Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence

The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, are a group of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing published in the previous year. The award is presented during May in the year following publication.

Originally, the awards were named for Arthur Ellis, the pseudonym of several of Canada's official hangmen, the first and most famous being Arthur B. English. The award statuette was designed by actor and theatre designer Peter Blais.^[1]

In 2021 the Crime Writers of Canada announced that they were retiring Arthur Ellis's name from the awards, renaming them to their current name.^[2]

Best Novel

Main article: Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel

Best Novel Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1984	Eric Wright	The Night the Gods Smiled	[1]
1985	Howard Engel	Murder Sees the Light	[3]
1986	Eric Wright	Death in the Old Country	[4]
1987	Edward O. Phillips	Buried on Sunday	[5]
1988	Carol Shields	Swann	[6]
1989	Chris Scott	Jack	[7]
1990	Laurence Gough	Hot Shots	[8]
1991	L. R. Wright	A Chill Rain in January	[9]
1992	Peter Robinson	Past Reason Hated	[10]
1993	Carsten Stroud	Lizardskin	[11]
1994	John Lawrence Reynolds	Gypsy Sins	[12]
1995	Gail Bowen	A Colder Kind of Death	[13]
1996	L. R. Wright	Mother Love	[14]
1997	Peter Robinson	Innocent Graves	[15]
1998	William Deverell	Trial of Passion	[16]
1999	Nora Kelly	Old Wounds	[17]
2000	Rosemary Aubert	The Feast of Stephen	[18]
2001	Peter Robinson	Cold Is the Grave	[19]
2002	Michelle Spring	In the Midnight Hour	[20]
2003	Rick Mofina	Blood of Others	[21]
2004	Giles Blunt	The Delicate Storm	[22]
2005	Barbara Fradkin	Fifth Son	[23]
2006	William Deverell	April Fool	[24]
2007	Barbara Fradkin	Honour Among Men	[25]
2008	Jon Redfern	Trumpets Sound No More	[26]
2009	Linwood Barclay	Too Close to Home	[27]
2010	Howard Shrier	High Chicago	[28]
2011	Louise Penny	Bury Your Dead	[29]
2012	Peter Robinson	Before the Poison	[30]
2013	Giles Blunt	Until the Night	[31]
2014	Seán Haldane	The Devil's Making	[32]
2015	C. C. Humphreys	Plague: Murder Has a New Friend	[33]
2016	Peter Kirby	Open Season	[34]
2017	Donna Morrissey	The Fortunate Brother	[35]
2018	Peter Robinson	Sleeping in the Ground	[36]
2019	Anne Emery	Though the Heavens Fall	[37]
2020	Michael Christie	Greenwood	[38]
2021	Will Ferguson	The Finder	[2]
2022	Dietrich Kalteis	Under an Outlaw Moon	[39]
2023	Anthony Bidulka	Going to Beautiful	[40]
2024	Loreth Anne White	The Maid's Diary

Best First Novel

Best First Novel Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1987	Medora Sale	Murder on the Run	[5]
1988	Laurence Gough	The Goldfish Bowl	[6]
1989	John Brady	A Stone of the Heart	[7]
1990	John Lawrence Reynolds	The Man Who Murdered God	[12]
1991	Carsten Stroud	Sniper's Moon	[9]
1992	Paul Grescoe	Flesh Wound	[10]
1993	Sean Stewart	Passion Play	[11]
1994	Gavin Scott	Memory Trace	[41]
1995	Sparkle Hayter	What's A Girl Gotta Do?	[13]
1996	John Spencer Hill	The Last Castrato	[14]
	D.H. Toole	Moonlit Days and Nights	[14]
1997	C. C. Benison	Death At Buckingham Palace	[42]
1998	Kathy Reichs	Déja Dead	[16]
1999	Liz Brady	Sudden Blow	[17]
2000	Andrew Pyper	Lost Girls	[18]
2001	Mark Zuehlke	Hands Like Clouds	[19]
2002	Jon Redfern	The Boy Must Die	[20]
2003	James W. Nichol	Midnight Cab	[21]
2004	Jan Rehner	Just Murder	[22]
2005	Jon Evans	Dark Places	[23]
2006	Louise Penny	Still Life	[24]
2007	Anne Emery	Sign of the Cross	[25]
2008	Liam Durcan	Garcia's Heart	[26]
2009	Howard Shrier	Buffalo Jump	[27]
2010	Alan Bradley	The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie	[28]
2011	Avner Mandelman	The Debba	[29]
2012	Ian Hamilton	Water Rat of Wanchai	[30]
2013	Simone St. James	The Haunting of Maddy Clare	[31]
2014	J. Kent Messum	Bait	[32]
2015	Steve Burrows	A Siege of Bitterns	[33]
2016	Ausma Zehanat Khan	Unquiet Dead	[34]
2017	Elle Wild	Strange Things Done	[35]
2018	Dave Butler	Full Curl	[36]
2019	A.J. Devlin	Cobra Clutch	[37]
2020	Philip Elliott	Nobody Move	[38]
2021	Guglielmo D'Izzia	The Transaction	[2]
2022	Ashley Audrain	The Push	[39]
2023	Sam Shelstad	Citizens of Light	[40]
2024	Amanda Peters	The Berry Pickers

