Shima Kun Press)

All Is Well by Katherine Walker (Thistledown Press)

Seven Down by David Whitton (Rare Machines an imprint of Dundurn Press)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize

What’s the Matter with Mary Jane? By Candas Jane Dorsey (ECW Press)

Three Dog Knight by Alice Bienia (Cairn Press)

Hell's Half Acre by Jackie Elliott (Joffe Books)

So Many Windings by Catherine Macdonald (At Bay Press)

Murder in a Teacup by Vicki Delany (Kensington Publishing Corp)

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by The Engel Family, with a $500 prize

Beneath Her Skin by C. S. Porter (Vagrant Press / Nimbus Publishing Inc.)

Corpse with an Iron Will by Cathy Ace (Four Tails Publishing Inc.)

Death on Darby’s Island by Alice Walsh (Vagrant Press / Nimbus Publishing Inc.

Hell and Gone by Sam Wiebe (Harbour Publishing Co. Inc.)

Three for Trinity by Kevin Major (Breakwater Books)

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $200 prize

Identity Withheld by Marcelle Dubé (Falcon Ridge Publishing)

Murder in Abstract by Brenda Gayle (Bowstring Books)

Letters From Johnny by Wayne Ng (Guernica Editions)

Not So Fast Dr. Quick by Elvie Simons, (Dell Magazines)

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $300 prize

What can You Do? By Pam Barnsley (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Weed Man by Hilary Davidson (Dell Magazines)

Number 10 Marlborough Place by Elizabeth Elwood (Dell Magazines)

All My Darlings by Charlotte Morganti Die Laughing: An Anthology of Humorous Mysteries

Dead Man's Hand by Melissa Yi (Dell Magazines)

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Le Murmure des Hakapiks by Roxanne Bouchard (Libre Expression)

Dis-moi Qui Doit Vivre… by Marc-André Chabot (Libre Expression)

Conduite Dangereuse by Guillaume Morrissette (Saint-Jean)

Flots by Patrick Senécal (Editions Alire)

Stigmates by Richard Ste-Marie (Editions Alire)

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) sponsored by Shaftesbury, with a $500 prize

Blood Donor by Karen Bass (Orca Book Publishers)

Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster by Rachelle Delaney (Puffin Canada)

Hunting By Stars, by Cherie Dimaline (Penguin Teen)

The Traitor's Blade by Kevin Sands (Aladdin (Simon & Schuster))

Don't Breathe a Word by Jordyn Taylor (HarperTeen (HarperCollins Publishers))

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Don't Call it a Cult, by Sarah Berman (Viking Canada)

Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City's West End, by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Murder on the Inside: The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary by Catherine Fogarty (Biblioasis)

The Beatle Bandit by Nate Hendley (Dundurn Press)

The Don: The Story of Toronto's Infamous Jail by Lorna Poplak (Dundurn Press)

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript sponsored by ECW Press, with a $500 prize

The Strength to Rise by Delee Fromm

Captives by Pam Isfeld

Elmington by Renee Lehnen

Ken's Corner by Katie Mac

Part Time Crazy by Mark Thomas

CWC announces the 2022 Grand Master Award recipient Louise Penny.

Louise Penny’s debut novel, Still Life, not only won CWC Award for Best First Novel but also the New Blood Dagger, Anthony and Barry awards. Since then, Louise Penny has penned over sixteen Inspector Gamache novels, won many more awards, become an International Bestseller and Canadian icon. Inspector Gamache is being adapted for television by Left Bank Productions with Alfred Molina playing the beloved detective. Her most recent book, State of Terror, was written with 2016 U.S. Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, a literary coup and another bestseller.

About Crime Writers of Canada

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We would like to thank ECW Press, Rakuten Kobo, Mystery Magazine, Shaftesbury, Simpson and Wellenreiter LLP (Hamilton), Writers First, Jane Doe and the Howard Engel family for their sponsorship, and the many participating publishers for their continued support.

The shortlist presentation can also been seen on YouTube below.

