Revue of Reviewers: 5-7-26

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

“Ghost” Rises to Claim Crown

Here’s something I missed: Along with the announcement last week of which authors won this year’s Edgar Awards, Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America revealed the victor in their 2026 First Crime Novel Competition. It’s Ghost of a Clue, by Maryland attorney Sharon Roth, who also writes as “Shannon Taft.”

A post in Shotsmag Confidential explains that

Roth has written over twenty published short stories, including a Derringer Award finalist and a story that appeared in Best American Mystery and Suspense. Her debut novel, Ghost of a Clue, is a cozy mystery featuring a protagonist named Lexi, who as a child witnessed the killing of her mother and sister. As a result of the attack, Lexi hears her sister’s voice in her head. Now an adult, Lexi is trying to put the past behind her and buy a B&B in the Poconos. But when the true-crime journalist intent on bringing all of Lexi’s secrets into the open is murdered, Lexi is the prime suspect.

We’re told Ghost of a Clue will be released in the fall of 2027.

This annual competition for authors who have not previously published novels dates back to 2008. Winners receive a one-book, $10,000 Minotaur contract. The first recipient of said honor was Stefanie Pintoff, who went on to publish historical mysteries (among them the 2010 Edgar Award-winning In the Shadow of Gotham) as well as modern thrillers. Additional winners are showcased here.

Short Stories That Stand Tall

On Friday, America’s Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS) revealed the winners of its 2026 Derringer Awards, in half a dozen categories.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words): “The Man Under the Bridge,” by Bern Sy Moss (Spillwords, 6/1/2025)

Also nominated: “Bradycardia,” by Elizabeth Dearborn (Punk Noir, 2/4/2025); “Check Rear Seat,” by Carl Tait (Exquisite Death, 5/1/2025); “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” by James Patrick Focarile (Gumshoe Review, 10/31/2025); and “Just Like Old Times,” by Shari Held (Yellow Mama, 2/15/2025)

Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words): “Blind Pig,” by Michael Bracken (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)

Also nominated: “Chains,” by Frank Vatel (All Due Respect, 9/1/25); “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater); “The Artist,” by Linda Ann Bennett (from Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, edited by by Judy Penz Sheluk; Superior Shores Press); and “Wax On, Wax Off,” by Nina Mansfield (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press)

Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words): “Whatever Kills the Pain,” by C.W. Blackwell (from Whatever Kills the Pain, by C.W. Blackwell; Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Also nominated: “A Sign of the Times,” by Tom Milani (from Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out); “Masterpiece,” by Mark Thielman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine, September 2025); “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous); and “Zebra Finch,” by donalee Moulton (from The Most Dangerous Games, edited by Deborah Lacy; Level Short)

Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words): “The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe,” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, January 2025;
audio version)

Also nominated: “Aswarby Hall,” by David Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2025); “Loose Change from a Mini Cooper,” by Frank Zafiro (Chop Shop Episode 10, Down & Out); “Saint Bullethead,” by Nick Kolakowski (from Fighting Words: Bruisers, Brawlers, & Bad Intentions, edited by Scott Blackburn; Leonardo Audio); and “The High Priest of Low Men,” by C.W. Blackwell (Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means?, edited by Jeff Circle; Leonardo Audio)

Best Anthology: Tie — Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Short); and On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Also nominated: Crimeucopia—The Not So Frail Detective Agency, edited by John Connor (Murderous Ink Press); Gone Fishin’: Crime Takes a Holiday, edited by James M. Jackson (Wolf's Echo Press); Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk (Superior Shores Press); and SoWest: Danger Awaits! edited by Claire A. Murray, Eva Eldridge, Suzanne E. Flaig, Denise Ganley, and Sarah Smith (DS)

In addition, this year’s Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer was presented to retired Chief of Police and author David Dean.

(Photo of Derringer Award medals by Art Taylor.)

Read Away This May Day

Today being May Day—yet another chance to applaud summer’s imminent arrival—Janet Rudolph has posted an updated list of crime fiction linked to the occasion. Everything from Octavus Roy Cohen’s The May Day Mystery and Anna Castle’s The Case of the Tangled Maypole to Wayne Hancock’s 30 Days in May and May Day in Magadan, by Anthony Olcott. She’s also inventoried mysteries that feature Morris dances, which are often performed at May Day events.

If you’re looking for still more ideas of what to read as the weather turns warmer (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), look to The Rap Sheet’s updated selections of crime, mystery, and thriller works due out from now until the start of June. Since that post went up in March, more than a dozen titles have been added, including Neil Albert’s Death in November (the 11th installment in his series about Philadelphia private eye Dave Garrett), Sara Foster’s debut psychological thriller, Come Back to Me, and Holy F*ck, Joseph Incardona’s tale of a saintly hooker targeted by twin contract killers. Learn about those and many more releases by clicking here.

