Therese Greenwood is nominated for Best Crime Short Story for her story, Hatcheck Bingo, from The 13th Letter, A Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem Anthology, published by Carrick Publishing
Fort McMurray writer Therese Greenwood has been named a Finalist for the 2025 Award of Excellence for Best Short Story from the Crime Writers of Canada. It is Greenwood’s fourth nomination for Canada’s top mystery writing prize. Greenwood’s 2025 nomination is for “Hatchcheck Bingo,” a women-centred story set in the Prohibition era. Greenwood’s story appeared in Carrick Publishing’s 2024 crime fiction collection The Thirteenth Letter, (A , Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem anthology which is) nominated for a 2025 Derringer Award for Best Anthology.
Therese’s short crime fiction has appeared across Canada and the U.S. and she won the 2019 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for her story “Buck’s Last Ride” in Kill As You Go, her 2018 short story collection. She has co-edited two short crime fiction anthologies.
Therese’s memoir of the Fort McMurray wildfire, What You Take With You: Wildfire, Family and the Road Home, was a Finalist for the 2020 Alberta Book Publishing Awards from The Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA). Nominated in the Trade Non-fiction category, What You Take With You: Wildfire, Family and the Road Home was published by the University of Alberta Press. An eyewitness account of the Fort McMurray wildfire and evacuation, the book is also about the physical and emotional artifacts we carry with us in times of crisis.
Therese has worked as a reporter and editor and spent a decade as a CBC Radio correspondent. Her feature stories and columns appear regularly in national news publications, and she is a frequent commentator on issues related to both wildfires and crime fiction. She has a Master’s degree in journalism.
Twist Phelan is nominated for two awards in 2025. Her story Aim (featured in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)is on the shortlist for Best Crime Novella sponsored by Carrick Publishing and she is nominated for Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book sponsored by Superior Shores, for her book, Snowed (published by Bronzeville Books).
Twist Phelan is the award-winning author of eleven mystery novels, which have been praised by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist.
She also writes short stories, which have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and various anthologies. Accolades for her work include two Thriller Awards and the Arthur Ellis Award, plus multiple nominations for the Thriller, Ellis, Shamus, Anthony, Derringer, Silver Falchion, and Lefty Awards, as well as the Crime Writers of Canada's Award of Excellence and the Irish Book Awards.
Jaima Fixsen’s novel The Specimen, (published by Poisoned Pen Press) is nominated for
The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel, sponsored by the Boreal Benefactor with a $1000 prize
Jaima Fixsen is a USA Today and International best-selling author living and writing in Edmonton, Alberta. Her novel, The Girl In His Shadow (co-authored under the pen name Audrey Blake), was selected as Libby’s 2022 Big Library Read. Her books have been translated in eight languages.
Jaima studied Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta. Her classes there on human anatomy and health care ethics began a longtime fascination with medical history, which often figures in her novels. She loves history, snow, reading, snow, and spending as much time as possible in the Canadian Rockies.
Raye Anderson's novel, The Dead Shall Inherit, (published by Signature Editions) was nominated for The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize.
Raye Anderson is a Scots Canadian who taught Drama and ran Theatre and Community arts programs for many years, notably at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in Ottawa and Calgary.
Raye has been a resident of the Interlake since 2007 and presently lives in Gimli. Her first crime fiction novel, And We Shall Have Snow, was published by Signature Editions in 2020. It was a finalist for Best First Novel for the Crime Writers of Canada, Awards of Excellence and was also shortlisted in the Original Softcover Fiction category of the WILLA Literary Awards.
The second book in the series, which features Sergeant Roxanne Calloway of the RCMP, occurs mostly in Winnipeg, in a fictional theatre company. Titled And Then Is Heard No More, it was published in 2021, and was the Winnipeg Free Press/McNally Robinson Book Club pick for July/August of 2022.
Raye returned to the Interlake as the setting for the third and fourth books in the series, Down Came The Rain (2022) and Sing a Song of Summer (July, 2023).
The Dead Shall Inherit (September, 2024) is the first in a new series. Elspeth Laird is a Canadian, born in Scotland, who returns there when her aunt leaves her a house on a Hebridean island.
Had a Great Fall, book 5 in the Roxanne Calloway series, will be released in the fall of 2025.
Suzan Denoncourt’s novel, The Burden of Truth, (published by Suzan Denoncourt) was nominated for Best Crime First Novel, sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize.
It was at the height of her career as a business executive that Suzan chose to pivot away from the corporate world and embrace a totally new chapter. Literally. Gravitating toward mystery/suspense/crime fiction, she completed the first two manuscripts in the Cisco series before pursuing publication of her debut novel, The Burden of Truth. The early response was so favourable, she released book two, Heaven’s Debris, just four months later. The next installment from this Montreal-based, married mother of two is expected in late 2025, with more novels in the series to follow thereafter.
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.
Cathy Ace’s novel, The Corpse with the Pearly Smile, (published by Four Tails Publishing Ltd.) has been nominated for The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize.
Ace’s Cait Morgan Mysteries feature a globetrotting Welsh Canadian criminal psychologist who solves traditional whodunits alongside her retired-cop husband, Bud Anderson (Eve Myles will portray Cait in the TV production by Free@LastTV). Her WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries feature four softly-poached female PIs solving cosy cases from a Welsh stately home. She's a past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, and is a Bony Blithe, IPPY, IBA and Editor’s Choice CrimeFictionLover Award winner. This is her third nomination for Crime Writers of Canada Awards. She migrated from Wales aged 40, and now lives in Canada.
Melissa Yi is nominated for Best Crime Short Story and Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book sponsored by Superior Shores Press.
Melissa could slice your throat and sew it back up again. Legally. Because she’s an emergency doctor. In her spare minutes, Melissa writes the Hope Sze medical crime series, which Ellery Queen praised for its “nitty-gritty” description and Publishers Weekly for its “darker themes … entertaining and insightful.” The Globe and Mail praises her as a “standout,” having written a best Canadian suspense novel.
Melissa’s mystery stories were finalists for the Award of Excellence (best crime story in Canada) and the Derringer Award (best crime story in the English language) and longlisted for the Staunch Prize (best feminist thriller worldwide).
Brenda Chapman is a Canadian crime fiction author with twenty-six published novels. In addition to short stories and standalones, she has written the lauded Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series, the Anna Sweet mystery novellas, and the Jennifer Bannon mysteries for middle grade. Her work has been shortlisted for several awards including four Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. She is currently writing a new mystery series set in Ottawa called the Hunter and Tate mysteries, and the forth book in the series, Who Lies in Wait was released 2025, in this podcast we will discuss the third book in this series, Fatal Harvest.
Greg Rhyno is the author of the Dame Polara mystery series from Cormorant Books, including Who by Fire, which was nominated for a Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence. His debut novel, To Me You Seem Giant (NeWest Press), was nominated for a ReLit Award and an Alberta Book Publishing Award. He completed an MFA at the University of Guelph and lives with his family in Guelph, Ontario.