Best Novella

Best Novella Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2013	Lou Allin	Contingency Plan	[31]
2014	Melodie Campbell	The Goddaughter's Revenge	[32]
2015	Jas R. Petrin	A Knock on the Door	[33]
2016	Jeremy Bates	Black Canyon	[34]
2017	Rick Blechta	Rundown	[35]
2018	Mike Culpepper	How Lon Pruitt Was Found Murdered in an Open Field with No Footprints Around	[36]
2019	John Lawrence Reynolds	Murder Among the Pines	[37]
2020	Wayne Arthurson	The Red Chesterfield	[38]
2021	Sam Wiebe	Never Going Back	[2]
2022	Wayne Ng	Letters from Johnny	[39]

Best Crime Book in French

Best Crime Book in French Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2000	Lionel Noël	Louna	[18]
2001	Norbert Spehner	Le roman policier en Amérique française	[19]
2002	Anne-Michèle Lévesque	Fleur invitait au troisième	[20]
2003	Jacques Côté	Le rouge ideal	[21]
2004	Jean Lemieux	On finit toujours par payer	[22]
2005	Ann Lamontagne	Les douze pierres	[23]
2006	Gérard Galarneau	Motel Riviera	[24]
2007	No award presented		[25]
2008	Mario Bolduc	Tsiganes	[26]
2009	Jacques Côté	Le Chemin des brumes	[27]
2010	Jean Lemieux	Le mort du chemin des Arsene	[28]
2011	Jacques Côté	Dans le quartier des agités	[29]
2012	Martin Michaud	La chorale du diable	[30]
2013	Mario Bolduc	La Nuit des albinos: Sur les traces de Max O'Brien	[31]
2014	Maureen Martineau	L’enfant promis	[32]
2015	Andrée A. Michaud	Bondrée	[33]
2016	Luc Chartrand	L'Affaire Myosotis	[34]
2017	Marie-Ève Bourassa	Red Light: Adieu, Mignonne	[35]
2018	Marie Saur	Les Tricoteuses	[36]
2019	Hervé Gagnon	Adolphus – Une enquête de Joseph Laflamme	[37]
2020	Andrée A. Michaud	Tempêtes	[38]
2021	Roxanne Bouchard	La mariée de corail	[2]
2022	Patrick Senécal	Flots	[39]

Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book

Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1994	John Dowd	Abalone Summer	[41]
1995	James Heneghan	Torn Away	[13]
1996	Norah McClintock	Mistaken Identity	[14]
1997	Linda Bailey	How Can a Frozen Detective Stay Hot on the Trail?
1998	Norah McClintock	The Body in the Basement	[16]
1999	Norah McClintock	Sins of the Father	[17]
2000	Linda Bailey	How Can a Brilliant Detective Shine in the Dark?	[18]
2001	Tim Wynne-Jones	The Boy in the Burning House	[19]
2002	Norah McClintock	Scared to Death	[20]
2003	Norah McClintock	Break and Enter	[21]
2004	Graham McNamee	Acceleration	[22]
2005	Carrie Mac	The Beckoners	[23]
2006	Vicki Grant	Quid Pro Quo	[24]
2007	Sean Cullen	Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates	[25]
2008	Shane Peacock	Eye of the Crow	[26]
2009	Sharon E. McKay	War Brothers	[27]
2010	Barbara Haworth-Attard	Haunted	[28]
2011	Alice Kuipers	The Worst Thing She Ever Did	[29]
2012	Tim Wynne-Jones	Blink & Caution	[30]
2013	Shane Peacock	Becoming Holmes	[31]
2014	Elizabeth MacLeod	Bones Never Lie	[32]
2015	Sigmund Brouwer	Dead Man's Switch	[33]
2016	Stephanie Tromly	Trouble Is a Friend of Mine	[34]
2017	Gordon Korman	Masterminds	[35]
2018	Linwood Barclay	Chase: Get Ready to Run	[36]
2019	Linwood Barclay	Escape	[37]
2020	Tom Ryan	Keep This to Yourself	[38]
2021	Frances Greenslade	Red Fox Road	[2]
2022	Kevin Sands	The Traitor's Blade	[39]
2023	Jo Treggiari	Heartbreak Homes	[43]
2024	Cherie Dimaline	Funeral Songs for Dying Girls	[44]