Basking in Edgars Glory

Last evening finally brought the announcements, in New York City, of which authors, books, and short stories have won the 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. These prizes honor “the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television published or produced in 2025.”

Best Novel:
The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Fagin the Thief, by Allison Epstein (Doubleday); The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami (Pantheon); Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron); Hard Town, by Adam Plantinga (Grand Central); The Inheritance, by Trisha Sakhlecha (Pamela Dorman); and Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Grand Central)

Best First Novel by an American Author: Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam)

Also nominated: Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch (Morrow); All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (Putnam); Johnny Careless, by Kevin Wade (Celadon); and History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)

Best Paperback Original:
The Backwater, by Vikki Wakefield (Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated: Listen, by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin); The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, by Holly Kennedy (Lake Union); Broke Road, by Matthew Spencer (Thomas & Mercer); and One Death at a Time, by Abbi Waxman (Berkley)

Best Fact Crime:
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)

Also nominated: They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, by Mariah Blake (Crown); Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, by Michael Cannell (Minotaur); Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home, by Gregg Olsen (Thomas & Mercer); and Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Dutton)

Best Critical/Biographical:
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

Also nominated: V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup (Sigma); The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness, by Andrew Klavan (Zondervan); Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins (Mariner); and Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train, by Stephen Rebello (Running Press)

Best Short Story:
“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September-October 2025)

Also nominated: “Reading at Night,” by Graham Greene (The Strand Magazine, August 2025); “The One That Got Away,” by Charlaine Harris (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], January-February 2025); “Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile,” by Gregg Hurwitz (Mysterious Press); “Lucky Heart,” by Tim Maleeny (from Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed, edited by Don Bruns; Down & Out); and “The Kill Clause,” by Lisa Unger (Amazon Original Stories)

Best Juvenile: Blood in the Water, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

Also nominated: Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum, by Alasdair Beckett-King (Candlewick Press); What Happened Then, by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press); A Study in Secrets, by Debbi Michiko Florence (Aladdin); The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls, by Judith Rossell (Dial); and Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave, by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press)

Best Young Adult:
Under the Same Stars, by Libba Bray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers)

Also nominated: Catch Your Death, by Ravena Guron (Sourcebooks Fire); This Is Where We Die, by Cindy R.X. He (Sourcebooks Fire); The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree); and Codebreaker, by Jay Martel (Wednesday)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:
“Pilot,” Paradise, written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

Also nominated: “End of the Line,” Ballard, written by Michael Alaimo and Kendall Sherwood (Amazon/Fabel); “Episode 101,” The Lowdown, written by Sterlin Harjo (FX on Hulu); “These Girls,” Long Bright River, written by Nikki Toscano and Liz Moore (Peacock); and “Ye’iitsoh (Big Monster),” Dark Winds, written by John Wirth and Steven Paul Judd (AMC)

* * *

ADDITIONAL AWARDS

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“How It Happened,” by Billie Kay Fern (EQMM, July-August 2025)

Also nominated: “A Textbook Example,” by Luis Avalos (from Sacramento Noir, edited by John Freeman; Akashic); “Baggage,” by Rick Marcou (EQMM, January-February 2025); “Bloodsurf,” by Tiffany D. Plunkett (from Hollywood Kills, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff; Level Short); and “Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland,” by Robert Rotstein (from Hollywood Kills)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Five Found Dead, by Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press); Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Minotaur); No Comfort for the Dead, by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane); and Last Dance Before Dawn, by Katharine Schellman (Minotaur)

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
Gone in the Night, by Joanna Schaffhausen (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Cold as Hell, by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur); Rage, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur); Fallen Star, by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer); and The Red Letter, by Daniel G. Miller (Poisoned Pen Press)

The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award: A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run, by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

Also nominated: Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library, by Amandah Chapman (Berkley); The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, by Jo Nichols (Minotaur); Murder Two Doors Down, by Chuck Storla (Crooked Lane); and Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man), by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)

In addition, Donna Andrews and Lee Child were named as this year’s Grand Master winners. The 2026 Raven Award went to Corte Madera, California, bookshop and café Book Passage, and John Scognamiglio, the editor-in-chief of Kensington Books, was selected to receive the Ellery Queen Award.

READ MORE: “State of the Crime Novel, Part 1: Routines, Problem-Solving, and Faithful Companions” and “State of the Crime Novel, Part 2: Issues and Recommendations,” by Molly Odintz (CrimeReads).

