Thomas King, Linwood Barclay, Iona Whishaw, H.N. Khan shortlisted for crime writing awards
Thomas King, Linwood Barclay, Iona Whishaw and H.N. Khan are among the writers shortlisted for the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.
The annual awards, created by the Crime Writers of Canada in 1984, uplifts the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.
Thomas King is a finalist for the $500 Whodunit Award for best traditional mystery for his book Deep House.
In Deep House, the follow-up novel to Obsidian, Thumps DreadfulWater settles in the small town of Chinook after the pandemic. In searching for normalcy, Thumps finds a body at the bottom of a canyon and is caught in the middle of another confounding mystery.
King is a Canadian-American writer of Cherokee and Greek ancestry. His books include Truth & Bright Water; Green Grass, Running Water, which was on Canada Reads 2004; The Inconvenient Indian, which was on Canada Reads 2015; and The Back of the Turtle, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 2014. He also writes the DreadfulWater mystery series.
Linwood Barclay is a finalist for the $1000 prize for best crime novel for his book Take Your Breath Away.
Take Your Breath Away is a psychological thriller following Andy Mason six years after his wife, Brie, goes missing. When a woman shows up to Andy's door claiming it's her house and then vanishing once again, he becomes determined to find the truth no matter the dangers he will soon face.
Barclay is an American-Canadian thriller writer of almost 20 books. His books include the adult thrillers Broken Promise, A Noise Downstairs, Elevator Pitch and the middle-grade novels Escape and Chase.
Iona Whishaw is a finalist for the $500 Whodunit Award for best traditional mystery for her novel Framed in Fire.
Framed in Fire, A Lane Winslow Mystery, explores questions of community and belonging in the early spring of 1948. Lane once again becomes entangled in her husband, Inspector Darling's profession when she uncovers human remains next to her friend's garden.
Whishaw is a Vancouver-based author and teacher. She has published works of short fiction, poetry and the children's book Henry and the Cow Problem. Whishaw has published ten novels in the Lane Winslow Mystery series.
H.N. Khan is a finalist for the $500 prize for best juvenile or YA crime book for his novel Wrong Side of the Court.
Fifteen-year-old Fawad dreams of being the first Pakistani to be drafted into the NBA. Wrong Side of the Court is a coming-of-age novel about an aspirational young man experiencing economic and familial struggles in Toronto.
Khan is a Pakistani-Canadian author who grew up in Regent Park, a low-income community housing project in Toronto. He is a recent graduate from Humber's School for Writers' correspondence program. Wrong Side of the Court is his debut novel.
This year's recipient of the 2023 Derrick Murdoch Award is Jack Batten.
The Derrick Murdoch Award recognizes a member of the Crime Writers of Canada who has made significant contributions to the crime and mystery genre. Batten is a journalist, radio personality and author of dozens of books. His book Straight No Chaser was a finalist in 1990 for the Crime Writers of Canada's Award for best crime novel.
The winners will be announced on May 25, 2023. The finalists for the $1,000 prize for best crime novel are:
- Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay
- Going to Beautiful by Anthony Bidulka
- An Unthinkable Thing by Nicole Lundrigan
- Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
- Daughters of the Occupation by Shelly Sanders
The finalists for the $1,000 prize for best crime first novel are:
- The Pale Horse by T. Lawrence Davis
- Killer Time by Bill Edwards
- The Damned Lovely by Adam Frost
- Citizens of Light by Sam Shelstad
- The Man from Mittlewerk by M.Z. Urlocker
The finalists for the $500 prize for best juvenile or YA crime book (fiction or nonfiction) are:
- Lark Steals the Show by Natasha Deen
- Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse by Marthe Jocelyn
- Wrong Side of the Court by H.N. Khan
- Butt Sandwich & Tree by Wesley King
- Heartbreak Homes by Jo Treggiari
The finalists for the $500 Howard Engel Award for best crime novel set in Canada are:
- Five Moves of Doom by A. J. Devlin
- Blood Atonement by S. M. Freedman
- A Snake in the Raspberry Patch by Joanne Jackson
- Cold Snap by Maureen Jennings
- The Foulest Things by Amy Tector
The finalists for the $500 Whodunit Award for best traditional mystery are:
- Knight in the Museum by Alice Bienia
- Fenian Street by Anne Emery
- Deep House by Thomas King
- Death Plans a Perfect Trip by Mary Jane Maffini
- Framed in Fire by Iona Whishaw
The finalists for the $200 prize for best crime novella are:
- Amdur's Ghost by M.H. Callway
- Dangerous to Know by Hilary Davidson
- Dead End Track by Julie Hiner
- The Emir's Falcon by Matt Hughes
- The Man Who Went Down Under by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
The finalists for he $300 prize for best crime short story are:
- The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead by Craig H. Bowlsby
- Must Love Dogs - or You're Gone by M.H. Callway
- To Catch a Kumiho by Blair Keetch
- The Natural Order of Things by Sylvia Maultash Warsh
- Swan Song by donalee Moulton
The finalists for best french crime book (fiction and nonfiction) are:
- Le Mouroir des anges by Geneviève Blouin
- Chaîne de glace by Isabelle Lafortune
- Le dernier manège by Guillaume Morrissette
- Modus operandi by Suzan Payne
- Monsieur Hämmerli by Richard Ste-Marie
The finalist for the $300 Brass Knuckles Award for best nonfiction crime book are:
- How to Solve a Cold Case by Michael Arntfield
- The Castleton Massacre by Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson
- Lost in the Valley of Death by Harley Rustad
- The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan
- Scoundrel by Sarah Weinman
The finalists for the $500 award for best unpublished manuscript are:
- No Safe House by Jan Garnett
- Snowed by Mary Keenan
- Two Knots by Joanne Kormylo
- The Broken Detective by Joel Nedecky
- The Peaks by Michael Pennock
Previous award winners have included Canadian crime writers such as Gail Bowen and Louise Penny.
