14 Canadian mystery and crime novels to dive into this summer
Reading List | Posted: August 8, 2024 4:11 PM | Last Updated: August 8
Looking to get hooked on a new mystery? Unravel these crime and mystery novels by Canadian authors.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silver Nitrate is a Gothic horror novel set in the 1990s film scene of Mexico City. It follows Montserrat, a sound editor desperate for her big break who has been in love with her best friend Tristán since childhood.
When Tristán discovers his neighbour is the legendary horror director Abel Urueta, they must team up to help Urueta finish the film he claims is cursed. Trying to lift the curse, they become entangled in a magical mystery revolving around the occultist who doomed Urueta.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Canadian author, who was born and raised in Mexico. She has written several speculative fiction novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow, Velvet Was the Night and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. Her novel Mexican Gothic was championed by Tiktok creator Tasnim Geedi on Canada Reads 2023.
LISTEN: Silvia Moreno-Garcia on Mexican Gothic:
The Last Secret of Lily Adams by Sara Blaydes
The Last Secret of Lily Adams is a novel set in two timelines following granddaughter Carolyn as she learns about her grandmother's history. Lily Adams was the biggest star of Hollywood's Golden Age and her sudden disappearance from the spotlight was a shock to everyone.
Seventy years later, Carolyn finds a letter written by Lily and she uncovers the truth her grandmother kept buried. Lily's connection to the murder of her biggest rival sends Carolyn down a path that asks her just how much she truly wants to know.
The Last Secret of Lily Adams is Sara Blaydes first novel. She lives in British Columbia.
Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is a mystery novel set on the Italian coast full of laughs, sunshine and Aperol spritz. Best-selling author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour for her latest novel and all she wants is to kill off her main character Connor.
When the man Connor is based on shows up wanting Eleanor's help to stop a killer, Eleanor has to deal with stalkers, her ex and her literary competition to find the murderer.
Catherine Mack is the pseudonym for thriller writer Catherine McKenzie. Her other books include Have You Seen Her, Hidden, Smoke and The Good Liar. She is currently based in Montreal.
LISTEN | Catherine Mack on The Next Chapter:
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
The Phoenix Crown follows two women in 1906 as their lives intersect. Suling, an embroideress in Chinatown, is trying to escape her arranged marriage while opera singer Gemma is desperate for fame.
Their paths cross when they meet Henry Thornton, an antiques collector whose offer of patronage seems to answer all their problems. When Thornton disappears after a devastating earthquake, Suling and Gemma must team up to solve the mystery.
Janie Chang is a B.C.-based historical fiction writer who draws inspiration from her family history, ancestral tales and the stories she was told as a child about life in a Chinese small town pre-First World War. Her other novels include The Porcelain Moon, Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road and The Library of Legends.
Kate Quinn is an American writer. Her other novels include The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code and The Diamond Eye.
LISTEN | Janie Chang and Kate Quinn on The Next Chapter:
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Bad Cree is a horror-infused mystery exploring grief, family, and land. It follows Mackenzie who is haunted by dreams of her sister who recently died as she struggles to come to terms with the loss. When Mackenzie starts receiving texts from someone claiming to be her dead sister and a murder of crows starts following her around the city, she knows she needs help.
Returning home to northern Alberta, Mackenzie is welcomed back by her family, however her dreams only get worse. In order to unravel the mystery of what really happened that weekend before her sister died and why she keeps returning to the lake in her dreams, Mackenzie must confront a violent family legacy and her connection to her community.
Jessica Johns is a Vancouver-based writer, visual artist and member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory in northern Alberta. Johns won the 2020 Writers' Trust Journey Prize for the short story Bad Cree, which evolved into the novel of the same name. Bad Cree was championed by Dallas Soonias on Canada Reads 2024.
LISTEN: Jessica Johns on The Next Chapter:
A Meditation on Murder by Susan Juby
A Meditation on Murder is the sequel to mystery novel Mindful of Murder. Butler and detective Helen Thorpe are tasked with helping influencer Cartier Hightower with a rebrand.
When a series of accidents kill Cartier's fellow influencers and they're followed by a murderer, Helen must do everything she can to keep Cartier on track and out of harm's way.
Susan Juby is a Nanaimo-based author whose book Mindful of Murder was nominated for the 2023 Leacock Medal for Humour. Her novel Republic of Dirt won the 2016 Leacock Medal. Her other books include Getting the Girl, Another Kind of Cowboy and the Alice MacLeod series.
LISTEN | Susan Juby on humour, murder and mystery:
Double Eagle by Thomas King
Double Eagle is the newest installment of the DreadfulWater mystery series. Thumps DreadfulWater is trying to organise a gold coin exhibition when one of the dealers mysteriously dies.
Trying to balance the murder, his rocky relationship and a ninja assassin, DreadfulWater must race against time to ensure no one else dies.
Thomas 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, 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.