Newcomers Versus Old Hands

After a busy Wednesday spent out of my office, I’m catching up with two different prize-related announcements. The first concerns the longlist of contenders for the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. Here are the 18 nominees:

• What Happens in the Dark, by Kia Abdullah (HQ Fiction)
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam)
• What the Night Brings, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
• Human Remains, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• The Chemist, by A.A. Dhand (HQ Fiction)
• Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Pan Fiction)
• The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• The Examiner, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• The Blue Hour, by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre)
• Paperboy, by Callum McSorley (Vertigo)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Fiction)
• A Schooling in Murder, by Andrew Taylor (Hemlock Press)

Sponsored annually by British brewery T&R Theakston, these commendations are designed to showcase the finest crime and mystery fiction offered by the UK and Ireland.

As a press release explains, “Crime fiction fans are now invited to help whittle 18 down to 6 by voting for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday 23rd July.” Go ahead and cast your ballot here.

Three of Spades

Having read and very much enjoyed Max Allan Collins’ Return of the Maltese Falcon, his 2026 sequel to Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 Sam Spade novel, I was stoked to find this bit of news in Collins’ blog:

I’m pleased to announce I’ve signed with Hard Case Crime to do two more Sam Spade novels.

Launching a new Spade series wasn’t my intention in writing Return of the Maltese Falcon. I merely wanted to be out there first with a sequel to the classic original, now that it was in the public domain, and was presumptuous enough to think I could get it right.

As I’ve mentioned here, when I finished writing the book, and was pleased with it, my wife, Barb, warned me to brace myself –she said, Not everyone would like me appointing myself to a task that some might think ought never have been attempted. My thinking was, Somebody’s going to do this, and it might as well be me.

And I was surprised and pleased that the reactions were overwhelmingly favorable, generating some of my best reviews ever. A few naysayers weighed in, though were very much in the minority. Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t feel vindicated, I felt relieved.

Only when I saw how well Return of the Maltese Falcon was doing did I begin thinking about writing more Sam Spade. Spade is a character about whom Hammett might well have written another dozen or two novels, like Gardner with Perry Mason, Christie with Hercule Poirot or Rex Stout with Nero Wolfe. And of course Hammett, before turning his back on mystery writing, had written three Spade short stories, plus there’d been the popular Spade radio show with Howard Duff.

But what came to my mind was offering my publisher a trilogy, the first of which would be the already existing Return. I found it interesting to suggest two more Spade novels, each separated by ten years or so—to see what Spade was up to in the war years and then the McCarthy-era ’50s (which obviously have resonance with Hammett’s life).

I wrote a fairly lengthy proposal and Hard Case Crime’s Charles Ardai, with support from parent company Titan’s Nick and Vivian Landau and my editor Andrew Sumner, responded favorably. I am now about to begin work on Prey for the Maltese Falcon, set in 1939.

In some ways it’s more challenging than Return, which gave me the luxury of working within the parameters of the original novel—its characters, its locations, its themes. Now Spade is ten years older, and the case I’ve constructed takes him all sorts of places that the original novel and my sequel didn’t.

Wish me luck.

So when might readers be able to procure copies of Prey for the Maltese Falcon? Collins tells me to look for it in the fall of 2027, “no more specific than that as yet.”

With Agatha’s Endorsement

This last weekend brought the annual Malice Domestic conference back to Bethesda, Maryland, during which the winners of the 2026 Agatha Awards were announced. As you likely know already, the Agathas champion “traditional mysteries,” those containing no sex or gratuitous violence, and that are best exemplified by the stories of Agatha Christie. Prizes were given out in six categories.

Best Contemporary Mystery Novel:
At Death’s Dough, by Mindy Quigley (Minotaur)

Also nominated: A Grave Deception, by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane); Murder in the Fifth Position, by Lori Robbins (Level Best); The Devil Comes Calling, by Annette Dashofy (One More Chapter); and Waters of Destruction, by Leslie Karst (Severn House)

Best Historical Mystery Novel:
The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, by Kelly Oliver (Boldwood)

Also nominated: Bye Bye Blackbird, by Elizabeth Crowens (Level Best); The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur); Murder at the Moulin Rouge, by Carol Pouliot (Level Best); and The Hindenburg Spy, by L.A. Chandlar (Oliver Heber)

Best First Mystery Novel:
Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)

Also nominated: Murder in the Crazy Mountains, by K.L. Borges (Epicenter Press); Player Elimination, by Shelly Jones (Tule Press); Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Minotaur); and Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best)

Best Mystery Short Story:
“Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley Ruth-Bernier (from Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press)

Also nominated: “Baby Love,” by Barb Goffman (from Double Crossing Van Dine, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor; Crippen and Landru); “Boss Cat Rules,” by Nikki Knight (from Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous); “Lola’s Last Dance,” by Kerry Hammond (from Celluloid Crimes, edited by Deborah Well; Level Short); and “When the Iron Is Hot,” by Maddie Day (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March-April 2025)

Best Non-fiction:
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States, by Dawn M. Barclay (Level Best)

Also nominated: Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilbert King (Flatiron); Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Dutton); and The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne, by Kate Winkler Dawson (Putnam)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery Novel: Death in the Cards, by Mia P. Manansala (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Also nominated: Missing Mom, by Lynn Slaughter (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books); Risky Pursuit, by Nancy G. West (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books); Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic, by Marilyn Levinson (Level Best); and Hurricane Heist, by James Ponti (Aladdin)

Lifetime Achievement Honoree: Jacqueline Winspear
Poirot Award Honoree: Jim Huang
William F. Deeck Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers: Tess C. Bernard

READ MORE: “Malice Recap 2026,” by Art Taylor.