2021 Awards of Excellence Winners

 Crime Writers of Canada Announces 

2021 Awards of Excellence Winners

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Winners of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Formerly known as theArthur Ellis Awards, the Awards started in 1984. The annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. Congratulations to all the nominated authors!!

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize

The Finder by Will Ferguson (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize

The Transaction by Guglielmo D’Izza,( Guernica Editions)

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by The Engel Family with a $500 prize

Stay Where I Can See You by Katrina Onstad (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize

Never Going Back by Sam Wiebe (Orca Book Publishers)

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

Cold Wave by Marcelle Dubé, (Sisters in Crime - Canada West)

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

La mariée de corail by Roxanne Bouchard (Libre Expression)

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

Red Fox Road by Frances Greenslade, (Puffin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Missing From the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System That Failed Toronto's Queer Community by Justin Ling (McClelland & Stewart)

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript with a $500 prize sponsored by ECW Press

The Future by Raymond Bazowski

***

About Crime Writers of Canada

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright.

We would like to thank ECW Press, Rakuten Kobo, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Shaftesbury, Simpson and Wellenreiter LLP (Hamilton), and the Howard Engel family for their sponsorship, and the many participating publishers for their continued support.

Find CWC at www.crimewriterscanada.com

Books to Look forward to from Orenda Books

October 2020

When a body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to the area. Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her collegues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day … But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late. The Creak on the Stairs is by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

Burned out and traumatized by her horrifying experiences around the world, aid worker Ursula has returned to Iceland. Unable to settle, she accepts a high-profile government role in which she hopes to make a difference again. But on her first day in the post, Ursula promises to help a mother seeking justice for her daughter, who had been raped by a policeman, and life in high office soon becomes much more harrowing than Ursula could ever have imagined. A homeless man is stalking her--but is he hounding her, or warning her of some danger? And why has the death of her father in police custody so many years earlier reared its head again? As Ursula is drawn into dirty politics, facing increasingly deadly threats, the lives of her stalker, her bodyguard, and even a witch-like cleaning lady intertwine. Small betrayals become large ones, and the stakes are raised ever higher . . . Exploring the harsh worlds of politics, police corruption, and misogyny, Betrayal is by Lilja Sigurdardóttir

November 2020

When Bergen PI Varg Veum finds himself at the funeral of a former classmate on a sleet-grey December afternoon, he’s unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Jakob – the once-famous lead singer of 1960s rock band The Harpers – and his estranged wife, Rebecca, Veum’s first love. Their rekindled friendship come to an abrupt end with a horrific murder, and Veum is forced to dig deep into his own adolescence and his darkest memories, to find a motive … and a killer. Fallen Angels is by Gunner Staalesten 

The Coral Bride is by Roxanne Bouchard. When an abandoned lobster trawler is found adrift off the coast of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, DS Joaquin Moralès begins a straightforward search for the boat’s missing captain, Angel Roberts – a rare female in a male-dominated world. But Moralès finds himself blocked at every turn – by his police colleagues, by fisheries bureaucrats, and by his grown-up son, who has turned up at his door with a host of his own personal problems. When Angel’s body is finally discovered, it’s clear something very sinister is afoot, and Moralès and son are pulled into murky, dangerous waters, where old resentments run deep.

December 2020

When the body of a nineteen-year-old girl is found on the main street of Siglufjörður, Police Inspector Ari Thór battles a violent Icelandic storm in an increasingly dangerous hunt for her killer … Easter weekend is approaching, and snow is gently falling in Siglufjörður, the northernmost town in Iceland, as crowds of tourists arrive to visit the majestic ski slopes. Ari Thór Arason is now a police inspector, but he’s separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden with their three-year-old son. A family reunion is planned for the holiday, but a violent blizzard is threatening and there is an unsettling chill in the air. Three days before Easter, a nineteen-year-old local girl falls to her death from the balcony of a house on the main street. A perplexing entry in her diary suggests that this may not be an accident, and when an old man in a local nursing home writes ‘She was murdered’ again and again on the wall of his room, there is every suggestion that something more sinister lies at the heart of her death… As the extreme weather closes in, cutting the power and access to Siglufjörður, Ari Thór must piece together the puzzle to reveal a horrible truth … one that will leave no one unscathed. The chilling, claustrophobic and disturbing Winterkill is finale to the international bestselling Dark Iceland series. Winterkill is by Ragnar Jónasson.

