William Deverell

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the finalists in 10 categories for the 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing at an event at the Book Warehouse in Vancouver.

Crime Writers of Canada also named William H. Deverell as the recipient of the 2025 Derrick Murdoch Award, which recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to developing crime writing in Canada.

Deverell is a novelist, activist, and criminal lawyer and the author of 19 novels, including the Arthur Beauchamp series, and a nonfiction title. He is the founder and honorary director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and twice served as chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada. He is the winner of multiple Arthur Ellis Awards and the Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing and is also known for creating the pilot of the TV series Street Legal.

The winners of the CWC Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing will be announced on May 30.

The finalists are:

The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel

• Colin Barrett, Wild Houses (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Jaima Fixsen, The Specimen (Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks)
• Conor Kerr, Prairie Edge (Strange Light/Penguin Random House Canada)
• John MacLachlan Gray, Mr. Good-Evening (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Louise Penny, The Grey Wolf: Chief Inspector Gamache Novel  (Minotaur Books/Macmillan Publishers)

Best Crime First Novel

• Suzan Denoncourt, The Burden of Truth (Suzan Denoncourt)
• Peter Holloway, The Roaring Game Murders (Bonspiel Books)
• Jim McDonald, Altered Boy (Amalit Books)
• Marianne K. Miller, We Were the Bullfighters (Dundurn Press)
• Ashley Tate, Twenty-Seven Minutes (Doubleday Canada)

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada

• Brenda Chapman, Fatal Harvest:A Hunter and Tate Mystery (Ivy Bay Press)
• Barry W. Levy, The War Machine (Double Dagger Books)
• Shane Peacock, As We Forgive Others: Northern Gothic Mysteries (Cormorant Books)
• Greg Rhyno, Who By Fire: Dame Polara Mysteriy (Cormorant Books)
• Kerry Wilkinson, The Call (Bookouture)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery

• Cathy Ace, The Corpse with the Pearly Smile: Cait Morgan Mysteries (Four Tails Publishing)
• Raye Anderson, The Dead Shall Inherit: An Elspeth Laird Mystery (Signature Editions)
• Susan Juby, A Meditation on Murder (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Thomas King, Black Ice: A DreadfulWater Mystery (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Jonathan Whitelaw, The Concert Hall Killer (HarperNorth/HarperCollins Canada)

Best French Language Crime Book

• J.L. Blanchard, La femme papillon: Une Enquête De Bonneau Et La Mouche (Efides)
• R. Lavallée, Le crime du garçon exquis (Efides)
• Jean Lemieux, L’Affaire des montants: Une enquête du détective Surprenant (Québec Amérique)
• Guillaume Morrissette, Une mémoire de lion (Saint-Jean)
• Johanne Seymour, Fracture (Libre Expression)

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book

• Sigmund Brouwer, Shock Wave (Orca Book Publishers)
• Meagan Mahoney, The Time Keeper (DCB Young Readers/Cormorant Books)
• Twist Phelan, Snowed: Phee Mahoney Adventure Mystery (Bronzeville Books)
• David A. Poulsen, The Dark Won’t Wait (Red Deer Press)
• Melissa Yi, The Red Rock Killer: Edan Sze YA Mystery (Windtree Press)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

• Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur’s Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse (Random House Canada)
• Nate Hendley, Atrocity on the Atlantic: Attack on a Hospital Ship During the Great War (Dundurn Press)
• John L. Hill, The Rest of the [True Crime] Story (AOS Publishing)
• Dean Jobb, A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Tanya Talaga, The Knowing (HarperCollins Publishers)

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author

• Robert Bowerman, The Man in The Black Hat
• Luke Devlin, Govern Yourself Accordingly
• Delee Fromm, Dark Waters
• Lorrie Potvin, A Trail’s Tears
• William Watt, Predators in the Shadows

Best Crime Novella

• Marcelle Dubé, Chuck Berry is Missing (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine)
• Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper (Kensington)
• Pamela Jones, The Windmill Mystery (Austin Macauley Publishers)
• A.J. McCarthy, A Rock (Black Rose Writing)
• Twist Phelan, Aim (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Best Crime Short Story

• Catherine Astolfo, “Farmer Knudson”; Auntie Beers: A Book of Connected Short Stories (Carrick Publishing)
• Therese Greenwood, “Hatcheck Bingo”; The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem (Carrick Publishing)
• Billie Livingston, “Houdini Act” (Saturday Evening Post)
• Linda Sanche, The Electrician”; Crime Wave 3, Dangerous Games (A Canada West Anthology)
• Melissa Yi, “The Longest Night of the Year” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

The awards come with different prize purses: the Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel and Best Crime First Novel each grant the winner  $1,000; $500 goes to the winners of the Best Crime Novel Set in Canada, The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery, and the Best Unpublished Crime Novel; the winner of Best Crime Novella will receive $200; and the winner of the Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book will receive $250.