# Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel

The Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel is an annual literary award, presented as part of the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence program to honour books judged as the best crime novel published by a Canadian crime writer in the previous year.

## 1980s

| Year | Writer | Novel |
| 1984 |
| 1984 | Eric Wright | The Night the Gods Smiled |
| 1984 | William Deverell | Mecca |
| 1984 | Ted Wood | Dead in the Water |
| 1985 |
| 1985 | Howard Engel | Murder Sees the Light |
| 1985 | William Deverell | The Dance of Shiva |
| 1985 | Douglas Glover | Precious |
| 1985 | John Reeves | Murder Before Matins |
| 1985 | Eric Wright | Smoke Detector |
| 1986 |
| 1986 | Eric Wright | Death in the Old Country |
| 1986 | Maurice Gagnon | The Inner Ring |
| 1986 | Anthony Hyde | The Red Fox |
| 1986 | John Reeves | Murder with Muskets |
| 1986 | L. R. Wright | The Suspect |
| 1987 |
| 1987 | Edward O. Phillips | Buried on Sunday |
| 1987 | Timothy Findley | The Telling of Lies |
| 1987 | Alexander Law | To an Easy Grave |
| 1987 | Ted Wood | Fool's Gold |
| 1987 | Eric Wright | A Single Death |
| 1988 |
| 1988 | Carol Shields | Swann |
| 1988 | Joseph Louis | Madelaine |
| 1988 | Anna Porter | Mortal Sins |
| 1988 | Eric Wright | A Body Surrounded by Water |
| 1989 |
| 1989 | Chris Scott | Jack |
| 1989 | William Deverell | Platinum Blues |
| 1989 | Laurence Gough | Death on a #8 Hook (Silent Knives) |
| 1989 | Peter Robinson | A Dedicated Man |

## 1990s

| Year | Writer | Novel |
| 1990 |
| 1990 | Laurence Gough | Hot Shots |
| 1990 | Jack Batten | Straight No Chaser |
| 1990 | John Brady | Unholy Ground |
| 1990 | William Deverell | Mindfield |
| 1990 | Peter Robinson | The Hanging Valley |
| 1991 |
| 1991 | L. R. Wright | A Chill Rain in January |
| 1991 | John Brady | Kaddish in Dublin |
| 1991 | Laurence Gough | Serious Crimes |
| 1991 | Brian Moore | Lies of Silence |
| 1991 | John Lawrence Reynolds | And Leave Her Lay Dying |
| 1991 | Peter Robinson | Caedmon's Song |
| 1992 |
| 1992 | Peter Robinson | Past Reason Hated |
| 1992 | Laurence Gough | Accidental Deaths |
| 1992 | L. R. Wright | Fall from Grace |
| 1993 |
| 1993 | Carsten Stroud | Lizardskin |
| 1993 | Gail Bowen | The Wandering Soul Murders |
| 1993 | Laurence Gough | Fall Down Easy |
| 1993 | Peter Robinson | Wednesday's Child |
| 1993 | Medora Sale | Pursued by Shadows |
| 1994 |
| 1994 | John Lawrence Reynolds | Gypsy Sins |
| 1994 | John Brady | All Souls |
| 1994 | Howard Engel | There Was an Old Woman |
| 1994 | William Gibson | Virtual Light |
| 1994 | Gregory Ward | Water Damage |
| 1994 | L. R. Wright | Prized Possessions |
| 1995 |
| 1995 | Gail Bowen | A Colder Kind of Death |
| 1995 | Peter Abrahams | Lights Out |
| 1995 | John Brady | The Good Life |
| 1995 | John Lawrence Reynolds | Solitary Dancer |
| 1995 | L. R. Wright | A Touch of Panic |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | L. R. Wright | Mother Love |
| 1996 | William Deverell | Street Legal |
| 1996 | Alison Gordon | Striking Out |
| 1996 | Laurence Gough | Heartbreaker |
| 1996 | Peter Robinson | No Cure for Love |
| 1997 |
| 1997 | Peter Robinson | Innocent Graves |
| 1997 | Margaret Atwood | Alias Grace |
| 1997 | Martin S. Cohen | Light from Dead Stars |
| 1997 | Sparkle Hayter | Nice Girls Finish Last |
| 1997 | Frank Smith | Fatal Flaw |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | William Deverell | Trial of Passion |
| 1998 | Rosemary Aubert | Free Reign |
| 1998 | C. C. Benison | Death at Sandringham House |
| 1998 | John Spencer Hill | Ghirlandaio's Daughter |
| 1998 | Peter Robinson | Dead Right (Blood at the Root) |
| 1998 | Robert J. Sawyer | Illegal Alien |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Nora Kelly | Old Wounds |
| 1999 | Gail Bowen | Verdict in Blood |
| 1999 | Scott Mackay | Cold Comfort |
| 1999 | Caroline Roe | Remedy for Treason |
| 1999 | Jean Ruryk | Next Week Will Be Better |
| 1999 | Michelle Spring | Standing in the Shadows |