Deity is by Matt Wesolowski When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls. Online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rakes over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge: Was the fire at Crystal’s remote home really an accident? Whose remains – still unidentified – were found in the ashes? Why was he never officially charged?

Launch of We are The Salt of The Earth

On Thursday 9 May 2018 The High Commission of Canada based at Canada House in London hosted the book launch of Roxanne Bouchard’s book We are The Salt of The Earth which is published by Orenda Books.  It is the first English translation of the novel. Her English translator David Warriner was also present and gave a reading from the book.

Author Roxanne Bouchard was interviewed by journalist Kathy Guest about We are The Salt of The Earth with the topics ranging from the fishing community and the people there.  How she did her research and the various themes that could be found in the novel. Roxanne Bouchard also read from the book in

French.

It was a brilliant launch with a vast number of people in attendance.  Not only were those in attendance treated to an interesting conversation between the author and Katy Guest but copies of the book were also given away to those who were there.

Congratulations to Orenda Books for having such a wonderful book launch in such a special place.

We are The Salt of The Earth by Roxanne Bouchard Published by Orenda Books (Translated by David Warriner)

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman's nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man's heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he's thrown into the deep end of the investigation. On Quebec's outlying Gaspe Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen's wharves. Interviews drift into idle chit-chat, evidence floats off with the tide and the truth lingers in murky waters. It's enough to make DS Morales reach straight for a large whisky...

Books to Look Forward to from Orenda Books

January 2018

One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the north west of England, 26-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and younger sister to death with a hammer, in an unprovoked attack known as the 'Macleod Massacre'. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose `Six Stories' podcasts have become an internet sensation. King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla's responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out. As he unpicks the stories, he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden `games', online trolls, and the mysterious Black-eyed Children, whose presence extends far beyond the delusions of a murderess... Hydra is by Matt Wesolowski.

February 2018

Blue Night is by Simone Buchholz.  After convicting a superior for corruption and shooting off a gangster's crown jewels, the career of Hamburg's most hard-bitten state prosecutor, Chastity Riley, has taken a nose dive: she has been transferred to the tedium of witness protection to prevent her making any more trouble. However, when she is assigned to the case of an anonymous man lying under police guard in hospital - almost every bone in his body broken, a finger cut off, and refusing to speak in anything other than riddles - Chastity's instinct for the big, exciting case kicks in. Using all her powers of persuasion, she soon gains her charge's confidence, and finds herself on the trail to Leipzig, a new ally, and a whole heap of lethal synthetic drugs. When she discovers that a friend and former colleague is trying to bring down Hamburg's Albanian mafia kingpin single-handedly, it looks like Chas Riley's dull life on witness protection really has been short-lived... 

March 2018

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman's nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man's heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he's thrown into the deep end of the investigation. On Quebec's outlying Gaspe Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen's wharves. Interviews drift into idle chit-chat, evidence floats off with the tide and the truth lingers in murky waters. It's enough to make DS Morales reach straight for a large whisky... We are the Salt of the Sea is by Roxanne Bouchard

Robert Finlay seems to have finally left his SAS past behind him and is settled into his new career as a detective. But when the girlfriend of his former SAS colleague and close friend Kevin Jones is murdered, it's clear that Finlay's troubles are far from over. Jones is arrested for the killing, but soon escapes from jail, and Finlay is held responsible for the breakout. Suspended from duty and sure he's being framed too, our hero teams up with MI5 agent Toni Fellowes to find out who's behind the conspiracy. Their quest soon reveals a plot that goes to the very heart of the UK's security services.  End Game is by Matt Johnson.