Best Crime Nonfiction

Best Crime Nonfiction Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1985	Martin Friedland	The Trials of Israel Lipsky
1986	Maggie Siggins	A Canadian Tragedy	[4]
1987	Elliott Leyton	Hunting Humans	[5]
1988	Gary Ross	Stung	[6]
1989	Mick Lowe	Conspiracy of Brothers	[7]
1990	Lisa Priest	Conspiracy of Silence	[8]
1991	Susan Mayse	Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin	[9]
1992	William Lowther	Arms and the Man	[10]
1993	Kirk Makin	Redrum the Innocent	[11]
1994	David R. Williams	With Malice Aforethought	[41]
1995	Michael Harris	The Prodigal Husband	[13]
1996	Lois Simmie	The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson	[14]
1997	Jean Monet	The Cassock and the Crown	[45]
1998	Patricia Pearson	When She Was Bad	[16]
1999	Derek Finkle	No Claim to Mercy	[17]
2000	Gordon Sinclair, Jr.	Cowboys and Indians	[18]
2001	A.B. McKillop	The Spinster and the Prophet	[19]
2002	Stevie Cameron and Harvey Cashore	The Last Amigo	[20]
2002	Andrew Nikiforuk	Saboteurs	[20]
2003	Andrew Mitrovica	Covert Entry	[21]
2004	Julian Sher and William Marsden	The Road to Hell	[22]
2005	Matthew Hart	The Irish Game	[23]
2006	Rebecca Godfrey	Under the Bridge	[24]
2007	Brian O'Dea	High	[25]
2008	Julian Sher	One Child at a Time	[26]
2009	Michael Calce and Craig Silverman	Mafiaboy	[27]
2010	Terry Gould	Murder Without Borders	[28]
2011	Stevie Cameron	On the Farm	[29]
2012	Joshua Knelman	Hot Art	[30]
2013	Steve Lillebuen	The Devil's Cinema	[31]
2014	No award presented		[32]
2015	Charlotte Gray	The Massey Murder	[33]
2016	Dean Jobb	Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation	[34]
2017	Jeremy Grimaldi	A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story	[35]
2018	Trevor Cole	The Whisky King: remarkable true story of Canada's most infamous bootlegger and the undercover Mountie on his trail	[36]
2019	Sarah Weinman	The Real Lolita: Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World	[37]
2020	Charlotte Gray	Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise	[38]
2021	Justin Ling	Missing from the Village	[2]
2022	Nate Hendley	The Beatle Bandit	[39]

Best Crime Short Story

Best Crime Short Story Award winners

Year	Author	Story	Publication	Ref.
1988	Eric Wright	Looking for an Honest Man	Cold Blood: Murder in Canada	[6]
1989	Jas. R. Petrin	Killer in the House	Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1988	[7]
1990	Josef Skvorecky	Humbug	The End of Lieutenant Boruvka	[8]
1991	Peter Robinson	Innocence	Cold Blood III	[9]
1992	Eric Wright	Two in the Bush	Christmas Stalkings	[10]
1993	Nancy Kilpatrick	Mantrap	Murder, Mayhem, and the Macabre	[11]
1994	Robert J. Sawyer	Just Like Old Times	On Spec, Summer 1993	[41]
1995	Rosemary Aubert	The Midnight Boat to Palermo	Cold Blood IV	[13]
1996	Mary Jane Maffini	Cotton Armour	Ladies Killing Circle	[14]
1997	Richard K. Bercuson	Dead Run	Story Teller, Winter 1996–97
1998	Sue Pike	Widow's Weeds	Cottage Country Killers	[16]
1999	Scott Mackay	Last Inning	Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, February 1998	[17]
2000	Matt Hughes	One More Kill	Blue Murder Magazine, December 1999	[18]
2001	Peter Robinson	Murder in Utopia	Crime Through Time III	[19]
2002	Mary Jane Maffini	Sign of the Times	Fit to Die	[20]
2003	James Powell	Bottom Walker	Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 2002	[21]
2004	Gregory Ward	Dead Wood	Hard Boiled Love	[22]
2005	Leslie Watts	Crocodile Tears	Revenge: A Noir Anthology	[23]
2006	Rick Mofina	Lightning Rider	Murder in Vegas	[24]
2007	Dennis Richard Murphy	Fuzzy Wuzzy	Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 2006	[25]
2008	Leslie Watts	Turners	Kingston Whig-Standard, July 7, 2007	[26]
2009	Pasha Malla	Filmsong	Toronto Noir	[27]
2010	Dennis Richard Murphy	Prisoner in Paradise	Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine	[28]
2011	Mary Jane Maffini	So Much in Common	Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine	[29]
2012	Catherine Astolfo	What Kelly Did		[30]
2013	Yasuko Thanh	Spring-blade Knife	Floating Like The Dead	[31]
2014	Twist Phelan	Footprints in Water		[32]
2015	Margaret Atwood	Stone Mattress		[33]
2016	Jeremy Bates	Black Canyon		[34]
2017	Susan Daly	A Death at the Parsonage		[35]
2018	Catherine Astolfo	The Outlier		[36]
2019	Linda L. Richards	Terminal City		[37]
2020	Peter Sellers	Closing Doors		[38]
2021	Marcelle Dubé	Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime		[2]
2022	Elizabeth Elwood	Number 10 Marlborough Place		[39]

