22 Canadian thrillers and mysteries to read for National Crime Writing Month
Here are 22 mysteries, thrillers and books about crime to check out for Crime Writing Month.
The Red Chesterfield by Wayne Arthurson
In The Red Chesterfield, a city bylaw officer finds a chesterfield in a ditch, along with a severed foot. The protagonist gets caught up in the investigation — and turns out to be more interested in what happens to the furniture than the origin of the missing body part. The Red Chesterfield subverts the mystery form with a story that has clues that lead nowhere and motivations that are deliberately ambiguous.
Wayne Arthurson is a writer of Cree and French Canadian descent. He is the author of five novels, including Blood Red Summer and The Traitors of Camp 133.
Woman on the Edge by Samantha M. Bailey
In Woman on the Edge, Morgan Kincaid's life changes forever when a woman standing next to her on the subway platform says Morgan's name, hands her a baby and jumps. And since no one else saw what happened, Morgan quickly becomes a murder suspect. Can she clear her name and figure out what is going on before it's too late?
Samantha M. Bailey is a journalist and editor in Toronto.Woman on the Edge is her first book.
Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay
Elevator Pitch, the latest thriller from Linwood Barclay, begins as four people plummet to their death in a free-falling elevator of a Manhattan office building. The tragedy appears to be a random accident until the same thing happens over and over again, sending shockwaves through America's cultural and economic capital.
Barclay is an internationally bestselling author of novels for adults and children. His most recent books include the adult thriller A Noise Downstairs and the award-winning middle-grade novels Escape and Chase.
How a Woman Becomes a Lake by Marjorie Celona
In the novel How a Woman Becomes a Lake, it's New Year's Day, and in a small fishing town called Whale Bay a woman goes missing. Vera had set out on a walk with her dog, and her husband Leo took their boys on a boat to write their New Year's resolutions. In the weeks that follow, Vera's absence sets off a chain of suspicion within the town. After Leo moves south, the detective investigating the case becomes obsessed with the missing woman.
Majorie Celona is an American-Canadian writer. She is also the author of the novel Y, which won France's Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Héroïne for best foreign novel.
The Missing Millionaire by Katie Daubs
On Dec. 2, 1919, the wealthy theatre impresario Ambrose Small left his home in the Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto, went to the barber for a shave, met his wife and then went to the bank and deposited a cheque for a million dollars. He had a quick meeting with his lawyer and that was the last anyone ever saw of him. In The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed With Finding Him, Katie Daubs tells a whodunit story rife with accusations and curious coincidences.
Daubs is a feature writer with the Toronto Star. The Missing Millionaire is her first book.
Don't Look Down by Hilary Davidson
In Don't Look Down, Jo Greaver is an ambitious young woman living n New York who has it all — including a deep secret she'll do anything to keep buried. When evidence from a murder in her hometown points to Jo being the prime suspect, detective Sheryn Sterling decides she needs to get to the bottom of everything.
Davidson is a Canadian writer currently living in New York. Her other books include Blood Always Tells, One Small Sacrifice and The Damage Done.
Bone Black by Carol Rose GoldenEagle
Bone Black is about one woman's search for her missing sister, and her need to take the case into her own hands. When her twin sister goes missing, Wren StrongEagle immediately reports it to the local police. Feeling dismissed and worrying the case won't be investigated properly, Wren launches into action and decides to find justice on her own.
Carol Rose GoldenEagle is a Cree and Dene author whose books include the novel Bearskin Diary and the poetry collection Hiraeth.
Murdered Midas by Charlotte Gray
Historian Charlotte Gray explores the "crime of the century" in her latest book — the 1943 murder of gold mining tycoon Sir Harry Oakes. No one was ever convicted of the crime. Murdered Midas examines the case and trial while also delving into Oakes's personal history, humble upbringing and rise to wealth.
Gray is a member of the Order of Canada. Her other books include The Massey Murder and Gold Diggers.
The Lost Sister by Andrea Gunraj
In The Lost Sister, sisters Alisha and Diana are growing up at Jane and Finch in Toronto, a neighbourhood where many immigrants have come to start their lives in Canada. A terrible sadness descends when Diana, Alisha's role model and light of the family, doesn't come home. Her body is found in the woods and Alisha thinks she knows what happened. This novel is partially inspired by the experiences of a former resident of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.
Andrea Gunraj is also the author of The Sudden Disappearance of Seetha.
The Last High by Daniel Kalla
The Last High is a thriller inspired by the opioid crisis. Dr. Julie Rees is shocked when a number of teenagers from the same party arrive at the ER. She suspects the adolescents took fentanyl, but this case is unusual. Teaming up with Detective Anson Chen, Rees is determined to tackle the underground drug world and find out the source of these dangerous drugs.
Daniel Kalla is an emergency room doctor, as well as an international bestselling author of 10 books, including We All Fall Down.
No Going Back by Sheena Kamal
In No Going Back, the latest Nora Watts crime thriller by Sheena Kamal, Nora finds herself trying to protect Bonnie, the daughter she had given up for adoption. Two years previously, Bonnie had been kidnapped by the ruthless Zhang family. She has made an enemy in Dao, the intimidating triad enforcer for the Zhangs. From Canada to southeast Asia, Nora finds herself pursuing her adversary.
Kamal is a Vancouver-based writer of crime novels. Her book The Lost Ones won the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. She is also the author of It All Falls Down.
