MACAVITY AWARD NOMINATIONS 2025

The Macavity Award Nominations 2025
(for works published in 2024)

The Macavity Award is named after Macavity: The Mystery Cat, in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats! Scroll down to read the poem. 

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Congratulations to all!

Ballots will be sent out next week to members of MRI, subscribers to MRJ, and to friends of MRI. Look for it in your email. Winners will be announced in September.

Want to be a member/subscriber, go here. Mystery Readers Journal themes for 2025: London Mysteries II; Retail Murder; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. MRJ is available in print copy (mailed) and PDF download. 

Macavity Award Nominations 2025

For works published in 2024

Best Mystery Novel

Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime)

Served Cold by James L’Etoile (Level Best Books)

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead)

California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

Best First Mystery

Outraged by Brian Copeland (Dutton)

A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)

Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)

The Expat by Hansen Shi (Pegasus Crime)

Holy City by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)

“The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman (in Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy)

“Curse of the Super Taster” by Leslie Karst (in Black Cat Weekly, Feb 23, 2024)

“Two for One” by Art Taylor (in Murder, Neat)

“Satan’s Spit” by Gabriel Valjan (in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem)

“Reynisfjara” by Kristopher Zgorski (in Mystery Most International)

Best Historical Mystery

The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)

An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)

Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Soho Crime)

The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann (Lake Union)

A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Best Nonfiction/Critical

Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft edited by Phyllis M. Betz (McFarland)

Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)

Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis (Pegasus Crime)

The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson  (Crown)

On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett by Ashley Lawson  (Ohio State University Press)

Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

***

Macavity: The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—
Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it’s useless to investigate—Macavity’s not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away.
You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

Canine health…and you: Guest Post by Ron Katz

Ron Katz writes The Sleuthing Silvers series of detective stories (www.thesleuthingsilvers.com). A screenplay he developed from one of those stories, “The Mystery of the Missing Reading Glasses,” recently won Best Comedy TV Pilot Teleplay 2025 at the Austin International Film Festival. 

Ron Katz:

The great thing about dogs is that everyone thinks that theirs is the best, and everyone is right. Dog ownership is an experience that is both unique and universal.
 
Nowhere is this clearer than on Facebook, where many canine death notices appear.  They are virtually all the same, a paean to loyalty, affection, fun and heartbreak. That, however, does not detract from their unique ability to penetrate even the stoniest heart.
 
The worst thing about dogs is their relatively short lifespan, a guarantee of mourning that, of necessity, is never fully contemplated when the dog is brought into the family/pack. Inevitably, health problems arise, however, for example the kidney problems of our beloved rescue, Snowball, aka Snowbie, whose breed, according to our vet was “Terrier X,” a polite way of saying “mutt.”
 
As Snowbie’s health problems progressed, treatment unthinkable years ago—in this case, dialysis—extended Snowbie’s life by, probably, a few months. My wife and I learned how to administer this treatment at home, which, in retrospect, was not the best solution for either Snowbie or for us.
 
We didn’t want to let her go. We should have followed the vet’s advice to do just that..
 
After a mourning period of six months, we visited the pound again, and brought home another Terrier X, this one with sandy-colored fur. Of course, we named him Sandball, aka Sandy.
 
We were told by the pound personnel that Sandy was approximately one year old, which was determined by looking at his teeth. It turns out that that estimate was probably inaccurate, because, after five years of seemingly robust health, Sandy came down with something called Cushing’s Disease, which only afflicts dogs older than eight. 
 
Cushing’s disease means that the dog produces too much cortisol, which, in turn, leads to, among other things, too much drinking and too much urination. That requires diapers, something else that would have been unthinkable back in the day.
 
The treatment for Cushing’s is a drug called Vetoryl, which costs about $100/week. How much is given is, at first, trial-and-error. Also, it’s important not to give too much, because too much leads to Addison’s Disease, the opposite of Cushing’s, in that not enough cortisol is produced.
 
After six months, Sandy’s vet is still in the process of determining the right dose. And my wife and I are still in the stressful situation of monitoring swings in Sandy’s behavior of too much urination caused by Cushing’s vs. loss of appetite caused by Addison’s. That monitoring also includes expensive testing on a monthly basis.
 
Which brings me back to the title of this piece.  Growing up, I could have never imagined so much involvement in canine health. Now it is unimaginable not to be this involved. 
 
What is the cosmic meaning, if any, of that will probably be assessed differently by different readers. Is it excessive, loving, or just plain stupid?
 
I’m pretty sure I know where the dog owners will come out.
 
 
 
 

Cartoon of the Day: Book Club

Cartoon of the Day: TBR Pile

 

FATHER'S DAY MYSTERIES. //FATHER'S DAY CRIME FICTION

Father's Day: A day to celebrate Dad. My father was the ultimate reader. His idea of a great vacation was sitting in a chair reading a mystery. It didn't mattered that he was home, the book took him miles away -- and he was comfortable!

Even now after he's been gone these many years, I find myself finishing a mystery and saying to myself, "I have to send this to Dad. He'll love it." It always makes me sad to remember I can't. My father engendered my love of mysteries through his collection of mystery novels and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines. I like to think he's up there somewhere in a comfortable chair surrounded by books, reading a good mystery.

This year I've included True Crime, as well as fiction, on my Father's Day list. I've also included more Short Stories and a Graphic Novel. And, of course, I've updated the list. Let me know if I've missed any titles/authors.

FATHER'S DAY MYSTERIES

Father’s Day by John Calvin Batchelor
Father’s Day by Rudolph Engelman
Father's Day: A Detective Joe Guerry Story by Tippie Rosemarie Fulton
Father’s Day Keith Gilman 
Dear Old Dead by Jane Haddam
The Father’s Day Murder by Lee Harris
Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman
Dead Water by Victoria Houston
Father’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier
On Father's Day by Megan Norris
Father’s Day by Alan Trustman

Murder for Father, edited by Martin Greenberg (short stories)
"Father's Day" by Patti Abbott --short story at Spinetingler
Collateral Damage: A Do Some Damage Collection  e-book of Father's Day themed short stories.
"Where's Your Daddy?" by Sue Ann Jaffarian

**

And a list of Crime Fiction that focuses on Fathers and Sons and Fathers and Daughters. Have a favorite Father / Son Father/Daughter Mystery? Post below in comments or send me a note.


FATHERS AND SONS and FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS in CRIME FICTION

The Stay at Home Dad series by Jeffrey Allen

Carriage Trade by Stephen Birmingham
His Father's Son by Tony Black
Her Father's Secret by Sara Blaedel
The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

The Controller by Matt Brolly

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage
Secret Father by James Carroll
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

The President's Daughter by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
The Hasidic Rebbe's Son by Joan Lipinsky Cochran

Hot Plastic by Peter Craig
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne 
The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron
Killings by Andre Dubus

The Perfect Father by Charlotte Duckworth

Lars and Little Olduvai by Keith Spencer Felton
The Dead Daughter by Thomas Fincham

Unsub by Meg Gardner   
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

Gnosis by Rick Hall

Atticus by Ron Hansen

King of Lies by John Hart
Damage by Josephine Hart

The Good Father by Noah Hawley
1922; The Shining by Stephen King

Revival Season by Bharti Kirchner    
Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

A Perfect Spy by John LeCarre 
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Charlie Chan Returns by Dennis Lynds

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Darksight by D.C. Mallery

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Blood Grove by Walter Mosley 
The Son by Jo Nesbo

Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh

Ali Cross: Like Father, Like Son by James Patterson

The President's Daughter by James Patterson & Bill Clinton

Sherlock Holmes Dark Son, Dark Father by John Pirillo

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Roman Hat Mystery; other novels by Ellery Queen (Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay)
My Son, the Murderer by Patrick Quentin

Paperback Original by Will Rhode
The Senior Sleuths: Dead in Bed by Marcia Rosen
Baby's First Felony by John Straley

The Father by Anton Swenson

City on the Edge by David Swinson

To Die in California by Newton Thornburg

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

Father's Day by Simon Van Booy

The Second Son by Jordan Wells

The Ones Who Do by Daniel Woodrell 

True Crime: So very, very dark! Disturbing...but a new category on the list!

