Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel

The Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel is an annual literary award, presented as part of the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence program to honour books judged as the best crime novel published by a Canadian crime writer in the previous year.

1980s

Year	Writer	Novel	Ref
1984
	Eric Wright	The Night the Gods Smiled	[1]
	William Deverell	Mecca	[2]
	Ted Wood	Dead in the Water
1985
	Howard Engel	Murder Sees the Light	[3]
	William Deverell	The Dance of Shiva	[2]
	Douglas Glover	Precious
	John Reeves	Murder Before Matins
	Eric Wright	Smoke Detector
1986
	Eric Wright	Death in the Old Country	[4]
	Maurice Gagnon	The Inner Ring	[2]
	Anthony Hyde	The Red Fox
	John Reeves	Murder with Muskets
	L. R. Wright	The Suspect
1987
	Edward O. Phillips	Buried on Sunday	[5]
	Timothy Findley	The Telling of Lies	[2]
	Alexander Law	To an Easy Grave
	Ted Wood	Fool's Gold
	Eric Wright	A Single Death
1988
	Carol Shields	Swann	[6]
	Joseph Louis	Madelaine	[2]
	Anna Porter	Mortal Sins
	Eric Wright	A Body Surrounded by Water
1989
	Chris Scott	Jack	[7]
	William Deverell	Platinum Blues	[2]
	Laurence Gough	Death on a #8 Hook (Silent Knives)
	Peter Robinson	A Dedicated Man

1990s

Year	Writer	Novel	Ref
1990
	Laurence Gough	Hot Shots	[8]
	Jack Batten	Straight No Chaser	[2]
	John Brady	Unholy Ground
	William Deverell	Mindfield
	Peter Robinson	The Hanging Valley
1991
	L. R. Wright	A Chill Rain in January	[9]
	John Brady	Kaddish in Dublin	[2]
	Laurence Gough	Serious Crimes
	Brian Moore	Lies of Silence
	John Lawrence Reynolds	And Leave Her Lay Dying
	Peter Robinson	Caedmon's Song
1992
	Peter Robinson	Past Reason Hated	[10]
	Laurence Gough	Accidental Deaths	[2]
	L. R. Wright	Fall from Grace
1993
	Carsten Stroud	Lizardskin	[11]
	Gail Bowen	The Wandering Soul Murders	[2]
	Laurence Gough	Fall Down Easy
	Peter Robinson	Wednesday's Child
	Medora Sale	Pursued by Shadows
1994
	John Lawrence Reynolds	Gypsy Sins	[12]
	John Brady	All Souls	[2]
	Howard Engel	There Was an Old Woman
	William Gibson	Virtual Light
	Gregory Ward	Water Damage
	L. R. Wright	Prized Possessions
1995
	Gail Bowen	A Colder Kind of Death	[13]
	Peter Abrahams	Lights Out	[2]
	John Brady	The Good Life
	John Lawrence Reynolds	Solitary Dancer
	L. R. Wright	A Touch of Panic
1996
	L. R. Wright	Mother Love	[14]
	William Deverell	Street Legal	[2]
	Alison Gordon	Striking Out
	Laurence Gough	Heartbreaker
	Peter Robinson	No Cure for Love
1997
	Peter Robinson	Innocent Graves	[15]
	Margaret Atwood	Alias Grace	[2]
	Martin S. Cohen	Light from Dead Stars
	Sparkle Hayter	Nice Girls Finish Last
	Frank Smith	Fatal Flaw
1998
	William Deverell	Trial of Passion	[16]
	Rosemary Aubert	Free Reign	[2]
	C. C. Benison	Death at Sandringham House
	John Spencer Hill	Ghirlandaio's Daughter
	Peter Robinson	Dead Right (Blood at the Root)
	Robert J. Sawyer	Illegal Alien
1999
	Nora Kelly	Old Wounds	[17]
	Gail Bowen	Verdict in Blood	[2]
	Scott Mackay	Cold Comfort
	Caroline Roe	Remedy for Treason
	Jean Ruryk	Next Week Will Be Better
	Michelle Spring	Standing in the Shadows