A Deadly Divide by Ausma Zehanat Khan
In A Deadly Divide, the fifth book in Ausma Zehanat Khan's Getty and Khattak mystery series, Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty are sent to Quebec, where a community is reeling in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a mosque. Fuelling tensions is the arrest of a young Muslim man who was reported to be assisting the wounded, while a priest found holding a weapon was let go.
Khan is also the author of the fantasy series the Khorasan Archives, which includes the books The Bloodprint and The Black Khan.
Obsidian by Thomas King
Thomas King's sly investigator Thumps DreadfulWater returns in Obsidian. After the famed producer of a true-crime documentary turns up dead, Thumps is forced to look into an old cold case he had tried to forget: the Obsidian murders. When someone starts leaving reminders of the case around Chinook, Thumps is compelled to confront the incident that left his girlfriend and her daughter dead.
King is a Canadian-American writer of Cherokee and Greek ancestry. He delivered the 2003 Massey Lectures, The Truth about Stories. His books include Truth & Bright Water, The Inconvenient Indian and The Back of the Turtle. The Back of the Turtle won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 2014.
Hideaway by Nicole Lundrigan
In the thriller Hideaway, Rowan runs away from home in the wake of his father's abandonment. He's terrified to be the main target of his mother Gloria's dark side. He bonds with a homeless man named Carl and they make themselves at home in an isolated cottage. Gloria uses everything at her disposal to track Rowan down, playing up her reputation as a loving suburban mom while also viciously manipulating her daughter Maisy.
Nicole Lundrigan, based in Toronto, is also the author of the psychological thriller The Substitute.
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena
In Someone We Know, a quiet well-to-do community in upstate New York is rocked by a series of break-ins. Somebody in their neighbourhood has not just been breaking into their homes, but their computers, and sharing the scandalous secrets they've uncovered. As tension mounts, a woman is found dead.
Shari Lapena has written several thrillers, including The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House and An Unwanted Guest.
Cursed! by Keith Ross Leckie
The story of the Black Donnellys has become a fabled piece of Ontario history. The Donnelly family emigrated from Ireland to the township of Lucan Biddulph in the Ontario countryside. They found themselves, after a few years, in conflict with the local people. In February 1880, an armed mob descended on the family, burned their farm and killed the family members. Keith Ross Leckie's novel Cursed! Blood of the Donnellys is a fictional account of the notorious family and that time in Canadian history.
Leckie is a screenwriter and novelist from Toronto. His books include Coppermine, The American Problem and Cursed!
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel's new book, The Glass Hotel, interweaves several complex narratives. Vincent is a bartender in a prestigious hotel on Vancouver Island. When the owner — Jonathan Alkaitis — passes Vincent his card, it becomes the beginning of their story together. Meanwhile, a hooded figure scrawls a cryptic note on a wall in the hotel, and a shipping executive for a company called Neptune-Avramidis — Leon Prevant — sees the note and is shaken. Thirteen years later, Vincent disappears from a Neptune-Avramidis ship.
St. John Mandel is a New York-based Canadian writer. Her fourth novel, Station Eleven, was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the 2015 Toronto Book Award.
Never Forget by Martin Michaud
The latest in Martin Michaud's ongoing Victor Lessard detective series finds Lessard and his partner, Jacinthe Taillon, on the trail of a deadly killer in Old Montreal. Never Forget begins with a homeless man jumping to his death, an incident that leaves behind baffling evidence — two wallets. One belonged to a dead psychiatrist, who was murdered in a bizarre ritual, the other to a missing corporate lawyer. As the bodies begin to pile up, can Lessard and Taillon crack the case before the next murder?
Michaud is a Montreal-based writer, musician and former lawyer. His Victor Lessard series has won the Arthur Ellis award and the Prix Saint-Pacôme for Crime Fiction. The book series is also the basis for the critically acclaimed French TV show Victor Lessard.
A Better Man by Louise Penny
In Louise Penny's Armand Gamache mystey novel, A Better Man, Gamache has been reinstated as head of the homicide department in Quebec. But when the province is hit with a flooding crisis, a father begs Gamache to help find his missing daughter, a case that draws intense public scrutiny.
Penny is a former CBC broadcaster and journalist. Her other books include Still Life, Bury Your Dead, A Trick of the Light and Glass Houses. In 2013, she was named to the Order of Canada.
Your Life Is Mine by Nathan Ripley
Your Life Is Mine is a page-turning thriller about Blanche, the daughter of a notorious murderer and cult leader. Her father killed himself after a shooting spree more than 20 years ago, but when Blanche learns her mother was murdered, she must return home and learns there's more to her family's story than she could have ever imagined — and that the cult her father founded might be making a comeback.
Your Life Is Mine is the second thriller from Nathan Ripley, who is also the author of Find You in the Dark.
Many Rivers to Cross by Peter Robinson
Many Rivers to Cross is the latest Alan Banks mystery by Peter Robinson. In Many Rivers to Cross, the body of a mysterious young boy is found in a dumpster. Banks needs to solve the case — who is he, where did he come from, who killed him and why? — before things go too far. And when more bodies pile up, Banks must figure how it's all connected.
Robinson is a crime writer living in Toronto. He has published more than 30 books, including more than 25 Inspector Banks novels.
The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley
The Last Resort is a thriller about a resort in the Caribbean where couples go to save their marriage. When the charismatic but complicated owner, Miles Markell, goes missing, everyone is a suspect. And a hurricane is coming. As the storm approaches, the guests must face their deepest secrets all while learning the resort has deep secrets of its own, and paradise isn't what it seems.
Marissa Stapley is a writer living in Toronto. Her other novels include Mating for Life and Things to Do When It's Raining.
