Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) is pleased to announce the Shortlists for the 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Since 1984, Crime Writers of Canada has recognized the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors, including citizens abroad and new residents.
On behalf of CWC, Hyacinthe Miller, Board Chair, wishes to congratulate all the finalists.
Winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024.
Maureen Jennings is this year’s recipient of the 2024 Grand Master Award.
Established in 2014, the Grand Master (GM) Award recognizes a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work that has garnered national and international recognition.
Maureen Jennings is not only just about the best crime novelist in Canada, she’s among the best writers anywhere - a national and international treasure. —LONDON FREE PRESS
Maureen Jennings, a long-time Crime Writers of Canada member, is a prolific author of non-fiction, short stories and book series featuring Christine Morris, Detective Murdoch, and D.I. Tom Tyler. The Detective William Murdoch television series, set in Victorian era Toronto, was optioned in 2003 by Shaftesbury Films. Murdoch Mysteries are shown in over 120 countries and feature innovative crime-solving techniques, social justice subplots and surprise guest appearances.
In 2011, she was awarded the Grant Allen award for her on-going contribution to Canadian crime writing. Maureen has received eight Award of Excellence nominations from CWC for best novel and short story. In 2014, the 180th anniversary of the city of Toronto, the Toronto Star named her one of 180 people whose influence has raised the city’s profile.
She is an exceptional talent, a generous mentor and strong supporter of Canadian crime and mystery writers. CWC is proud to honour Maureen Jennings with the 2024 Grand Master Award.
THE 2024 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE SHORTLISTS
The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize
Robyn Harding, The Drowning Woman, Grand Central Publishing
Shari Lapena, Everyone Here is Lying, Doubleday Canada
Scott Thornley, Middlemen, House of Anansi Press
Sam Wiebe, Sunset and Jericho, Harbour Publishing
Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary, Montlake
Best Crime First Novel, sponsored by Melodie Campbell, with a $1000 prize
Jann Arden, The Bittlemores, Random House Canada
Lisa Brideau, Adrift, Sourcebooks
Charlotte Morganti, The End Game, Halfdan Press
Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers, Harper Perennial
Steve Urszenyi, Perfect Shot, Minotaur
The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada, sponsored by Charlotte Engel and Crime Writers of Canada, with a $500 prize
Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Almost Widow, Harper Avenue/HarperCollins
Renee Lehnen, Elmington, Storeyline Press
Cyndi MacMillan, Cruel Light, Crooked Lane
Joan Thomas, Wild Hope, Harper Perennial/HarperCollins
Melissa Yi, Shapes of Wrath, Windtree Press
The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize
Gail Bowen, The Legacy, ECW Press
Vicki Delany, Steeped in Malice, Kensington Books
Vicki Delany, The Game is a Footnote, Crooked Lane Books
Nita Prose, The Mystery Guest, Viking
Iona Whishaw, To Track a Traitor, TouchWood Editions
Best Crime Short Story
M.H. Callway, Wisteria Cottage, Wildside Press (for Malice Domestic)
Marcelle Dubé, Reversion, Mystery Magazine
Mary Keenan The Canadians (Killin' Time in San Diego), Down & Out Books
donalee Moulton, Troubled Water, Black Cat Weekly (Wildside Press)
Zandra Renwick, American Night, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
The Best French Language Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)
Jean-Philippe Bernié, La punition, Glénat Québec
Chrystine Brouillet, Le mois des morts, Éditions Druide
Catherine Lafrance, Le dernier souffle est le plus lourd, Éditions Druide
André Marois, La sainte paix, Héliotrope
Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Rien, Alire
Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book, sponsored by Shaftesbury Films with a $500 prize (Fiction and Nonfiction)
Kelley Armstrong, Someone is Always Watching, Tundra Books
Cherie Dimaline, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Tundra Books
Rachelle Delaney, The Big Sting, Tundra Books
Clara Kumagai, Catfish Rolling, Penguin Teen Canada
Kevin Sands, Champions of the Fox, Puffin Canada
The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton), with a $300 prize
Josef Lewkowicz and Michael Calvin, The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Michael Lista, The Human Scale, Véhicule Press
David Rabinovitch, Jukebox Empire, Rowman & Littlefield
Bill Waiser and Jennie Hansen, Cheated, ECW Press
Carolyn Whitzman, Clara at the Door with a Revolver, UBC Press, On Point Press
Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author
Tom Blackwell, The Patient
Craig H. Bowlsby, Requiem for a Lotus
Sheilla Jones and James Burns, Murder on Richmond Road: An Enquiry Bureau Mystery
Nora Sellers, The Forest Beyond
William Wodhams, Thirty Feet Under
Winners will be announced on the Crime Writers of Canada website on May 29th, 2024.
