Q&Q polled booksellers across the country regarding their favourite Canadian crime and mystery books of 2013.

Click on the images below to learn more about each title.

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After being named Best Unpublished First Crime Novel at 2010's Arthur Ellis Awards, <i>Corpse Flower</i> was published this month by Dundurn Press. The first book in a series, it follows divorcée Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall as she struggles to maintain her former lifestyle, eventually facing the prospect of engaging in illicit activity to make ends meet.<br /> <br /> Sian Bumstead at Whodunit put the book on her top-five list for 2013 crime and mystery. "We really enjoyed the character and look forward to reading the next book," she says.

Corpse Flower, Gloria Ferris (Dundurn Press)

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After being named Best Unpublished First Crime Novel at 2010’s Arthur Ellis Awards, Corpse Flower was published this month by Dundurn Press. The first book in a series, it follows divorcée Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall as she struggles to maintain her former lifestyle, eventually facing the prospect of engaging in illicit activity to make ends meet. Sian Bumstead at Whodunit put the book on her top-five list for 2013 crime and mystery. “We really enjoyed the character and look forward to reading the next book,” she says.

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Recipient of this year’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel for <i>The Haunting of Maddy Clare</i> (New American Library), Simone St. James has found further success with her sophomore title, <i>An Inquiry into Love and Death</i>, released in March.<br /> <br /> Chris Szego, manager of Bakka Phoenix Books in Toronto, says she enthusiastically pushed the book into a number of people’s hands.<br /> <br /> â€It’s small, quiet, and just beautiful. It’s a ghost story, a post-WWI story set in England,” she says. â€The writing is simple and beautiful, and it has that slight disquieting creepy factor of a really good ghost story without being a horror novel. The intent is not to horrify. It was wonderful.”

An Inquiry into Love and Death, Simone St. James (NAL Trade/Penguin Canada)

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Recipient of this year’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel for The Haunting of Maddy Clare (New American Library), Simone St. James has found further success with her sophomore title, An Inquiry into Love and Death, released in March. Chris Szego, manager of Bakka Phoenix Books in Toronto, says she enthusiastically pushed the book into a number of people’s hands. â€It’s small, quiet, and just beautiful. It’s a ghost story, a post-WWI story set in England,” she says. â€The writing is simple and beautiful, and it has that slight disquieting creepy factor of a really good ghost story without being a horror novel. The intent is not to horrify. It was wonderful.”

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In March, Saskatchewan author Gail Bowen released <i>The Gifted</i>, the latest addition to her Joanne Kilbourn Mystery series. Following last year’s <i>Kaleidoscope</i>, <i>The Gifted</i> focuses on Jo’s youngest daughter, Taylor, and unravels into a dramatic murder mystery.<br /> <br /> Caroline Walker, inventory manager at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon, says both titles are on the store’s list of the year's top 10 fiction titles published by local authors. <i>The Gifted</i> was also a top-five pick for the Bumstead family, owners at Whodunit Mystery Bookstore in Winnipeg.<br /> <br /> â€She just gets better and better,” Walker says. â€Her first Joanne Kilbourn book was very good, but I think her writing improves with every book.”<br />

The Gifted, Gail Bowen (McClelland & Stewart)

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In March, Saskatchewan author Gail Bowen released The Gifted, the latest addition to her Joanne Kilbourn Mystery series. Following last year’s Kaleidoscope, The Gifted focuses on Jo’s youngest daughter, Taylor, and unravels into a dramatic murder mystery. Caroline Walker, inventory manager at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon, says both titles are on the store’s list of the year’s top 10 fiction titles published by local authors. The Gifted was also a top-five pick for the Bumstead family, owners at Whodunit Mystery Bookstore in Winnipeg. â€She just gets better and better,” Walker says. â€Her first Joanne Kilbourn book was very good, but I think her writing improves with every book.”

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Deriving its name from Leonard Cohen’s "Anthem", <i>How the Light Gets In</i> is the ninth book in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series and follows the inspector's hunt for a missing woman during the holiday season in Three Pines, Quebec.<br /> <br /> A <i>Washington Post</i> top-10 book of the year and a <i>New York Times</i> bestseller, <i>How the Light Gets In</i> was named a top-five crime and mystery book of 2013 by both Whodunit in Winnipeg and Paragraphe Books in Montreal.<br /> <br /> â€This was a great book with a clever plot,” says Sian Bumstead at Whodunit.<br />

How the Light Gets In, Louise Penny (Minotaur Books/Raincoast Books)

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Deriving its name from Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”, How the Light Gets In is the ninth book in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series and follows the inspector’s hunt for a missing woman during the holiday season in Three Pines, Quebec. A Washington Post top-10 book of the year and a New York Times bestseller, How the Light Gets In was named a top-five crime and mystery book of 2013 by both Whodunit in Winnipeg and Paragraphe Books in Montreal. â€This was a great book with a clever plot,” says Sian Bumstead at Whodunit.

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Montreal’s Paragraphe Books named Peter Kirby’s <i>Vigilante Season</i> its top pick for 2013 Canadian crime and mystery fiction. The book, released in October, is the latest in Kirby's Inspector Luc Vanier mystery series. Here, the detective looks into â€the dark side of progress” as districts of Montreal undergo development, and finds himself on the wrong side of police and local government.

Vigilante Season, Peter Kirby (Linda Leith Publishing)

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Montreal’s Paragraphe Books named Peter Kirby’s Vigilante Season its top pick for 2013 Canadian crime and mystery fiction. The book, released in October, is the latest in Kirby’s Inspector Luc Vanier mystery series. Here, the detective looks into â€the dark side of progress” as districts of Montreal undergo development, and finds himself on the wrong side of police and local government.