LISTEN | Thomas King on The Next Chapter:
Mr. Good-Evening by John MacLachlan Gray
Mr. Good-Evening is the third book in the Raincoast Noir mysteries. It joins journalist Ed McCurdy, inspector Calvin Hook and Miss. Dora Decker in 1920s Vancouver as they are entwined in the case of the Fatal Flapper, a murderer who just killed Decker's employer.
As the mystery starts to unravel, Decker must fight for her innocence, McCurdy fears for his life and Hook pieces together clues that cross continents.
John MacLachlan Gray is a Vancouver-based writer-composer-performer for stage, film, television, radio and print. He is an officer of the Order of Canada and the author of seven crime novels, including The White Angel and Vile Spirits.
Semi-Detached by Elizabeth Ruth
Semi-Detached is a murder mystery story, a ghost story and a love story set across two timelines. When Toronto real estate agent Laura Keys tries to sell the house of its comatose owner, she is haunted by a teenage girl and her Scottish Terrier.
While trying to balance her own failing relationship, Keys delves deeper and deeper into the the story of the house's owner Edna and she stumbles upon a long-buried murder mystery and an 1944 affair with an unhappy ending.
Elizabeth Ruth is an author, poet and professor living in Toronto. She is also the author of the novels Ten Good Seconds of Silence, Smoke and Matadora. Her debut poetry collection, This Report Is Strictly Confidential, is set to be released in 2024.
River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta
River Mumma is a magical mystery inspired by Jamaican folklore. Alicia, a young woman having a quarter-life crisis, embarks on a quest through the streets of Toronto after the Jamaican water deity River Mumma informs Alicia she has 24 hours to find her missing comb.
Alicia doesn't know why River Mumma chose her and she barely remembers the legends, but she enlists the help of her two coworkers on her mission — a journey that takes them through time as Alicia comes to realize her own place in the world.
Zalika Reid-Benta is a Toronto-based author who explores race, identity and culture through the lens of second-generation Caribbean Canadians in her work. The Columbia MFA graduate's debut novel Frying Plantain was on the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. CBC Books named Reid-Benta a writer to watch in 2019 and she served as jury chair for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
LISTEN: Zalika Reid-Benta on Q:
I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay
I Will Ruin You asks the question: how would you react in a life or death situation? When a former student shows up in English teacher Richard Boyle's classroom with a bomb strapped to their chest, Boyle is faced with that very question.
While he is called a hero for his actions, he is pulled into a dark web of lies, gangsters and blackmail. When he uncovers a secret that would change his town forever, Boyle must fight to stay afloat and save everything he loves.
Linwood Barclay is an American Canadian thriller writer, with almost 20 books to his credit. His books include the adult thrillers Find You First, Broken Promise and Elevator Pitch and the middle-grade novels Escape and Chase.
WATCH | Linwood Barclay on his tricks to writing crime:
Wild Hope by Joan Thomas
Wild Hope follows couple Isla and Jake as they try to balance their already rocky relationship with the threat of Jake's friend-turned-enemy Reg Bevaqua. Isla's farm-to-table restaurant is failing, Jake is haunted by his father's legacy and Reg, a local bottled water tycoon, is determined to seek revenge on Jake.
When Jake disappears, Isla must follow his trail, uncovering a long-hidden mystery leading to Reg's mansion on the lake.
Joan Thomas is the author of five novels. Her first novel, Reading by Lightning, won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean) and the Amazon First Novel Award. Her novel The Opening Sky was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 2014 and was awarded the Engel/Findley Award by the Writers Trust of Canada. Her novel Five Wives won the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.
Behind You by Catherine Hernandez
Behind You follows the story of Alma, a film editor for a corny true crime series. At a glance, her life with her wife and teenage son seems comfortable and safe. But when Infamous' latest episode features the Scarborough Stalker — who terrorized Alma's own neighborhood when she was a girl — Alma is consumed by her long-suppressed past.
In the present day, she must reckon with her understanding of consent to stop her young son from making terrible choices toward his own girlfriend. Unfolding in two timelines, Behind You challenges and dissects rape culture and champions one girl's resilience into adulthood.
Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, author and playwright. Her 2017 novel, Scarborough, was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Toronto Book Award, the 2018 Trillium Book Award, the 2018 Edmund White Award and was on Canada Reads 2022 defended by actress Malia Baker. Scarborough was also adapted to screen as a feature film and premiered at TIFF in 2021.
Her other books include The Story of Us, Crosshairs and the children's books I Promise, M is for Mustache and Where Do Your Feelings Live?.
LISTEN | Catherine Hernandez discusses Behind You:
HUGE by Brent Butt
HUGE is a road trip novel following three comedians on a tour around Canada. While Rynn and Dale are seasoned stand-ups, newcomer Hobie Huge has less typical talents. As Rynn and Dale slowly realize where Hobie's true talents lie, they become less concerned with their next performance and more focused on making it off the road alive.
Brent Butt is a Canadian comedian, actor and screenwriter. His stand-up comedy career has spanned over five decades and he created and starred in Canadian sitcoms Corner Gas and Hiccups. Born and raised in Tisdale, Sask., he now resides in Vancouver. HUGE is his first novel.
LISTEN | Brent Butt on The Next Chapter: