The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence
2021 SHORTLISTS
Best Crime Novel
sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize
Marjorie Celona, How a Woman Becomes a Lake, Hamish Hamilton Canada; Penguin Canada
Cecilia Ekbäck, The Historians, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Will Ferguson, The Finder, Simon & Schuster Canada
Thomas King, Obsidian, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Roz Nay, Hurry Home, Simon & Schuster Canada
Best Crime First Novel
sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize
Raye Anderson, And We Shall Have Snow, Signature Editions
Chris Patrick Carolan, The Nightshade Cabal, Parliament House Press
Guglielmo D’Izza, The Transaction, Guernica Editions
Russell Fralich, True Patriots, Dundurn Press
Emily Hepditch, The Woman in the Attic, Flanker Press
The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada
sponsored by The Engel Family with a $500 prize
Randall Denley, Payback, Ottawa Press and Publishing
Helen Humphreys, Rabbit Foot Bill, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Ann Lambert, The Dogs of Winter, Second Story Press
Kevin Major, Two for The Tablelands, Breakwater Books
Katrina Onstad, Stay Where I Can See You, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Best Crime Novella
sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize
C.C. Benison, The Unpleasantness at the Battle of Thornford, At Bay Press
Vicki Delany, Coral Reef Views, Orca Book Publishers
Winona Kent, Salty Dog Blues, Sisters in Crime - Canada West
Sam Wiebe, Never Going Back, Orca Book Publishers
Best Crime Short Story
sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize
Marcelle Dubé, Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime - Canada West
Twist Phelan, Used to Be, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Zandra Renwick, Killer Biznez, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Days Without Name, Carrick Publishing
Sarah Weinman, Limited Liability, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)
Roxanne Bouchard, La mariée de corail, Libre Expression
Stéphanie Gauthier, Inacceptable, Éditions Québec Amérique
Christian Giguère, Le printemps des traîtres, Héliotrope NOIR
Guy Lalancette, Les cachettes, VLB éditeur
Jean Lemieux, Les Demoiselles de Havre-Aubert, Éditions Québec Amérique
Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)
sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize
Frances Greenslade, Red Fox Road, Puffin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Janet Hill, Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House, Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Sheena Kamal, Fight Like a Girl, Penguin Teen, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Kelly Powell, Magic Dark and Strange, Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Inc.
Tom Ryan, I Hope You're Listening, Albert Whitman & Co.
The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book
sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize
Jeff Blackstock, Murder in the Family: How the Search For My Mother's Killer Led to My Father, Viking Press
Norm Boucher, Horseplay: My Time Undercover on the Granville Strip, NeWest Press
Silver Donald Cameron, Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes, Viking Press
Justin Ling, Missing From the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System That FailedToronto's Queer Community, McClelland & Stewart
Michael Nest with Deanna Reder and Eric Bell, Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett, University of Regina Press
The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript
sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize
The Future by Raymond Bazowski
Predator and Prey by Dianne Scott
Notes on Killing your Wife by Mark Thomas
A Nice Place to Die by Joyce Woollcott
Cat with a Bone by Susan Jane Wright
The winners will be announced across Canada on Thursday, 27 May 2021.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE FINALISTS
Sincere thanks to our sponsors.
And thank you to the publishers and authors that support the
CWC Awards of Excellence.
Click here for past finalists and winners
View the Shortlist Presentation on YouTube.