CWC is grateful for the support of Our Award Sponsors
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 writers. Past winners of the Awards have included well-recognized names in Canadian crime writing such as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We would like to thank our sponsors and volunteers, and the many participating publishers, authors and contest judges for their continued support.
-end-
Full details about the competition can be found on the Crime Writers of Canada’s website: www.crimewriterscanada.com
For more information about the Awards of Excellence, contact Ludvica Boota at awards@crimewriterscanada.com
To enquire about becoming an Award sponsor, contact the CWC Chair, Hyacinthe Miller, at board-chair@crimewriterscanada.com
Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors. This year, BC-Yukon rep, Winona Kent and CWC member AJ Devlin, co-hosted a Bloody Caesar event in the hotel's bar. It was extremely well-attended by Canadian authors and reader-fans, who also invited their American friends. A respectable contingent of Canadian authors attended the event, most of whom are current CWC members. A number of CWC members were also on panels. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet some writers for the first time, and to connect and chat and catch up with old friends. It also got top marks from the members as a CWC event.
CWC member Dianne Scott’s first mystery Final Look has been nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writers Award in the Mystery category. This book won the CWC Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished crime manuscript. Dianne says she’s very appreciative of the CWC award and that it encouraged her to self-publish her manuscript.
Explore the ins and outs of five paths to publication: traditional, independent, hybrid/assisted, self-publishing, and social publishing.
CWC member Marcelle Dubé has been nominated for a 2024 Derringer Award for her story, REVERSION, (Mystery Magazine, April 2023). Marcelle writes mystery and speculative fiction novels and short stories. She is the winner of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for short fiction. Her short stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies.
The shortlist will be announced on Friday April 26th, 2024 @ 12 AM ET. The winners will be announced on Wednesday May 29th, 2024 @12 AM ET.
You are invited to the launch of The Orphan, an historical mystery novel, by Sylvia Maultash Warsh.
THE ORPHAN
"The Orphan is...a gripping story, a vivid capturing of an historical period, with well drawn characters, and to top it off, exquisite depictions of the natural world. Highly recommended."
--Maureen Jennings, the author of the Murdoch Mysteries and the Paradise Cafe Mystery series
Please join us on Sunday May 5th, 2024, 2:00 pm
Sleuth of Baker Street Bookstore 907 Millwood Road
Toronto, ON, Canada, M4G 1X2
CWC member and past Chair Judy Penz Sheluk is hosting a virtual workshop, Finding the Path to Publishing, on Wednesday, April 10 from 6:30-7:30 pm, hosted by the Barrie Public Library. Explore the ins and outs of 5 paths to publication!
For details and to register in person or online https://barrielibrary.libnet.i...
donalee Moulton, CWC representative for the Atlantic Region, has been nominated for a 2024 Derringer award and says it’s all thanks to CWC. She wrote a short story (her first mystery short story) for the CWC anthology competition. It was accepted and appeared in Cold Canadian Crime. It was also shortlisted for an Award of Excellence in 2023. The story takes place in Iqaluit, and donalee went on to write another story with the same characters in the same community. That story, "Troubled Water," has made the shortlist for the 2024 Derringers.
We’re sad to announce this news from Sheila Susini, that her husband, Larry Morse, passed away recently.
Larry began writing crime novels in the 1970s & 1980s. One of the founding members of Crime Writers of Canada, Larry was also recipient of numerous awards, including the 1981 Best Paperback Original Edgar Award for his first novel, The Old Dick, that featured an 80-year-old working detective. He also wrote a classic cozy mystery, using the pseudonym Runa Fairleigh, and later, a period thriller.
Sheila will be holding a Celebration of Life in Larry’s memory on May 11 and invites writers who might have known or worked with Larry to attend and/or share memories. She may be contacted at sheilasusini@gmail.com should they have any memories they would like to forward and/or for further details of the Celebration of Life.
His obituary can be seen at https://turnerporter.permavita.com/site/LarryMorse.html?s=40