Incident at Big Sky by Johnny France and Malcolm Mcconnell

Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss

Murder in Little Egypt by Darcy O'Brien

If I Can't Have Them by Gregg Olsen

The Poison Tree by Alan Prendergast

Above Suspicion; Death Sentence by Joe Sharkey

Fred & Rose by Howard Sounes

Short Stories: 

"Father's Day" by Michael Connelly in Blue Murder

A Holiday Sampler by Christine Collier

Where's Your Daddy? (Holidays from Hell Short Story Series) by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Murder for Father, Edited by Martin Greenberg, stories by Ruth Rendell, Ed Gorman, Max Allan Collins, Bill Crider and more

Graphic Novels:

Father's Day by Mike Richardson, Illustrated by Gabriel Guzman

SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEES 2025: Private Eye Writers of America

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the nominees for the coveted Shamus Awards. Winners will be announced at the 2025 Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies, Thursday, September 4 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

• Kingpin by Mike Lawson 

• The Hollow Tree by Phillip Miller

• Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley

• Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts 

• Death and Glory by Will Thomas 

BEST ORGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

• Geisha Confidential by Mark Coggins 

• Quarry’s Return by Max Allan Collins 

• Not Born of Woman by Teel James Glenn

• Bless Our Sleep by Neil S. Plakcy 

• Call of the Void by J.T. Siemens 

• The Big Lie by Gabriel Valjan 

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL

• Twice the Trouble by Ash Clifton 

• The Devil’s Daughter by Gordon Greisman 

• Fog City by Claire M. Johnson

• The Road to Heaven by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson

• Holy City by Henry Wise 

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY

• “Deadhead” by Tom Andes (Fall 2024, Cowboy Jamboree Magazine)

• “Alibi in Ice” by Libby Cudmore (July/August 2024, AHMM)

• “Drop Dead Gorgeous” by M.E. Proctor (Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith)

• “Under Hard Rock” by Ed Teja (October 2024, Black Cat Weekly #164)

• “The Five Cent Detective” by S.B. Watson (November 2024, Crimeucopia)

HT: Kevin Burton Smith, Thrilling Detective 

GRANTCHESTER, Season 10: MASTERPIECE Mystery!

Grantchester returns to MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS with Season 10 this Sunday, June 15 at 9/8c. 

Secrets are exposed and relationships are tested in what the Grantchester cast calls the “best season yet.” All of your favorite characters return in Season 10

In the new episodes, Alphy (Rishi Nair) has really found a home in Grantchester. In Geordie (Robson Green), he’s found a best friend and his intellectual equal. Love proves more elusive, until a case throws him in the path of a romance. But before he can let anyone else in, he must confront truths about himself. Geordie, meanwhile, wrestles with his expectations for his own son and Cathy takes steps to better her career with the help of Mrs. Chapman.

 

Season 10 of Grantchester premieres  Sunday, June 15 at 9/8c. The eight-episode season will also be available to stream on the PBS app, PBS.org, and with PBS MASTERPIECE on Prime Video.

FREDERICK FORSYTH: R.I.P.

Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and The Dogs of War, died Monday, at the age of 86. Forsyth was the master of the geopolitical thriller populated with spies, mercenaries, and political extremists. He wrote 24 books, including 14 novels, and sold more than 75 million copies. He will be missed, but remembered.

NYT obituary

The Guardian obituary

The Washington Post

Crime Writers' Association interview with Frederick Forsyth

Art Detectives: New Series on AcornTV

I love a good art mystery, and I'm looking forward to Art Detectives that starts today on AcornTV. Two episodes are now available, with future episode streaming one a week.

In the Metropolitan Police's smallest department, the Heritage Crime Unit, an art-loving detective tackles cases connected to the world of art, antiques, collectibles and cultural heritage. Stephen Moyer remains best known in America for his vampire Bill Compton in True Blood. Moyer returns today, June 9, with AcornTV’s murder mysteries series Art Detectives as art-loving Detective Inspector Mick Palmer, partnered with Detective Constable Shazia Malik (Nina Singh). They’re the Heritage Crime Unit, solving murders linked to art and antiques – everything from forged paintings to Viking gold. 

“I loved the idea of it,” the British born Moyer, 55, began in a Zoom interview with the Boston Herald. “There is a real Heritage Crime Unit – I think it’s called the Art Fraud Department. It’s the smallest department in the whole Metropolitan Police. Just three people. Alongside straight-talking DC Shazia Malik, played by Nina Singh, the pair solve murders connected to the world of art and antiques, from Old Master paintings, to Banksy street art, medieval manuscripts and collectible vinyl. in the series, the artfully astute detectives encounter a fake Vermeer, Viking gold, a rare Chinese vase and items rescued from the Titanic. 

Palmer navigates these cases while managing a budding romance with museum curator Rosa, played by Sarah Alexander and the sudden reappearance of his charismatic father, Ron, (Larry Lamb), who just happens to be one of Britain’s most notorious forgers. 

Art Detectives' first two episodes stream today on Acorn TV. 

SHORTLISTS: Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year & McDermid Debut Award

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Shortlist

The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre (Sphere)
The Mercy Chair, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
The Last Word, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
All the Colours of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Orion)

McDermid Debut Award (named for crime writer Val McDcDermid)

Sick to Death, by Chris Bridges (Avon) 

I Died at Fallow Hall, by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square) 

Her Two Lives, by Nilesha Chauvet (Faber & Faber) 

A Reluctant Spy, by David Goodman (Headline)

Isolation Island, by Louise Minchin (Headline) 

Black Water Rising, by Sean Watkin (Canelo)

Winners will be announced  July 17 at the opening night of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. Congratulations to all!

Cartoon of the Day: Collector

Happy Caturday!

Murder in Wartime: D-Day

For D-Day, I thought I'd post a link to Mystery Readers Journal: Murder in Wartime. Check out the Table of Contents and links below. Great articles and reviews by and about your favorite authors. 110 pages! Buy this back issue as a downloadable PDF.

MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL: Murder in Wartime (Volume 33:2)

Available a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• World War II and the Golden Age Tradition by Kate Jackson

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• The Making of Heroes by Suzanne M. Arruda
• It Never Happened by Mary Adler
• On Edge by Albert Ashforth
• Between Lost and Dead by Rona Bell
• A Half Century Later, Vietnam Is Still a Mystery by R.G. Belsky
• Harry Lime Was Wrong by James Benn
• My Wartime Connection by Cara Black
• The Secrets of Bletchley Park by Rhys Bowen
• Passing On the Memory of Wars I Never Knew by William Broderick
• Don’t Mention the War by Frances Brody
• Why Care About a Murder in Wartime? by Rebecca Cantrell
• The Green Corn Rebellion by Donis Casey
• War Is Hell… but Hell Makes Good Mysteries by John A. Connell
• Murder and Ancient War by Gary Corby
• The Real and Recent Wars Behind My Fiction by Diana Deverell
• Spoils of War by David Edgerley Gates
• You Say Conflict, I Say War by Chris Goff
• Mystery in The First World War by Dolores Gordon-Smith
• Civil War Crime by Paul E. Hardisty
• War Stories by Libby Hellmann
• Body of Evidence by Graham Ison
• Wartime in England by Maureen Jennings
• The Mysteries of War by Kay Kendall
• From Bomb Shelters to a B&B by Kate Kingsbury
• Bombs and Short Legs by Joan Lock
• Rough Cider in the Making by Peter Lovesey
• If It’s War, It Can’t Be Murder? by Michael Niemann
• Echoes of Vietnam by Neil Plakcy
• When the Investigator Wears Boots by Ben Pastor
• His Debts Were Settled At Last by Mary Reed
• Murder in Wartime by Gavin Scott
• The Time Traveler As Writer by Sarah R. Shaber
• A Coin for the Hangman: The Home Front and the Returning Soldier by Ralph Spurrier
• The Solitary Soldier by Kelli Stanley
• Wartime in New York by Triss Stein
• Writing About War by Charles Todd
• It’s Not Our War: Writing a WWI-Era Mystery Series Set in New York by Radha Vatsal
• Fading Away by Sharon Wildwind
• Bloodshed Behind the Lines by Sally Wright
• Fate, Facts, and War Stories by Ursula Wong

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Kristopher Zgorski, Craig Sisterson, L.J. Roberts, Sandie Herron, Kate Jackson, Kate Derie
• Khaki Cops by Jim Doherty
• True Crime in Wartime by Cathy Pickens
• The Children’s Hour: War Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Just the Facts: The Military Mutilator by Jim Doherty
• Crime Scene: Murder in a Time of War by Kate Derie
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet Rudolph

---

Cartoon of the Day: D-Day

 

PATIENCE: PBS series premieres June 15

If you're a fan of the French TV series Astrid et Raphaelle, as I am, you might want to check out the British/Belgian version entitled Patience which is based on the French series. It will premier in the U.S. on Sunday, June 15 at 8 pm ET on PBS, with streaming available on pbs.org and the PBS app. New episodes will be released weekly on Sundays through July 20th. The series is also available on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel (requires a separate subscription). 

Patience has already been renewed for a season two. The first series saw Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis), who’s autistic, establish herself as an invaluable member of the City of York Police. Jo McGrath, Chief Creative Officer at Eagle Eye Drama has promised that series 2 will be "more action packed, culminating with a nail-biting hostage storyline and a shocking family revelation for Patience." Patience stars Laura Fraseras Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf, and Ella Maisy Purvis as autistic police archivist Patience Evans (Purvis is herself autistic). The series is set in Yorkshire.

Cartoon of the Day: The Story Coaster

From Grant Snider:

 

Authors & their Cats: Lilian Jackson Braun

Happy Caturday! What better author to highlight today on my Writers & their Cats series than Lilian Jackson Braun, author of the Cat Who series. 

Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Winners

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Winners of the 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. 

THE 2025 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS

The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel
Sponsored by the Boreal Benefactor with a $1000 prize

Conor Kerr, Prairie Edge Strange Light, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada

Best Crime First Novel
Sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize

Ashley Tate, Twenty-Seven Minutes, Doubleday Canada

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada
Sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

Shane Peacock, As We Forgive Others, Cormorant Books

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery
Sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize

Thomas King, Black Ice, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Crime Novella
Sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $200 prize

Pamela Jones, The Windmill Mystery, Austin Macauley Publishers

Best Crime Short Story

Therese Greenwood, “Hatcheck Bingo”, from The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem,
Carrick Publishing

Best French Language Crime Book

Guillaume Morrissette, Une mémoire de lion, Saint-Jean

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book
Sponsored by Superior Shores Press with a $250 prize

Sigmund Brouwer, Shock Wave, Orca Book Publishers

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book
Sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton) with a $300 prize

It’s a tie!

Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse 

and 

Tanya Talaga, The Knowing.

Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse,
Random House Canada

Tanya Talaga, The Knowing, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author
Sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize

Luke Devlin, Govern Yourself Accordingly

***

About Crime Writers of Canada
Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the
profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers,
librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the
Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen,
Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We
thank our sponsors and volunteers, and the many participating publishers, authors and judges for their
continued support.

What’s Bred in the Bone: Guest Post by Michael Robotham

When people ask me why I write crime, I tell them that it’s in my blood.

Five generation ago, my forefather George Robotham, was transported from England to Tasmania for stealing a watch. He married a fellow convict, an Irishwoman, who had stolen a shawl – a harsh punishment for trying to stay warm.

My mother was horrified by these criminal links and refused to let anyone research our family tree in case her shame became public, but I was never worried about being a bad seed. Instead, have always leaned into it.

At eighteen, I became a cadet reporter on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney, a tabloid red-top that sold at every bus stop and train station to commuters on their way home from work. Sensation and titillation was the bread and butter of The Sydney Sun. There were page-three girls, newspaper bingo, horse racing guides, sport analysis and a daily diet of crime stories and celebrity gossip.
           

My very first front page read: CARAVAN KISS - BRIDE MURDER CHARGE and reported that a husband had punched his new bride of three weeks after seeing her kiss another man in a caravan. Forty-six years on and little has changed when it comes to men killing their partners. 

As a cadet reporter I had to work in the radio room, monitoring the police, fire and ambulance radios. I learned the call-signs and codes. I knew which police division operated in which areas, and when an officer was in trouble, or a prisoner had escaped, or a child was missing, or a suspect was being chased. 
I spent more than a year working the graveyard shift for The Sun. The Red-Light district became my regular haunt because it was the only place to get a coffee or something to eat at three in the morning. I befriended pimps, prostitutes, dealers, junkies, coppers, strippers, transvestites, tramps, and ‘colourful local identities’ – a euphemism for gangsters and nightclub owners.

Working in police rounds, my job was to report on crime. This meant befriending detectives, pathologists and paramedics, anyone who could tip me off about some new development in an ongoing investigation. I drank in the same pubs as the police. I bought them drinks. I attended barbecues. I was invited to weddings and attended christenings. 

Sometimes, I ‘looked the other way’ when I saw evidence of police corruption because I didn’t want to burn a long-time contact who would later give me a more important story. It was a case weighing up the public good, letting a small fish escape the net, in the hope of catching a bigger one.

Ultimately, I became an investigative journalist working for ten years in London for a national newspaper. This brought me in contact with criminals both big and small. I tracked down rogue solicitors, paedophile judges, and East End gangsters who had fled to the Costa del Sol in Spain, (otherwise known as the Costa del Crime).

Sometimes it was dangerous. I once investigated an Irish gambler in Dublin who was notorious private. Local racing journalists had told me to drop the story but I carried on for one more day, knocking on doors and asking questions. That night in Dublin, I was visited by three men wearing balaclavas who bounced me around my hotel room and drove me to airport.

I phoned my editor from the departure lounge and said, ‘This gambler launders money for the IRA.’
‘Give it twenty minutes and go back,’ he said. ‘They’ll have gone by then.’

I got on the flight. I might have been Australian and therefore ‘expendable’ but I wasn’t stupid.

On another investigation, I helped expose the UK’s booming telephone sex-line industry, where customers paid up to US$5 a minute to ‘talk dirty’ with no limits on age, time or the content discussed. Many of the sex-line operators had links with organised crime and the porn industry in Britain and abroad.

Our newspaper exposes so much pressure on the Government to regulate the industry, that the operators organised a crisis meeting at a hotel in Manchester. We gate-crashed the event, bursting through the doors, taking photographs and asking questions. The operators covered their faces and yelled threats and chased us out of the hotel. The revolving front door of that hotel is spinning today because I hit it with such speed.

The following day, we handed UK police photographic evidence that linked known crime figures to the sex-line services. Within weeks the laws had changed.

My latest novel, The White Crow, draws on experiences like this. It features a young, ambitious police officer, Philomena McCarthy, who has defied the odds to follow her dream, because she comes from a notorious family of East End gangsters.

It is a novel that has taken me back to my roots – to those days as a reporter and investigative journalist, when I befriended prostitutes, pimps, paramedics, police, and the colourful milieu of characters who inhabited the night. 

These were my people and I’m still telling their stories.

***

The White Crow by Michael Robotham will be published by Scribner on July 1, 2025. It's available for pre-order.

Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; Lying Beside You; Storm Child; and The White Crow. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT COAST CRIME 2026: San Francisco Schemin'

Can't wait for Left Coast Crime 2026: San Francisco Schemin'. Be sure and sign up and reserve your room at the hotel. This is going to be an epic convention.  Convention rate includes convention with panels and special events, banquet, two full breakfasts, and opening reception--but so much more. It's all about friends and writers. And, San Francisco--everybody's favorite city!

 

A Low-Commitment Pet for a Low-Commitment Owner: Guest Post by Tom Spencer

When I came to start writing my current project, a second novel starring cantankerous archivist Agatha Dorn as my detective, I decided she should get a cat. Agatha starts the novel living in a strange new town; she has no friends (because she’s a huge pain in the neck); she’s lonely. She needs a cat! Everyone needs a cat! The only problem was, I had already established in the first book that Agatha hates cats. Or rather, as something of a control freak, she hates the chaos a cat would bring into her life. She is especially grossed out by the notion of hairballs, of which she has heard. 

Now, there are cats who do not produce hairballs – my own cat, Coconut, for instance, has never vomited up anything of the kind. But Coconut still creates all kinds of chaos in my house. She baits the dog into attacking her then swipes at the dog’s face with her claws. She runs out of the front door if it’s left open even a crack. She walks on the chopping board right as I am preparing dinner, tracking lord-knows-what across my food preparation surfaces. She flagrantly steals pieces of chicken, ham, bread, whatever I’m making, right in front of my eyes! The only deterrent she respects is the water spray bottle, and that only for a couple of seconds, before she’s right back to thieving the chicken again. No, Agatha would never be able to stand having a cat in her flat. 

But still, I thought, Agatha should have a cat. And besides, in Blake Snyder’s famous phrase, main characters ought to “save the cat” somewhere near the beginning of the narrative – especially unsympathetic main characters like mine, whom readers might not be disposed to like much. How better to “save the cat” than by having Agatha look after a literal cat? And also, cats are awesome! They flow down the stairs like water. They come and drape their tails against your face even when they are positive that they do not want to be petted. A cat would be just the thing to get Agatha out of the doldrums in which she finds herself at the start of the novel. 

My solution was to get Agatha a feral cat – a cat who stays outside, on her balcony, dividing his time between Agatha and who knows how many other owners. A feral cat whom Agatha can feed expensive cat milk that is gentle on feline digestive systems, but who basically ignores Agatha. This seemed like the perfect solution – a low-commitment pet for a low-commitment owner. This, incidentally, was also the solution we adopted with our own children when they were toddlers, before we got Coconut – we left food out for a black cat who would come into our backyard, eat the food, and leave. But our eldest son was convinced that we “had” a cat – he told all his teachers at preschool that we had a cat named Elsa (he was very into Frozen at the time, and who better to name a completely black cat after than an ice princess?). So for a few years, we escaped having feline chaos invading our own house. When it comes to my novel, though, the only question now is what to do with Agatha’s cat now she’s got him? Maybe I should pull a Rita Mae Brown and have the cat solve the mystery? 

***

Tom Spencer is an expat Londoner currently living and working in Montgomery, Alabama. He is the author of the mystery novel The Mystery of the Crooked Man (Pushkin), recently longlisted for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger. He has published creative work in various journals, including a story nominated for a Pushcart Prize and another shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Prize. Under his real name, Tom Perrin, he has published an academic book on twentieth-century fiction, as well as having written for the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere.