2025 CWC AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE SHORTLISTS
The Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the shortlists for the 2025 CWC Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing (formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards) and the recipient for the 2025 Derrick Murdoch Award as follows:
2025 Derrick Murdoch Award recipient:
William H. Deverell, for his "significant contributions to developing crime writing in Canada."
The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel: (5)
Colin Barrett, Wild Houses (McClelland & Stewart)
Jaima Fixsen, The Specimen (Poisoned Pen Press)
Conor Kerr, Prairie Edge (Strange Light/Penguin Random House Canada)
John MacLachlan Gray, Mr. Good-Evening (Douglas & McIntyre)
Louise Penny, The Grey Wolf (Minotaur Books)
Best Crime First Novel: (5)
Suzan Denoncourt, The Burden of Truth (Suzan Denoncourt)
Peter Holloway, The Roaring Game Murders (Bonspiel Books)
Jim McDonald, Altered Boy (Amalit Books)
Marianne K. Miller, We Were the Bullfighters (Dundurn Press)
Ashley Tate, Twenty-Seven Minutes (Doubleday Canada)
Best Crime Novel Set in Canada: (5)
Brenda Chapman, Fatal Harvest (Ivy Bay Press)
Barry W. Levy, The War Machine (Double Dagger Books)
Shane Peacock, As We Forgive Others (Cormorant Books)
Greg Rhyno, Who By Fire (Cormorant Books)
Kerry Wilkinson, The Call (Bookouture)
The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery: (5)
Cathy Ace, The Corpse with the Pearly Smile (Four Tails Publishing Ltd.)
Raye Anderson, The Dead Shall Inherit (Signature Editions)
Susan Juby, A Meditation on Murder (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
Thomas King, Black Ice (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
Jonathan Whitelaw, Concert Hall Killer (HarperNorth/HarperCollins Canada)
Best Crime Novella (5)
Marcelle Dube, "Chuck Berry is Missing" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July-August 2024)
Liz Ireland, "Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper" (Kensington)
Pamela Jones, "The Windmill Mystery" (Austin Macauley Publishers)
A.J. McCarthy, "A Rock" (Black Rose Writing)
Twist Phelan, "Aim" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March-April 2024)
Best Crime Short Story: (5)
Catherine Astolfo, "Farmer Knudson" (from Auntie Beers: A Book of Connected Short Stories; Carrick Publishing)
Therese Greenwood, "Hatcheck Bingo" (from The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem; Carrick Publishing)
Billie Livingston, "Houdini Act" (Saturday Evening Post, July 26, 2024)
Linda Sanche, "The Electrician" (from Crime Waves, Dangerous Games; A Canada West Anthology)
Melissa Yi, "The Longest Night of the Year" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November-December 2024)
Best French Crime Book: (5)
J.L. Blanchard, La femme papillon (Fides)
R. Lavallee, Le crime du garcon exquis (Fides)
Jean Lemieux, L'Affaire des montants (Quebec Amerique)
Guillaume Morrissette, Une memoire de lion (Saint-Jean)
Johanne Seymour, Fracture (Libre Expression)
Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book (5)
Sigmund Brouwer, Shock Wave (Orca Book Publishers)
Meagan Mahoney, The Time Keeper (DCB Young Readers)
Twist Phelan, Snowed (Bronzeville Books, LLC)
David A. Poulsen, The Dark Won't Wait (Red Deer Press)
Melissa Yi, The Red Rock Killer (Windtree Press)
The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book: (5)
Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse (Random House Canada)
Nate Hendley, Atrocity on the Atlantic: Attack on a Hospital Ship During the Great War (Dundurn Press)
John L. Hill, The Rest of the [True Crime] Story (AOS Publishing)
Dean Jobb, A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
Tanya Talaga, The Knowing (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript: (5)
Robert Bowerman, The Man in The Black Hat
Luke Devlin, Govern Yourself Accordingly
Delee Fromm, Dark Waters
Lorrie Potvin, A Trail's Tears
William Watt, Predators in the Shadows
The winners will be announced on Friday, May 30, 2025.
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