Nominees for the Arthur Ellis Awards, which celebrate excellence in Canadian crime writing, have been announced.

Organized by the Crime Writers of Canada, the awards are presented in seven categories. For the first time since 2000, a prize for best novella will be given.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner on May 30 at the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto.

Best First Novel

• Peggy Blair, The Beggar’s Opera (Penguin Canada)
• Deryn Collier, Confined Space (Simon & Schuster)
• Peter Kirby, The Dead of Winter (Linda Leith Publishing)
• Chris Laing, A Private Man (Seraphim Editions)
• Simone St. James, The Haunting of Maddy Clare (Signet/Penguin)

Best Novel

• Linwood Barclay, Trust Your Eyes (Doubleday Canada)
• Giles Blunt, Until the Night (Random House Canada)
• Sean Chercover, The Trinity Game (Thomas & Mercer/Amazon Publishing)
• Stephen Miller, The Messenger (Delacorte Press)
• Carsten Stroud, Niceville (Knopf)

Best Novella

• Lou Allin, Contingency Plan (Orca Book Publishers)
• Vicki Delany, A Winter Kill (Orca)
• Barbara Fradkin, Evil Behind that Door (Orca)
• Christopher Moore, Reunion, Phnom Penh Noir (Heaven Lake Press)

Best Non-fiction

• Anita Arvast, Bloody Justice: The Truth behind the Bandidos Massacre at Shedden (John Wiley & Sons)
• Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street’s Wildest Con (Crown/Random House)
• Steve Lillebuen, The Devil’s Cinema: The Untold Story behind Mark Twitchell’s Kill Room (McClelland & Stewart)
• Bruce Livesey, Thieves of Bay Street: How Banks, Brokerages and the Wealthy Steal Billions
• from Canadians (Random House Canada)

Best Juvenile/YA

• Lisa Harrington, Live to Tell (Cormorant Books)
• Y.S. Lee, The Agency 3: The Traitor in the Tunnel (Candlewick/Penguin)
• Sylvia McNicoll, Crush. Candy. Corpse. (James Lorimer & Company)
• Shane Peacock, Becoming Holmes (Tundra Books)
• Elizabeth Stewart, The Lynching of Louie Sam (Annick Press)

Best Crime Writing in French

• Mario Bolduc, La Nuit des albinos: Sur les traces de Max O’Brien (Libre Expression)
• André Jacques, De pierres et de sang (Druide)
• Jean Lemieux, L’homme du jeudi (La courte échelle)
• Martin Michaud, Je me souviens (Goélette)
• Richard Ste Marie, L’inaveu (Alire)

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel

• William Hall, Cold Black Tide
• Ilonka Halsband, The Raffle Baby
• Coleen Steele, Sins Revisited