The 2009 Arthur Ellis Awards

This year marks the 25th year for the prestigious Arthur Ellis Awards, named after the nom de travail of Canada's official hangman. Awards are presented in six categories for works in the crime genre published for the first time in the previous year by authors living in Canada, regardless of their nationality, or by Canadian writers living outside of Canada.

There is a seventh award: the Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel, which is designed to launch the writing careers of new Canadian crime writers.

The award itself, the Arthur, is hand-carved by Canadian artisan Barry Lambeck and based on a design and prototype by artist Peter Blais. Arthur is a wooden articulated jumping-jack figure with a noose around its neck that "dances" when a string is pulled.

Past winners of the Arthur include most of the major names in Canadian crime writing, including Howard Engel, Eric Wright, Peter Robinson, the late L.R. Wright, Giles Blunt, Carol Shields, William Deverell, Gail Bowen, Ann Lamontagne, James Dubro, John Lawrence Reynolds, Norbert Spehner, Rosemary Aubert, Barbara Fradkin, and Andrew Pyper.

The CWC would like to thank Sleuth of Baker Street (Toronto) for giving the cash award for Best Novel, Book City (Toronto) for giving the cash award for Best First Novel, and McArthur and Company Publishing Ltd. for sponsoring the Unhanged Arthur award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel.

2009 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists (winners in bold)

Best Short Story
Pasha Malla, “Filmsong” in Toronto Noir (Akashic Books)
James Powell, “Clay Pillows” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (June 2008)
Peter Robinson, “Walking the Dog” in Toronto Noir (Akashic Books)
Amelia Symington, “An Ill Wind” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Sept/Oct 2008)
Kris Wood, “Thinking Inside the Box” in Going Out with a Bang (RendezVous Crime)

Best Non-Fiction
Daphne Bramham, The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect (Vintage Canada/RHC)
Sharon Butala, The Girl in Saskatoon: A Meditation on Friendship, Memory and Murder (Phyllis Bruce Books/HarperCollins)
Alex Caine, Befriend and Betray: Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods (Vintage Canada/RHC)
Michael Calce & Craig Silverman, Mafiaboy: How I Cracked the Internet and Why It’s Still Broken (Penguin Canada)
Kerry Pither, Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror (Penguin Canada)

Best Juvenile
Vicki Grant, Res Judicata (Orca)
Susan Juby, Getting the Girl (HarperCollins)
Elizabeth MacLeod, Royal Murder (Annick Press)
Norah McClintock, Dead Silence (Scholastic Canada)
Sharon E. McKay, War Brothers (Penguin Canada)

Best Crime Writing in French
Jacques Côté, Le Chemin des brumes (Alire)
Maxime Houde, Le Poids des Illusions (Alire)
André Jacques, La Tendresse du serpent (Québec Amérique)
Sylvain Meunier, L’Homme qui détestait le golf (La courte échelle)
Antoine Yaccarini, Meurtre au Soleil (VLB éditeur)

Best First Novel
Nadine Doolittle, Iced Under (Bayeux Arts/Gondolier)
John C. Goodman, Talking to Wendigo (Turnstone)
April Lindgren, Headline: Murder (Second Story Press)
Howard Shrier, Buffalo Jump (Vintage Canada)
Phyllis Smallman, Margarita Nights (McArthur & Company)

Best Novel
Linwood Barclay, Too Close to Home (Bantam)
Maureen Jennings, The K Handshape (Castle Street Mysteries/Dundurn)
James W. Nichol, Transgression (McArthur & Company)
Louise Penny, The Murder Stone (McArthur & Company)
Michael E. Rose, The Tsunami File (McArthur & Company)

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel (the Unhanged Arthur)
Pam Barnsley, This Cage of Bones
Gloria Ferris, Cheat the Hangman
Stephen Maher, Salvage
Douglas S. Moles, Louder
Kevin Thornton, Condemned