Celebrating Canadian Crime

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the winners of 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. Congrats to all the honorees!

2024 Grand Master Award:  Maureen Jennings

The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel:  Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary, Montlake

Also nominated:

• 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

 

Best Crime First Novel:  Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers, Harper Perennial

Also nominated:

• Jann Arden, The Bittlemores, Random House Canada
• Lisa Brideau, Adrift, Sourcebooks
• Charlotte Morganti, The End Game, Halfdan Press
• Steve Urszenyi, Perfect Shot, Minotaur

 

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:  Joan Thomas, Wild Hope, Harper Perennial/HarperCollins

Also nominated:

• Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Almost Widow, Harper Avenue/HarperCollins
• Renee Lehnen, Elmington, Storeyline Press
• Cyndi MacMillan, Cruel Light, Crooked Lane
• Melissa Yi, Shapes of Wrath, Windtree Press

 

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery:  Nita Prose, The Mystery Guest, Viking

Also nominated:

• Gail Bowen, The Legacy, ECW Press
• Vicki Delany, Steeped in Malice, Kensington Books
• Vicki Delany, The Game is a Footnote, Crooked Lane Books
• Iona Whishaw, To Track a Traitor, TouchWood Editions

 

Best Crime Short Story:  Marcelle Dubé, "Reversion,"Mystery Magazine

Also nominated:

• M.H. Callway, "Wisteria Cottage," Wildside Press (for Malice Domestic)
• 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): André Marois, La sainte paix, Héliotrope

Also nominated:

• 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
• Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Rien, Alire

 

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book:  Cherie Dimaline, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Tundra Books

Also nominated:

• Kelley Armstrong, Someone is Always Watching, 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:  Michael Lista, The Human Scale, Véhicule Press

Also nominated:

• Josef Lewkowicz and Michael Calvin, The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
• 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:  Craig H. Bowlsby, Requiem for a Lotus

Also nominated:

• Tom Blackwell, The Patient
• Sheilla Jones and James Burns, Murder on Richmond Road: An Enquiry Bureau Mystery
• Nora Sellers, The Forest Beyond
• William Wodhams, Thirty Feet Under