Crime Fiction Awards News From Canada and Norway

The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence 2021 shortlists are out. The winners will be announced on Thursday, May 27.  

BEST CRIME NOVEL

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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)

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

RIVERTON PRIZE. The winner of the 2021 Riverton Prize for Best Norwegian Crime Story was announced on April 29.

  • Sven Petter Næss for Skjebnesteinen (Fate of Stone / Stone of Destiny)

The Riverton Prize (Norwegian: Rivertonprisen) is a literature award given annually to the best Norwegian crime story (whether a novel, short story, play, or original screenplay). The prize is named after the Norwegian journalist and author Sven Elvestad (1884-1934) who published detective stories under the pen name Stein Riverton.

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for the story.]