April 2018

The Ice Swimmer is by Kjell Ola Dahl. When a dead man is lifted from the freezing waters of Oslo Harbour just before Christmas, Detective Lena Stigersand's stressful life suddenly becomes even more complicated. Not only is she dealing with a cancer scare, a stalker and and an untrustworthy boyfriend, but it seems both a politician and Norway's security services might be involved in the murder. With her trusted colleagues, Gunnarstranda and Frolich, at her side, Lena digs deep into the case and finds that it not only goes to the heart of the Norwegian establishment, but it might be rather to close to her personal life for comfort.

Keeper is by Johana Gustawsson. Whitechapel, 1888: London is bowed under Jack the Ripper's reign of terror. London 2015: actress Julianne Bell is abducted in a case similar to the terrible Tower Hamlets murders of some ten years earlier, and harking back to the Ripper killings of a century before. Falkenberg, Sweden, 2015: a woman's body is found mutilated in a forest, her wounds identical to those of the Tower Hamlets victims. With the man arrested for the Tower Hamlets crimes already locked up, do the new killings mean he has a dangerous accomplice, or is a copy-cat serial killer on the loose? Profiler Emily Roy and true-crime writer Alexis Castells again find themselves drawn into an intriguing case, with personal links that turn their world upside down. 

May 2018

Absolution is by Paul E Hardisty.  It is 1997, eight months since vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker fled South Africa after his explosive testimony to Desmond Tutu's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In Paris, Rania LaTour, journalist, comes home to find that her son and her husband, a celebrated human rights lawyer, have disappeared. On an isolated island off the coast of East Africa, the family that Clay has befriended is murdered as he watches. So begins the fourth instalment in the Claymore Straker series, a breakneck journey through the darkest reaches of the human soul, as Clay and Rania fight to uncover the mystery behind the disappearances and murders, and find those responsible. Events lead them both inexorably to Egypt, where an act of the most shocking terrorist brutality will reveal not only why those they loved were sacrificed, but how they were both, indirectly, responsible. Relentlessly pursued by those who want them dead, they must work together to uncover the truth, and to find a way to survive in a world gone crazy.

 

Lynn Waites gave up the job she loved when she married Ed, the love of her life, but it was worth it for the happy years they enjoyed together. Now, ten years on, Ed has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and things start to happen; things more sinister than missing keys and lost words. As some memories are forgotten, other, long buried, begin to surface ... and Lynn's perfect world begins to crumble. But is it Ed's mind playing tricks, or hers...?  The Old You is by Louise Voss

Fault Lines is by Doug Johnstone. A little lie ... a seismic secret ... and the cracks are beginning to show... In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, in which a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery. On a clandestine trip to The Inch - the new volcanic island - to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body, and makes the fatal decision to keep their affair, and her discovery of his corpse secret. Desperate to know how he died, but also terrified she'll be exposed, Surtsey's life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact - someone who claims to know what she's done..

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June 2018

Big Sister is by Gunnar Staalesen Varg Veum receives a surprise visit in his office. A woman introduces herself as his half-sister, and she has a job for him. Her god-daughter, a 19-year-old trainee nurse from Haugesund, moved from her bedsit in Bergen two weeks ago. Since then no one has heard anything from her. She didn't leave an address. She doesn't answer her phone. And the police refuse to take her case seriously. Veum's investigation uncovers a series of carefully covered-up crimes and pent-up hatreds, and the trail leads to a gang of extreme bikers on the hunt for a group of people whose dark deeds are hidden by the anonymity of the Internet. And then things get personal... 

Helen is a wealthy, forty-year-old mother of three: six-month-old twins and a three-year-old boy who hasn't spoken since they were born. She is struggling to cope with the demands of two new babies and her husband Max suggests they employ a live-in nanny to help. Annie is eighteen, impoverished and desperate. Her mother is missing and Annie has been evicted for not paying the rent. She needs a job that will provide a roof over her head and, once she has it, she is determined to make herself indispensable. As she slowly transforms Helen's domestic life, Annie confides to Helen the truth about her childhood, and a deep friendship develops between the two women. Then someone is injured and it's discovered that Annie is hiding a secret ... a terrible, terrible secret that will shatter everything...  The Visit is by Sarah Stovell.