Dominion Distinction

Crime Writers of Canada has released it shortlists of nominees for the 2026 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. The winners in each of the following nine categories will be announced on Friday, May 29.

Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel:
• The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (HarperCollins)
• The Hunger We Pass Down, by Jen Sookfong Lee
(McClelland & Stewart)
• Into the Fall, by Tamara L. Miller (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, by Eddy Boudel Tan (Viking Canada)

Best Crime First Novel:
• The Beltane Massacre, by Ray Critch (Breakwater)
• Yesterday’s Lies, by Jan Field (La Cloche)
• The Broken Detective, by Joel Nedecky (Run Amok Crime)
• A Painting to Die For, by David L. Tucker (Otter & Osprey Press)
• Too Dark for the Light, by A.L. Wahdel (Butterfly 80)

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:
• That Other Family, by Lis Angus (Next Chapter)
• Every Fall, by Angela Douglas (Rising Action)
• Detective Aunty, by Uzma Jalaluddin (HarperCollins)
• Salt on Her Tongue, by C.S. Porter (Vagrant Press)
• The Hitchhikers, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s Press)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery:
• The Engineer’s Nemesis, by Shelley Adina (Moonshell)
• Stella Ryman and the Search for Thelma Hu, by Mel Anastasiou (Pulp Literature Press)
• A Dark Death, by Alice Fitzpatrick (Stonehouse)
• Some Justice, by Laury Silvers (Independently published)
• The Cost of a Hostage, by Iona Whishaw (TouchWood Editions)

Best Crime Short Story:
• “Under the Circumstances,” by Lis Angus (from A Capital Mystery Anthology, edited by Bernadette Cox and Mike Martin (Ottawa Press)
• “The Lost Diner,” by Madeleine Harris Callway (Pulp Literature, Summer 2025)
• “Cold Shock,” by Barbara Fradkin (from A Capital Mystery Anthology)
• “The Headache,” by Billie Livingstone (Dark Yonder, November 2025)
• “Polly Wants a Freakin’ Cracker,” by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (from Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press)

Best French Language Crime Book:
• Le regard des autres, by Chrystine Brouillet (Druide)
• Jeux d’ombres, by André Jacques (Druide)
• La mémoire du labyrinthe, by Steve Laflamme (Libre Expression)
• Une nuit d’été à Littlebrook, by Maureen Martineau (Héliotrope)
• Delta Zéro, by Martin Michaud (Libre Expression)

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book:
• The Mystery of the Haunted Dancehall, by Charis Cotter (Tundra)
• Death by Whoopee Cushion, by Vicki Grant (Tundra)
• A Skeleton in the Closet, by Claire Hatcher-Smith (Tundra)
• The City of Lost Cats, by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Tundra)
• Bark Twice for Murder, by John Lekich (Orca)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book:
• The Many Names of Robert Cree: How a First Nations Chief, Brought Ancient Wisdom to Big Business and Prosperity to His People, by Robert Cree with Therese Greenwood (ECW Press)
• Acts of Darkness: Notorious Criminals, Their Defenders, Prosecutors, and Jailers, by John L. Hill (Durvile & UpRoute)
• Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North, by Kathleen Lippa (Dundurn Press)
• On the Lam: Great (and Not So Great) Escapes from Prison, by Lorna Poplak (Dundurn Press)
• Hitman: The Untold Story of Canada’s Deadliest Assassin, by Julian Sher and Lisa Fitterman (HarperCollins)

Best Unpublished Crime Novel (manuscript written by an unpublished author):
• Val’s Story, by Anne Burlakoff
• The Less You Know, by William Hall
• Lens Flare, by Francis K. Lalumière
• Death Scent, by Barbara Stokes
• Blistered, by Isabelle Zimmermann

In addition, crime and thriller author Rick Mofina has been selected to receive this year’s Grand Master Award. “This prestigious biennial honor,” says the CWC, “recognizes a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work who has garnered significant national and international acclaim while demonstrating a steadfast commitment to the crime-writing community. CWC selected Mofina for this distinction based on his prolific output, professional integrity, and years of dedicated service to both the organization and the genre.”

Revue of Reviewers: 4-19-26

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.