2000s

Year	Writer	Novel	Ref
2000
	Rosemary Aubert	The Feast of Stephen	[18]
	Lisa Appignanesi	The Dead of Winter	[2]
	William Deverell	Slander
	John Farrow	City of Ice
	Peter Robinson	In a Dry Season
2001
	Peter Robinson	Cold Is the Grave	[19]
	Giles Blunt	Forty Words for Sorrow	[2]
	Brad Smith	One Eyed Jacks
	Eric Wright	The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn
	L. R. Wright	Kidnap
2002
	Michelle Spring	In the Midnight Hour	[20]
	William Deverell	The Laughing Falcon	[2]
	John Farrow	Ice Lake
	Rick Mofina	Cold Fear
	Peter Robinson	Aftermath
2003
	Rick Mofina	Blood of Others	[21]
	Lou Allin	Blackflies Are Murder	[2]
	Barbara Fradkin	Once Upon a Time
	Nora Kelly	Hot Pursuit
	Kathy Reichs	Grave Secrets
2004
	Giles Blunt	The Delicate Storm	[22]
	Mary Jane Maffini	Lament for a Lounge Lizard	[2]
	Kim Moritsugu	The Glenwood Treasure
	David Rotenberg	The Hua Shan Hospital Murders
	Peter Robinson	The Summer That Never Was (Close to Home)
2005
	Barbara Fradkin	Fifth Son	[23]
	Gail Bowen	The Last Good Day	[2]
	Lyn Hamilton	The Magyar Venus
	Peter Robinson	Playing with Fire
	Mark Zuehlke	Sweep Lotus
2006
	William Deverell	April Fool	[24]
	Rick Blechta	Cemetery of the Nameless	[2]
	Giles Blunt	Black Fly Season
	Alex Brett	Cold Dark Matter
	Peter Robinson	Strange Affair
2007
	Barbara Fradkin	Honour Among Men	[25]
	Linwood Barclay	Lone Wolf	[2]
	Emma Cole	Every Secret Thing
	Kathy Reichs	Break No Bones
	Peter Robinson	Piece of My Heart
2008
	Jon Redfern	Trumpets Sound No More	[26]
	Linwood Barclay	No Time for Goodbye	[27]
	Terry Carroll	Snow Candy
	Maureen Jennings	A Journeyman to Grief
	Louise Penny	The Cruelest Month
2009
	Linwood Barclay	Too Close to Home	[28]
	Maureen Jennings	The K Handshape	[29]
	James W. Nichol	Transgression
	Louise Penny	The Murder Stone
	Michael E. Rose	The Tsunami File

2010s

Year	Writer	Novel	Ref
2010
	Howard Shrier	High Chicago	[30]
	Anthony Bidulka	Aloha, Candy Hearts	[31]
	R. J. Harlick	Arctic Blue Death
	Lee Lamothe	Finger's Twist
	James W. Nichol	Death Spiral
2011
	Louise Penny	Bury Your Dead	[32]
	C. B. Forrest	Slow Recoil	[33]
	Mike Knowles	In Plain Sight
	Jeffrey Moore	The Extinction Club
	Michael Van Rooy	A Criminal to Remember
2012
	Peter Robinson	Before the Poison	[34]
	Alan Bradley	I Am Half-Sick of Shadows	[35]
	William Deverell	I'll See You in My Dreams
	Louise Penny	A Trick of the Light
	Robert Rotenberg	The Guilty Plea
2013
	Giles Blunt	Until the Night	[36]
	Linwood Barclay	Trust Your Eyes	[37]
	Sean Chercover	The Trinity Game
	Stephen Miller	The Messenger
	Carsten Stroud	Niceville
2014
	Seán Haldane	The Devil's Making	[38]
	John Brooke	Walls of a Mind	[39]
	Lee Lamothe	Presto Variations
	Howard Shrier	Miss Montreal
	Simone St. James	An Inquiry into Love and Death
2015
	C. C. Humphreys	Plague: Murder Has a New Friend	[40]
	Brenda Chapman	Cold Mourning	[41]
	Barbara Fradkin	None So Blind
	Maureen Jennings	No Known Grave
	Alen Mattich	Killing Pilgrim
2016
	Peter Kirby	Open Season	[42]
	Peggy Blair	Hungry Ghosts	[43]
	John Farrow	The Storm Murders
	Andrew Hunt	A Killing in Zion
	Inger Ash Wolfe	The Night Bell
2017
	Donna Morrissey	The Fortunate Brother	[44]
	Kelley Armstrong	City of the Lost	[45]
	Michael Helm	After James
	Maureen Jennings	Dead Ground in Between
	Janet Kellough	Wishful Seeing
2018
	Peter Robinson	Sleeping in the Ground	[46]
	Gail Bowen	The Winners' Circle	[47]
	John MacLachlan Gray	The White Angel
	Robyn Harding	The Party
	Rio Youers	The Forgotten Girl
2019
	Anne Emery	Though the Heavens Fall	[48]
	Ron Corbett	Cape Diamond	[49]
	Lisa Gabriele	The Winters
	Louise Penny	Kingdom of the Blind
	Loreth Anne White	The Girl in the Moss

2020s

Year	Writer	Novel	Ref
2020
	Michael Christie	Greenwood	[50]
	Ian Hamilton	Fate	[51]
	Nicole Lundrigan	Hideaway
	Melissa Stapley	The Last Resort
	Loreth Anne White	In the Dark
2021
	Will Ferguson	The Finder	[52]
	Marjorie Celona	How a Woman Becomes a Lake	[53]
	Cecilia Ekbäck	The Historians
	Thomas King	Obsidian
	Roz Nay	Hurry Home
2022
	Dietrich Kalteis	Under an Outlaw Moon	[54]
	Linwood Barclay	Find You First	[55]
	Daniel Kalla	Lost Immunity
	Shari Lapena	Not a Happy Family
	Roz Nay	The Hunted
2023
	Anthony Bidulka	Going to Beautiful	[56]
	Linwood Barclay	Take Your Breath Away	[57]
	Nicole Lundrigan	An Unthinkable Thing
	Catherine McKenzie	Please Join Us
	Shelly Sanders	Daughters of the Occupation
2024
	Loreth Anne White	The Maid's Diary	[58]
	Robyn Harding	The Drowning Woman	[59]
	Shari Lapena	Everyone Here Is Lying
	Scott Thornley	Middlemen
	Sam Wiebe	Sunset and Jericho