Jim McDonald has been judged a finalist for the prestigious Crime Writers of Canada Best Crime First Novel, sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize for his noir psychological thriller Altered Boy, available on Amazon Kindle. The winner will be announced on May 30, 2025.
Also on Kindle: Smash Palace, a collection of 32 short stories. Coming in 2026, his historical novel Counterculture Revolution, set in 1970, is about the anti-war activist group The Weathermen.
Altered Boy is the featured novel for Humanist Canada’s Book Club online meeting on June 3, 2025. Jim will be in attendance to answer questions.
In addition, Jim’s short story “Ticket Out” is in the anthology Midnight Schemers and Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery and Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, to be released June 18, 2025.
*Note: There's a reference to a CWC mentor that Jim had years ago, and he couldn't recall his name. Jim did some post-interview digging and found his notes. It was Michael McKinley. Born in Vancouver, he now lives in New York City. He wrote "Ice Time: The Story of Hockey" and "Hockey Night in Canada," to name a couple. His mystery book was The Penalty Killing. In 2010, he was with CWC but has since left. He was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award in 2011 for best first crime novel.