## 2000s

| Year | Writer | Novel |
| 2000 |
| 2000 | Rosemary Aubert | The Feast of Stephen |
| 2000 | Lisa Appignanesi | The Dead of Winter |
| 2000 | William Deverell | Slander |
| 2000 | John Farrow | City of Ice |
| 2000 | Peter Robinson | In a Dry Season |
| 2001 |
| 2001 | Peter Robinson | Cold Is the Grave |
| 2001 | Giles Blunt | Forty Words for Sorrow |
| 2001 | Brad Smith | One Eyed Jacks |
| 2001 | Eric Wright | The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn |
| 2001 | L. R. Wright | Kidnap |
| 2002 |
| 2002 | Michelle Spring | In the Midnight Hour |
| 2002 | William Deverell | The Laughing Falcon |
| 2002 | John Farrow | Ice Lake |
| 2002 | Rick Mofina | Cold Fear |
| 2002 | Peter Robinson | Aftermath |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Rick Mofina | Blood of Others |
| 2003 | Lou Allin | Blackflies Are Murder |
| 2003 | Barbara Fradkin | Once Upon a Time |
| 2003 | Nora Kelly | Hot Pursuit |
| 2003 | Kathy Reichs | Grave Secrets |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | Giles Blunt | The Delicate Storm |
| 2004 | Mary Jane Maffini | Lament for a Lounge Lizard |
| 2004 | Kim Moritsugu | The Glenwood Treasure |
| 2004 | David Rotenberg | The Hua Shan Hospital Murders |
| 2004 | Peter Robinson | The Summer That Never Was (Close to Home) |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Barbara Fradkin | Fifth Son |
| 2005 | Gail Bowen | The Last Good Day |
| 2005 | Lyn Hamilton | The Magyar Venus |
| 2005 | Peter Robinson | Playing with Fire |
| 2005 | Mark Zuehlke | Sweep Lotus |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | William Deverell | April Fool |
| 2006 | Rick Blechta | Cemetery of the Nameless |
| 2006 | Giles Blunt | Black Fly Season |
| 2006 | Alex Brett | Cold Dark Matter |
| 2006 | Peter Robinson | Strange Affair |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Barbara Fradkin | Honour Among Men |
| 2007 | Linwood Barclay | Lone Wolf |
| 2007 | Emma Cole | Every Secret Thing |
| 2007 | Kathy Reichs | Break No Bones |
| 2007 | Peter Robinson | Piece of My Heart |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Jon Redfern | Trumpets Sound No More |
| 2008 | Linwood Barclay | No Time for Goodbye |
| 2008 | Terry Carroll | Snow Candy |
| 2008 | Maureen Jennings | A Journeyman to Grief |
| 2008 | Louise Penny | The Cruelest Month |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | Linwood Barclay | Too Close to Home |
| 2009 | Maureen Jennings | The K Handshape |
| 2009 | James W. Nichol | Transgression |
| 2009 | Louise Penny | The Murder Stone |
| 2009 | Michael E. Rose | The Tsunami File |

