2020 Arthur Ellis Awards

The winners of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing were named May 21. Presented by Crime Writers of Canada, the awards recognize the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.

The awards are judged by 21 volunteers from among the large body of award-winning writers, reviewers, booksellers, librarians, academics and avid crime fiction fans across Canada. 

Best Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo with a $1000 prize

  • Michael Christie, Greenwood, McClelland & Stewart

The Best First Novel with a $500 prize

  • Philip Elliott, Nobody Move, Into the Void Press

Best Novella sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize

  • Wayne Arthurson, The Red Chesterfield, University of Calgary Press

Best Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

  • Peter Sellers, Closing DoorsEllery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Best French Book

  • Andrée A. Michaud, Tempêtes, Éditions Québec Amériques

Best Juvenile or YA Book sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

  • Tom Ryan, Keep This to Yourself, Albert Whitman & Company

Best Nonfiction Book

  • Charlotte Gray, Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

The Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript sponsored by Dundurn Press with a $500 prize

  • Liz Rachel Walker, The Dieppe Letters

The Arthur Ellis Awards are not named after a writer, but after the official pseudonym of Canada’s hangman and the trophy is a jumping jack type wood figure on a gallows, which must certainly be one of the more disturbing award trophies out there.