Make Way for the Arthurs

During a series of events held across North America’s northernmost nation, the shortlists of books nominated for the 2010 Arthur Ellis Awards were announced on Thursday evening by the Crime Writers of Canada. The CBC News Web site has a partial rundown, but the following list comes from The Gumshoe Site.

Best Crime Novel:
• Finger’s Twist, by Lee Lamothe (Ravenstone)
• Death Spiral, by James W. Nichol (McArthur & Co.)
• Aloha, Candy Hearts, by Anthony Bidulka (Insomniac Press)
• Arctic Blue Death, by R.J. Harlick (RendezVous Crime)
• High Chicago, by Howard Shrier (Vintage Canada/Random House)

Best First Crime Novel:
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
(Doubleday Canada)
• The Cold Light of Mourning, by Elizabeth Duncan (Minotaur Books)
• Weight of Stones, by C.B. Forrest (RendezVous Crime)
• A Magpie’s Smile, by Eugene Meese (NeWest Press)
• Darkness at the Break of Dawn, by Dennis Richard Murphy
(Harper Collins)

Best French Language Crime Novel:
• Je compte les morts, by Genevieve Lefebvre (Groupe Librex)
• Le mort du chemin des Arsène, by Jean Lemieux (La courte échelle)
• La Faim de la Terre, Volumes 1 & 2, by Jean Jacques Pelletier
(Editions Alire Inc.)
• Peaux de chagrins, by Diane Vincent (Les Editions Triptyques)

Best Juvenile Crime Novel:
• Haunted, by Barbara Hayworth Attard (HarperCollins)
• Not Suitable for Family Viewing, by Vicki Grant (HarperCollins)
• Homicide Related, by Norah McClintock (Red Deer Press)
• The Hunchback Assignments, by Arthur Slade (HarperCollins)
• The Uninvited, by Tim Wynne Jones (Candlewick)

Best Crime Non-fiction:
• The Slasher Killings, by Patrick Brode (Painted Turtle Press)
• The Fat Mexican, by Alex Caine (Random House of Canada)
• Murder Without Borders, by Terry Gould (Random House of Canada)
• Runaway Devil, by Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose (McClelland)
• Postmortem, by Jon Wells (John Wiley & Sons)

Best Crime Short Story:
• “Backup,” by Rick Mofina (Ottawa Magazine, July/August 2009)
• “Prisoner in Paradise,” by Dennis Richard Murphy (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM])
• “Nothing Is Easy,” by James Petrin (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
• “Time Will Tell,” by Twist Phelan (in The Prosecution Rests, edited by Linda Fairstein; Little Brown/Back Bay Books)
• “Clowntown Pajamas,” by James Powell (EQMM)

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel (The Unhanged Arthur):
• This Cage of Bones, by Pam Barnsley
• Confined Space, by Deryn Collier
• Corpse Flower, by Gloria Ferris
• Bait of Pleasure, by Blair Hemstock
• Putting Them Down, by Peter Kirby

The winners will be announced during a ceremony on May 27 in Toronto.