Best Unpublished First Novel – "Unhanged Arthur"

First awarded in 2007 as part of the CWC mandate to recognize and promote the careers of promising new crime writers.

Best Unpublished First Novel Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2007	Phyllis Smallman	Margarita Nights	[25]
2008	D.J. McIntosh	The Witch of Babylon	[26]
2009	Douglas A. Moles	Louder	[27]
2010	Gloria Ferris	The Corpse Flower	[28]
2011	John Jeneroux	Better Off Dead	[29]
2012	Sam Wiebe	Last of the Independents	[30]
2013	Coleen Steele	Sins Revisited	[31]
2014	Rachel Greenaway	Cold Girl	[32]
2015	Elle Wilde	Strange Things Done	[33]
2016	Jayne Barnard	When the Flood Falls	[34]
2017	S. J. Jennings	The Golkonda Project	[35]
2018	Dianne Scott	Destruction in Paradise	[36]
2019	Liv McFarlane	The Scarlet Cross	[37]
2020	Liz Rachel Walker	The Dieppe Letters	[38]
2021	Raymond Bazowski	The Future	[2]
2022	Renee Lehnen	Elmington	[39]

Howard Engel Award

Howard Engel Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2007	Katrina Onstad	Stay Where I Can See You	[2]
2008	C. S. Porter	Beneath Her Skin	[39]

Derrick Murdoch Award

This is a special achievement award for contributions to the genre of crime and mystery writing, awarded at the discretion of the president of the Crime Writers of Canada. When first presented in 1984, it was known as the Chairman's Award; it was later renamed in honour of its first recipient, Derrick Murdoch. Since 2013, it has only been presented in years when the new biennial Grand Master Award, listed below, is not presented.

• 1984 – Derrick Murdoch^[1]
• 1985 – Tony Aspler^[46]
• 1986 – Margaret Millar
• 1987 – The CBC Drama Department^[46]
• 1988 – J.D. Singh and Jim Reicker^[6]
• 1989 – not presented^[7]
• 1990 – Eric Wilson^[46]
• 1991 – not presented^[46]
• 1992 – William Bankier, James Powell and Peter Sellers^[10]
• 1993 – not presented^[11]
• 1994 – not presented^[46]
• 1995 – Jim and Margaret McBride^[46]
• 1996 – not presented^[46]
• 1997 – not presented^[46]
• 1998 – Howard Engel and Eric Wright^[16]
• 1999 – Ted Wood^[46]
• 2000 – Eddie Barber, Rick Blechta, John North and David Skene-Melvin^[46]
• 2001 – L. R. Wright^[19]
• 2002 – James Dubro and Caro Soles^[46]
• 2003 – Margaret Cannon^[21]
• 2004 – Cheryl Freedman^[46]
• 2005 – Max Haines^[23]
• 2006 – Mary Jane Maffini^[46]
• 2007 – not presented^[46]
• 2008 – Edward D. Hoch^[46]
• 2009 – Gail Bowen^[46]
• 2010 – Peter Robinson^[28]
• 2011 – Louise Allin and N.A.T. Grant^[29]
• 2012 – Don Graves and Catherine Astolfo^[47]
• 2013 – Lyn Hamilton
• 2014 – not presented
• 2015 – Sylvia McConnell^[33]
• 2016 – not presented^[32]
• 2017 – Christina Jennings^[48]
• 2018 – not presented^[49]
• 2019 – Vicki Delany^[50]

Grand Master Award

The Grand Master Award is presented every two years as a lifetime achievement award, to a crime writer with a distinguished and successful national and international career.

• 2014 – Howard Engel^[32]
• 2016 – Eric Wright^[51]
• 2018 – Gail Bowen^[49]
• 2020 – Peter Robinson^[38]
• 2022 – Louise Penny^[39]

Best Genre Criticism/Reference

The award for Best Genre Criticism or Reference has only been presented twice.

• 1991 – Donald A. Redmond, Sherlock Holmes Among the Pirates^[9]
• 1992 – Wesley A. Wark, Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence^[52]

Best Play

The award for Best Play has only been presented once.

• 1994 – Timothy Findley, The Stillborn Lover^[41]