Canada Book Day/Arthur Ellis Awards

Today is Canada Book Day, a day to read Canadian Mysteries, and there are author signings, launches and readings in cities all over Canada.

Of interest to Mystery Readers everywhere is the 2009 Arthur Ellis Award Shortlist that was announced today by the Crime Writers of Canada.

Nominees for Best Novel:

• Linwood Barclay, Too Close to Home (Bantam)
• Maureen Jennings, The K Handshape (Dundurn)
• James W. Nichol, Transgression (MacArthur & Company)
• Louise Penny, The Murder Stone (MacArthur & Company)
• Michael E. Rose, The Tsunami File (MacArthur & Company)

Nominees for 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).

Nominees for Best Juvenile Novel:

• 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).

Nominees for Best Crime Writing in French:

• Jacques Côté, Le Chemin des brumes (Alire).
• Maxime Houde, Le Poids des illusions (Alire).
• Andre Jacques, La Tendresse du serpent (Québec Amerique).
• Sylvain Meunier, L'Homme qui détestait le golf (La courte échelle).
• Antoine Yaccarini, Meurtre au Soleil (VLB éditeur).

Nominees for Best Short Story category:

• 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).

Nominees for 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).

Nominees for Best Unpublished Novel:

• Pam Barnsley, This Cage of Bones.
• Gloria Ferris, Cheat the Hangman.
• Stephen Maher, Salvage.
• Douglas A. Moles, Louder.
• Kevin Thornton, Condemned.

Winners in all categories will be announced at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 4.