Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) have announced the winners of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, the Awards launched in 1984 and recognize the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. Here are the honorees:

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize

Winner: Will Ferguson, The Finder, Simon & Schuster Canada

Also nominated:

• Marjorie Celona, How a Woman Becomes a Lake, Hamish Hamilton Canada; Penguin Canada
• Cecilia Ekbäck, The Historians, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
• Thomas King, Obsidian, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
• Roz Nay, Hurry Home, Simon & Schuster Canada

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize

Winner: Guglielmo D’Izza, The Transaction, Guernica Editions

Also nominated:

• Raye Anderson, And We Shall Have Snow, Signature Editions
• Chris Patrick Carolan, The Nightshade Cabal, Parliament House Press
• Russell Fralich, True Patriots, Dundurn Press
• Emily Hepditch, The Woman in the Attic, Flanker Press

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by The Engel Family with a $500 prize

Winner: Katrina Onstad, Stay Where I Can See You, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Also nominated:

• Randall Denley, Payback, Ottawa Press and Publishing
• Helen Humphreys, Rabbit Foot Bill, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
• Ann Lambert, The Dogs of Winter, Second Story Press
• Kevin Major, Two for The Tablelands, Breakwater Books

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize

Winner:  Sam Wiebe, Never Going Back, Orca Book Publishers

Also nominated:

• C.C. Benison, The Unpleasantness at the Battle of Thornford, At Bay Press
• Vicki Delany, Coral Reef Views, Orca Book Publishers
• Winona Kent, Salty Dog Blues, Sisters in Crime - Canada West

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

Winner:  Marcelle Dubé, Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime - Canada West

Also nominated:

• Twist Phelan, Used to Be, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
• Zandra Renwick, Killer Biznez, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
• Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Days Without Name, Carrick Publishing
• Sarah Weinman, Limited Liability, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Winner: Roxanne Bouchard, La mariée de corail, Libre Expression

Also nominated:

• Stéphanie Gauthier, Inacceptable, Éditions Québec Amérique
• Christian Giguère, Le printemps des traîtres, Héliotrope NOIR
• Guy Lalancette, Les cachettes, VLB éditeur
• Jean Lemieux, Les Demoiselles de Havre-Aubert, Éditions Québec Amérique

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

Winner: Frances Greenslade, Red Fox Road, Puffin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House

Also nominated:

• Janet Hill, Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House, Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
• Sheena Kamal, Fight Like a Girl, Penguin Teen, an imprint of Penguin Random House
• Kelly Powell, Magic Dark and Strange, Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Inc.
• Tom Ryan, I Hope You're Listening, Albert Whitman & Co.

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Winner: Justin Ling, Missing From the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System That Failed Toronto's Queer Community, McClelland & Stewart

Also nominated:

• Jeff Blackstock, Murder in the Family: How the Search For My Mother's Killer Led to My Father, Viking Press
• Norm Boucher, Horseplay: My Time Undercover on the Granville Strip, NeWest Press
• Silver Donald Cameron, Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes, Viking Press
• Michael Nest with Deanna Reder and Eric Bell, Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett, University of Regina Press

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize

Winner:  The Future by Raymond Bazowski

Also nominated:

• Predator and Prey by Dianne Scott
• Notes on Killing your Wife by Mark Thomas
• A Nice Place to Die by Joyce Woollcott
• Cat with a Bone by Susan Jane Wright