## 2010s

| Year | Writer | Novel |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | Howard Shrier | High Chicago |
| 2010 | Anthony Bidulka | Aloha, Candy Hearts |
| 2010 | R. J. Harlick | Arctic Blue Death |
| 2010 | Lee Lamothe | Finger's Twist |
| 2010 | James W. Nichol | Death Spiral |
| 2011 |
| 2011 | Louise Penny | Bury Your Dead |
| 2011 | C. B. Forrest | Slow Recoil |
| 2011 | Mike Knowles | In Plain Sight |
| 2011 | Jeffrey Moore | The Extinction Club |
| 2011 | Michael Van Rooy | A Criminal to Remember |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Peter Robinson | Before the Poison |
| 2012 | Alan Bradley | I Am Half-Sick of Shadows |
| 2012 | William Deverell | I'll See You in My Dreams |
| 2012 | Louise Penny | A Trick of the Light |
| 2012 | Robert Rotenberg | The Guilty Plea |
| 2013 |
| 2013 | Giles Blunt | Until the Night |
| 2013 | Linwood Barclay | Trust Your Eyes |
| 2013 | Sean Chercover | The Trinity Game |
| 2013 | Stephen Miller | The Messenger |
| 2013 | Carsten Stroud | Niceville |
| 2014 |
| 2014 | Seán Haldane | The Devil's Making |
| 2014 | John Brooke | Walls of a Mind |
| 2014 | Lee Lamothe | Presto Variations |
| 2014 | Howard Shrier | Miss Montreal |
| 2014 | Simone St. James | An Inquiry into Love and Death |
| 2015 |
| 2015 | C. C. Humphreys | Plague: Murder Has a New Friend |
| 2015 | Brenda Chapman | Cold Mourning |
| 2015 | Barbara Fradkin | None So Blind |
| 2015 | Maureen Jennings | No Known Grave |
| 2015 | Alen Mattich | Killing Pilgrim |
| 2016 |
| 2016 | Peter Kirby | Open Season |
| 2016 | Peggy Blair | Hungry Ghosts |
| 2016 | John Farrow | The Storm Murders |
| 2016 | Andrew Hunt | A Killing in Zion |
| 2016 | Inger Ash Wolfe | The Night Bell |
| 2017 |
| 2017 | Donna Morrissey | The Fortunate Brother |
| 2017 | Kelley Armstrong | City of the Lost |
| 2017 | Michael Helm | After James |
| 2017 | Maureen Jennings | Dead Ground in Between |
| 2017 | Janet Kellough | Wishful Seeing |
| 2018 |
| 2018 | Peter Robinson | Sleeping in the Ground |
| 2018 | Gail Bowen | The Winners' Circle |
| 2018 | John MacLachlan Gray | The White Angel |
| 2018 | Robyn Harding | The Party |
| 2018 | Rio Youers | The Forgotten Girl |
| 2019 |
| 2019 | Anne Emery | Though the Heavens Fall |
| 2019 | Ron Corbett | Cape Diamond |
| 2019 | Lisa Gabriele | The Winters |
| 2019 | Louise Penny | Kingdom of the Blind |
| 2019 | Loreth Anne White | The Girl in the Moss |

## 2020s

| Year | Writer | Novel |
| 2020 |
| 2020 | Michael Christie | Greenwood |
| 2020 | Ian Hamilton | Fate |
| 2020 | Nicole Lundrigan | Hideaway |
| 2020 | Melissa Stapley | The Last Resort |
| 2020 | Loreth Anne White | In the Dark |
| 2021 |
| 2021 | Will Ferguson | The Finder |
| 2021 | Marjorie Celona | How a Woman Becomes a Lake |
| 2021 | Cecilia Ekbäck | The Historians |
| 2021 | Thomas King | Obsidian |
| 2021 | Roz Nay | Hurry Home |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Dietrich Kalteis | Under an Outlaw Moon |
| 2022 | Linwood Barclay | Find You First |
| 2022 | Daniel Kalla | Lost Immunity |
| 2022 | Shari Lapena | Not a Happy Family |
| 2022 | Roz Nay | The Hunted |
| 2023 |
| 2023 | Anthony Bidulka | Going to Beautiful |
| 2023 | Linwood Barclay | Take Your Breath Away |
| 2023 | Nicole Lundrigan | An Unthinkable Thing |
| 2023 | Catherine McKenzie | Please Join Us |
| 2023 | Shelly Sanders | Daughters of the Occupation |
| 2024 |
| 2024 | Loreth Anne White | The Maid's Diary |
| 2024 | Robyn Harding | The Drowning Woman |
| 2024 | Shari Lapena | Everyone Here Is Lying |
| 2024 | Scott Thornley | Middlemen |
| 2024 | Sam Wiebe | Sunset and Jericho |