Memories of Vancouver and Arthur Ellis shortlists

Back in April 2008, I was staying in Vancouver for a month as part of a yearlong round-the-world trip. To be honest, it was great to pause in one place for a while, after constant moving through South and Central America for the prior six months. While there, I attended a crime fiction event at the Vancouver Public Library, where I met the likes of William Deverell and Mark Zuehlke, and the finalists for that year's Arthur Ellis Awards were announced. It was my first experience of being at such a crime writing event, or talking to authors about crime writing. Amazing to think what has sprung from there over the following few years...

I was reminded of that random but influential night today, as I see this year's Arthur Ellis shortlists have just been announced, along with the first-ever Grand Master Award.

Here is the official press release:

Crime Writers of Canada announced the 2014 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists, and the winner of the CWC Grand Master Award for Crime Writing in Canada. 

This is the inaugural year of the CWC Grand Master Award, intended to recognize Canadian crime writers who have a substantial body of work that has garnered national and international recognition.

This year’s winner of the CWC Grand Master Award is Howard Engel, the author of the award winning Benny Cooperman detective series. A mainstay of the Canadian crime writing scene for many years, Mr. Engel helped put Canadian crime writing on the map at a time when few mysteries were set in this country.

The 2014 Arthur Ellis Shortlists for Excellence in Crime Writing Best Novel John Brooke, Walls of a Mind, Signature EditionsSeán Haldane, The Devil’s Making, Stone Flower PressLee Lamothe, Presto Variations, DundurnHoward Shrier, Miss Montreal, Vintage CanadaSimone St. James, An Inquiry into Love and Death, Penguin Books

Best First Novel E.R. Brown, Almost Criminal, DundurnA.S.A. Harrison, The Silent Wife, Penguin Books CanadaAxel Howerton, Hot Sinatra, Evolved PublishingJ. Kent Messum, Bait, Penguin CanadaS.G. Wong, Die on Your Feet, Carina Press

Best NovellaMelodie Campbell, The Goddaughter’s Revenge, Orca BooksBrenda Chapman, My Sister’s Keeper, Grassroots PressJames Heneghan, A Woman Scorned, Orca Books 1

Best Short Story Donna Carrick, Watermelon Weekend, Thirteen, Carrick PublishingJas. R. Petrin, Under Cap Ste. Claire, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, October 2013, Dell MagazinesTwist Phelan, Footprints in Water, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 2013, Dell MagazinesSylvia Maultash Warsh, The Emerald Skull, Thirteen, Carrick PublishingSam Wiebe, The Third Echo, Girl Trouble: Malfeasance Occasional, MacMillan/St Martin’s Press

Best Book in French Chrystine Brouillet, Saccages, La courte échelleJacques Côté, Et à l'heure de votre mort, éditions AlireMaureen Martineau, L’enfant promis, La courte échelleJacques Savoie, Le fils emprunté, Éditions Libre Expression

Best Juvenile/YA Karen Autio, Sabotage, Sono Nis Press Gail Gallant, Apparition, Doubleday CanadaElizabeth MacLeod, Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries, Annick PressTed Staunton, Who I’m Not, Orca Books

Unhanged Arthur L.J. Gordon, Death at the Iron House LodgeRachel Greenaway, Cold GirlCharlotte Morganti, The Snow JobKristina Stanley, DescentKevin Thornton, Coiled

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers from coast to coast. Members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors.