Arthur Ellis Awards

The Arthur Ellis Awards are a group of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing.

The awards are named for Arthur Ellis, the pseudonym of Canada's official hangman. The award statue itself is wooden model of a hanging man. The arms and legs move when the statue's string is pulled.

Best Novel

*1984 - Eric Wright, "The Night the Gods Smiled"
*1985 - Howard Engel, "Murder Sees the Light"
*1986 - Eric Wright, "Death in the Old Country"
*1987 - Edward O. Phillips, "Buried on Sunday"
*1988 - Carol Shields, ""
*1989 - Chris Scott, "Jack"
*1990 - Laurence Gough, "Hot Shots"
*1991 - L.R. Wright, "A Chill Rain in January"
*1992 - Peter Robinson, "Past Reason Hated"
*1993 - Carsten Stroud, "Lizardskin"
*1994 - John Lawrence Reynolds, "Gypsy Sins"
*1995 - Gail Bowen, "A Colder Kind of Death"
*1996 - L.R. Wright, "Mother Love"
*1997 - Peter Robinson, "Innocent Graves"
*1998 - William Deverell, "Trial of Passion"
*1999 - Nora Kelly, "Old Wounds"
*2000 - Rosemary Aubert, "The Feast of Stephen"
*2001 - Peter Robinson, "Cold is the Grave"
*2002 - Michelle Spring, "In the Midnight Hour"
*2003 - Rick Mofina, "Blood of Others"
*2004 - Giles Blunt, "The Delicate Storm"
*2005 - Barbara Fradkin, "Fifth Son"
*2006 - William Deverell, "April Fool"
*2007 - Barbara Fradkin, "Honour Among Men"
*2008 - Jon Redfern, "Trumpets Sound No More"

Best Short Story

*1988 - Eric Wright, "Looking for an Honest Man"
*1989 - Jas. R. Petrin, "Killer in the House"
*1990 - Josef Skvorecky, "Humbug"
*1991 - Peter Robinson, "Innocence"
*1992 - Eric Wright, "Two in the Bush"
*1993 - Nancy Kilpatrick, "Mantrap"
*1994 - Robert J. Sawyer, "Just Like Old Times"
*1995 - Rosemary Aubert, "The Midnight Boat Toronto Palermo"
*1996 - Mary Jane Maffini, "Cotton Armour"
*1997 - Richard K. Bercuson, "Dead Run"
*1998 - Sue Pike, "Widow's Weeds"
*1999 - Scott Mackay, "Last Inning"
*2000 - Matt Hughes, "One More Kill"
*2001 - Peter Robinson, "Murder in Utopia"
*2002 - Mary Jane Maffini, "Sign of the Times"
*2003 - James Powell, "Bottom Walker"
*2004 - Gregory Ward, "Dead Wood"
*2005 - Leslie Watts, "Crocodile Tears"
*2006 - Rick Mofina, "Lightning Rider"
*2007 - Dennis Richard Murphy, "Fuzzy Wuzzy"
*2008 - Leslie Watts, "Turners"

Best First Novel

*1987 - Medora Sale, "Murder on the Run"
*1988 - Laurence Gough, "The Goldfish Bowl"
*1989 - John Brady, "A Stone of the Heart"
*1990 - John Lawrence Reynolds, "The Man Who Murdered God"
*1991 - Carsten Stroud, "Sniper's Moon"
*1992 - Paul Grescoe, "Flesh Wound"
*1993 - Sean Stewart, "Passion Play"
*1994 - Gavin Scott, "Memory Trace"
*1995 - Sparkle Hayter, "What's A Girl Gotta Do?"
*1996 - (tie) John Spencer Hill, "The Last Castrato" and D.H. Toole, "Moonlit Days and Nights"
*1997 - C. C. Benison, "Death At Buckingham Palace"
*1998 - Kathy Reichs, "Déja Dead"
*1999 - Liz Brady, "Sudden Blow"
*2000 - Andrew Pyper, "Lost Girls"
*2001 - Mark Zuehlke, "Hands Like Clouds"
*2002 - Jon Redfern, "The Boy Must Die"
*2003 - James W. Nichol, "Midnight Cab"
*2004 - Jan Rehner, "Just Murder"
*2005 - Jon Evans, "Dark Places"
*2006 - Louise Penny, "Still Life"
*2007 - Anne Emery, "Sign of the Cross"
*2008 - Liam Durcan, "Garcia's Heart"

Best True Crime Book

*1985 - Martin Friedland, "The Trials of Israel Lipsky"
*1986 - Maggie Siggins, "A Canadian Tragedy"
*1987 - Elliott Leyton, "Hunting Humans"
*1988 - Gary Ross, "Stung: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Moloney"
*1989 - Mick Lowe, "Conspiracy of Brothers"
*1990 - Lisa Priest, "Conspiracy of Silence"
*1991 - Susan Mayse, "Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin"
*1992 - William Lowther, "Arms and the Man: Dr. Gerald Bull, Iraq and the Supergun"
*1993 - Kirk Makin, "Redrum the Innocent"
*1994 - David R. Williams, "With Malice Aforethought"
*1995 - Michael Harris, "The Prodigal Husband"
*1996 - Lois Simmie, "The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson"
*1997 - Jean Monet, "The Cassock And The Crown"
*1998 - Patricia Pearson, "When She Was Bad: Violent Women and The Myth of Innocence"
*1999 - Derek Finkle, "No Claim to Mercy"
*2000 - Gordon Sinclair, Jr., "Cowboys and Indians"
*2001 - A.B. McKillop, "The Spinster and the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells and the Mystery of the Purloined Past"
*2002 - Stevie Cameron and Harvey Cashore, "The Last Amigo"
*2003 - Andrew Mitrovica, "Covert Entry"
*2004 - Julian Sher and William Marsden, "The Road to Hell"
*2005 - Matthew Hart, "The Irish Game"
*2006 - Rebecca Godfrey, "Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk"
*2007 - Brian O'Dea, "High: Confessions of a Pot Smuggler"
*2008 - Julian Sher, "One Child at a Time: The Global Fight to Rescue Children from Online Predators"

Best Juvenile Crime Book

*1994 - John Dowd, "Abalone Summer"
*1995 - James Heneghan, "Torn Away"
*1996 - Norah McClintock, "Mistaken Identity"
*1997 - Linda Bailey, "How Can a Frozen Detective Stay Hot on the Trail?"
*1998 - Norah McClintock, "The Body in the Basement"
*1999 - Norah McClintock, "Sins of the Father"
*2000 - Linda Bailey, "How Can a Brilliant Detective Shine in the Dark?"
*2001 - Tim Wynne-Jones, "The Boy in the Burning House"
*2002 - Norah McClintock, "Scared to Death"
*2003 - Norah McClintock, "Break and Enter"
*2004 - Graham McNamee, "Acceleration"
*2005 - Carrie Mac, "The Beckoners"
*2006 - Vicki Grant, "Quid Pro Quo"
*2007 - Sean Cullen, "Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates"
*2008 - Shane Peacock, "Eye of the Crow"

Best French Crime Writing

*2000 - Lionel Noel, _fr. "Louna"
*2001 - Norbert Spehner, _fr. "Le roman policier en Amérique française"
*2002 - Anne-Michèle Lévesque, _fr. "Fleur invitait au troisième"
*2003 - Jacques Côté, _fr. "Le rouge ideal"
*2004 - Jean Lemieux, _fr. "On finit toujours par payer"
*2005 - Ann Lamontagne, _fr. "Les douze pierres"
*2006 - Gérard Galarneau, _fr. "Motel Riviera"
*2007 - Because of the low number of submissions to this category, unfortunately, there was no French award for 2007.
*2008 - Mario Bolduc, _fr. "Tsiganes"

Derrick Murdoch Award

This is a special achievement award for contributions to the genre of crime and mystery writing, awarded at the discretion of the president of the Crime Writers of Canada. When first presented in 1984, it was known as the Chairman's Award; it was later renamed in honour of its first recipient, Derrick Murdoch.

*1984 - Derrick Murdoch
*1985 - Tony Aspler
*1986 - Margaret Millar
*1987 - The CBC Drama Department
*1988 - J.D. Singh and Jim Reicker
*1990 - Eric Wilson
*1992 - William Bankier, James Powell and Peter Sellers
*1995 - Jim and Margaret McBride
*1998 - Howard Engel and Eric Wright
*1999 - Ted Wood
*2000 - Eddie Barber, Rick Blechta, John North and David Skene-Melvin
*2001 - L.R. Wright
*2002 - James Dubro and Caro Soles
*2003 - Margaret Cannon
*2004 - Cheryl Freedman
*2005 - Max Haines
*2005 - Mary Jane Maffini

Best Genre Criticism/Reference

The award for Best Genre Criticism or Reference has only been presented twice.

*1991 - Donald A. Redmond, "Sherlock Holmes Among the Pirates"
*1992 - Wesley A. Wark, "Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence"

Best Play

The award for Best Play has only been presented once.

*1994 - Timothy Findley, "The Stillborn Lover"

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel: the Unhanged Arthur

*2007 - Phyllis Smallman, "Margarita Nights"
*2008 - D.J. McIntosh, "The Witch of Babylon"

External links

* [http://crimewriterscanada.com/cwc/index.html Crime Writers of Canada]