Race for the Prizes Up North

This is a rather busy morning for crime-fiction awards news, so let’s get right to it. First, we have the newly announced shortlist of nominees for the 2018 Arthur Ellis Awards. Presented by the Crime Writers of Canada, these commendations recognize “excellence in Canadian crime writing.” This year’s contestants are as follows.

Best Crime Novel:
• The Winners’ Circle, by Gail Bowen (McClelland & Stewart)
• The Party, by Robyn Harding (Gallery/Scout Press)
• The White Angel, by John MacLachlan Gray (Douglas and McIntyre)
• Sleeping in the Ground, by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart)
• The Forgotten Girl, by Rio Youers (St. Martin’s Press)

Best First Crime Novel:
• Puzzle of Pieces, by Sally Hill Brouard (FriesenPress)
• Full Curl, by Dave Butler (Dundurn Press)
• Ragged Lake, by Ron Corbett (ECW Press)
• Flush, by Sky Curtis (Inanna)
• Our Little Secret, by Roz Nay (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Best Crime Novella (The Lou Allin Memorial Award):
• “Snake Oil,” by M.H. Callway (from 13 Claws: The Mesdames of Mayhem; Carrick)
• “How Lon Pruitt Was Found Murdered in an Open Field with No Footprints Around,” by Mike Culpepper (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, September/October 2017)
• Blood and Belonging, by Vicki Delany (Orca)
• “Dead Clown Blues,” by R. Daniel Lester (Shotgun Honey)
• “Money Maker,” by Jas R. Petrin (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)

Best Crime Short Story:
• “The Outlier,” by Catherine Astolfo (from 13 Claws)
• “There be Dragons,” by Jane Petersen Burfield (from 13 Claws)
• “Jerusalem Syndrome,” by Hilary Davidson (from Passport to Murder: Bouchercon Anthology 2017, edited by John McFetridge; Down & Out)
• “The Ranchero’s Daughter,” by Sylvia Maultash Warsh
(from 13 Claws)
• “The Sin Eaters,” by Melissa Yi (from Montreal Noir, edited by
John McFetridge and Jacques Fillippi; Akashic)

Best Non-Fiction Crime Book:
• Murder in Plain English, by Michael Arntfield and Marcel Danesi (Prometheus)
• The Whisky King, by Trevor Cole (HarperCollins)
• Blood, Sweat and Fear, by Eve Lazarus (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• The Dog Lover Unit, by Rachel Rose (St. Martin’s Press)
• Police Wife: The Secret Epidemic of Police Domestic Violence,
by Alex Roslin (Sugar Hill)

Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book:
• Missing, by Kelley Armstrong (Doubleday Canada)
• Chase, by Linwood Barclay (Puffin Canada)
• The Disappearance, by Gillian Chan (Annick Press)
• Thistlewood, by Donna Chubaty (Grasmere)
• The Lives of Desperate Girls, by MacKenzie Common
(Penguin Teen Canada)

Best Crime Book in French:
• Amqui, by Éric Forbes (Héliotrope Noir)
• La vie rêvée de Frank Bélair, by Maxime Houde (Éditions Alire)
• Les clefs du silence, by Jean Lemieux (Québec Amérique)
• La mort en bleu pastel, by Maryse Rouy (Éditions Druide)
• Les Tricoteuses, by Marie Saur (Héliotrope Noir)

Best Unpublished Manuscript:
• The Alibi Network, by Raimey Gallant
• Finn Slew, by Ken MacQueen
• Destruction in Paradise, by Dianne Scott
• Dig, Dug, Dead, by Sylvia Teaves
• Condemned, by Kevin Thornton

The winners of these prizes will be declared on May 24 during the annual Arthur Ellis Awards Gala in Toronto, Ontario.

* * *

The second set of contenders to broadcast are those vying for the 2018 Bloody Words Light Mystery Award (aka the Bony Blithe). This honor will be bestowed during the Bony Blithe Mini-con, which is to be held on May 25 (from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) at the High Park Club in Toronto. The winner will receive $1,000 “plus a colourful plaque.”

Here are the five candidates:

• The Case of the Unsuitable Suitor, by Cathy Ace (Severn House)
• Dying on Second, by E.C. Bell (Tyche)
• Digging up Trouble, by Rickie Blair (Barkley)
• Hark the Herald Angels Slay, by Vicki Delany (Berkley)
• Much Ado About Murder, by Elizabeth J. Duncan (Crooked Lane)

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)