Cheered in Canada

During a ceremony held last evening in Toronto, Ontario, the Crime Writers of Canada announced the winners of its 2017 Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

Best Novel: The Fortunate Brother, by Donna Morrissey
(Viking Canada)

Also nominated: City of the Lost, by Kelley Armstrong (Penguin Random House of Canada): After James, by Michael Helm (McClelland & Stewart); Dead Ground in Between, by Maureen Jennings
(McClelland & Stewart); and Wishful Seeing, by Janet Kellough
(Dundurn Press)

Best First Novel: Strange Things Done, by Elle Wild (Dundurn Press)

Also nominated: Rum Luck, by Ryan Aldred (Five Star); Cold Girl, by R.M. Greenaway (Dundurn Press); Where the Bodies Lie, by Mark Lisac (NeWest Press); and Still Mine, by Amy Stuart (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Best Novella — The Lou Allin Memorial Award: Rundown,
by Rick Blechta (Orca)

Also nominated: No Trace, by Brenda Chapman (Grass Roots Press); “The Devil You Know,” by Jas. R. Petrin (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2016); When Blood Lies, by Linda L. Richards (Orca); and “The Village That Lost Its Head,” by Peter Robinson (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September/October 2016)

Best Short Story: “A Death at the Parsonage,” by Susan Daly
(from The Whole She-Bang 3, edited by Janet Costello; Toronto
Sisters in Crime)

Also nominated: “Steve’s Story,” by Cathy Ace (from The Whole She-Bang 3); “Where There’s a Will,” by Elizabeth Hosang (from The Whole She-Bang 3); “The Ascent,” by Scott Mackay (EQMM, August 2016); and “The Granite Kitchen,” by David Morrell (EQMM, July 2016)

Best Book in French: Red Light: Adieu, Mignonne, by Marie-Eve Bourassa (VLB éditeur)

Also nominated: Vrai ou faux, by Chrystine Brouillet (Éditions Druide); Terreur domestique, by Guillaume Morrissette (Guy Saint-Jean Éditeur); Rinzen et l’homme perdu, by Johanne Seymour (Libre Expression); and Le Blues des sacrifiés, by Richard Ste-Marie
(Éditions Alire)

Best Juvenile/Young Adult Book: Masterminds: Criminal Destiny,
by Gordon Korman (Harper Collins)

Also nominated: Trial by Fire, by Nora McClintock (Orca); The Girl in a Coma, by John Moss (The Poisoned Pencil/Poisoned Pen Press); Shooter, by Caroline Pignat (Tundra); and Another Me, by Eva Wiseman (Tundra)

Best Non-fiction Book: A Daughter’s Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story, by Jeremy Grimaldi (Dundurn Press)

Also nominated: Life Sentence: Stories from Four Decades of Court Reporting — or, How I Fell Out of Love with the Canadian Justice System, by Christie Blatchford (Doubleday Canada); The Ballad of Danny Wolfe: Life of a Modern Outlaw, by Joe Friesen (Signal/McClelland & Stewart); Black River Road: An Unthinkable Crime, an Unlikely Suspect, and the Question of Character, by Debra Komar (Goose Lane); and Shadow of Doubt: The Trial of Dennis Oland, by Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon (Goose Lane)

Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel:
The Golkonda Project, by S.J. Jennings

Also nominated: An Absence of Empathy, by Mary Fernando; Concrete Becomes Her, by Charlotte Morganti; Celtic Knot, by Ann Shortell; and The Last Dragon, by Mark Thomas

In addition, the 2017 Derrick Murdoch Award goes to Christina Jennings, founder, chairman, and CEO of Shaftesbury Films.

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)