Artie's Alberta Welcome Party

Calgary Crime Writers' annual barbecue featured a tribute to the Arthur Ellis Awards, and a group photo of all its members who have been shortlisted:

Best First Novel:  Axel Howerton, 2014 (centre)

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel::

• Dwayne Clayden, 2015 (back row)
• Alice Bienia 2016 (left)
• Jayne Barnard 2011, 2016* (right)

* Winner of 2016 Dundurn Unhanged Arthur for When the Flood Falls, a suspenseful tale of danger, dogs and an out-of-control hockey player, all caught up in the swirling currents of the Elbow River in full flood.

When the Flood Falls - Judges' Comments

And the 2016 Dundurn 

Unhanged Arthur

for 

Best Unpublished 

First Crime Novel:

Jayne Barnard for 

When the Flood Falls

Judges' Comments:

"When the Flood Falls impressed us with the author's polished writing. The protagonist, and ex-RCMP officer, is engaging and flawed. Lacey's police career and marriage are in tatters, and she's currently working as security detail at a new art museum. Until she finds somewhere else to live, she's staying with a friend, the president of the building committee of the museum. Suspense is created by the threat of a midnight prowler.

What made this entry stands out is that a woman with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome plays an integral role in solving the case. Formerly smart and successful, her cells no longer produce enough energy and she deals with debilitating fatigue, watching the world through her window. A new medication allows her brain to briefly function the way it used to before the illness, and she is able to help solve the mystery.

When the Flood Falls depicts the shadier side of a favourite Canadian sport, portraying the power hockey team owners and agents have over their players. The writing shows confidence and the pacing expertly keeps the story moving toward its conclusion."

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And the Winners of the 2016 Arthur Ellis Awards for Canadian Crime Fiction Are...

Crime Writers of Canada announced the 2016 Arthur Ellis Award winners. Congratulations to All

Best Novel: Peter Kirby, Open Season, Linda Leith Publishing

Best First Novel: Ausma Zehanat Khan, The Unquiet Dead, Minotaur

The Lou Allen Memorial Award for Best Novella: Jeremy Bates, Black Canyon, Dark Hearts, Ghillinnein Books

Best Short Story: Scott Mackay, The Avocado Kid, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Best Book in French: Luc Chartrand, L'Affaire Myosotis, Québec Amérique

Best Juvenile/YA: Stephanie Tromly, Trouble is a Friend of Mine, Kathy Dawson Books

Best Nonfiction: Dean Jobb, Empire of Deception, Harper Collins Publishers

The Dundurn Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel:

 Jayne Barnard, When the Flood Falls

(Yes, that's my novel manuscript! So exciting!)

CWC also announced the 2016 Grand Master Winner Eric Wright. Eric Wright wrote eighteen crime novels, in four different series, as well as novels, a novella, and a memoir. Eric’s first novel, The Night the Gods Smiled (1983), won the first Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the John Creasey Award from the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), and the City of Toronto Book Award. The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn (2000) won an Arthur and was nominated for an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America (MWA). His writing career spanned over forty years and his contribution to Canadian crime writing was, without question, immense. This was recognized in 1998 when Eric received the Derrick Murdoch Award for lifetime contribution to Canadian crime writing. Eric Wright passed away in October, 2015, shortly after being notified that he had been selected for the Grand Master Award. Eric continued writing until shortly before his death, and in May 2016, Cormorant Books released The Land Mine, a historical novel loosely based on Eric’s own childhood in World War II London.

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If you haven't heard of this delightful Steampunk sport for ladies yet, here's the Parasol Dueling Regional Championships report to get you up to speed:

2016 Prairie Spring Regionals

  Photo credit to Karlo Keet of Catstar Images

For even more information on Parasol Dueling rules, outfits and people around the world who are participating, see

Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Dueling League for Steampunk Ladies

Why did Golden Age Detective Writers situate their Murder Mysteries on Holidays and Modes of Transport?

An excellent essay discussing the why, when, and how of Golden Age Crime Writers using travel in mystery fiction:

Is it just to dazzle the reader with exoticism and provide a means of escapism? Or is there something more to it? After a lot of head scratching and pondering here are 8 possible reasons I have come up with…

Golden Age Crime Writers 

All those early Agatha Christie travels in Mesopotamia had a decided influence on my fascination with deserts and excavations, which led - by a decades'-long reading line of mysteries by other authors - to my starting Maddie's debut adventure in Egypt.

Have you a favourite Golden Age mystery, or travel mystery of any era?

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Short Fiction: Looks Just Like the Sun

 Now live on LitBreak, Looks Just Like the Sun was a semi-finalist for the Broken Social Scene/House of Anansi short fiction contest in 2013.

 “Hey, Dan. Borrow your twelve-gauge? Gotta go shoot up a house.”

Yeah. Like that would fly with a guy you haven’t seen in three years. Maybe put “Merry Christmas” first?” While he waited, Marcel shifted kindling from the porch’s woodpile into his backpack and crammed the day’s Northern Times in on top. He zipped up just as the door opened.

“Marcel. Thought you was in rehab.”

“They let me out for the holidays.”

He was supposed to be at Odelle’s in Hearst already, two dry weeks for the recovering drunken Indian. She’d be pissed when he didn’t show up, afraid he had veered into the first bar instead, but this side-trip was her Christmas present. She’d understand.

He followed Dan indoors, dropping his backpack and parka on a chair. He kicked the snow off his boots but kept them on, against the cold and the decades of dirt on the hallway floor.

“Borrow your twelve-gauge?”

“You going bush in this weather?”

“Nope. Gonna shoot up a house. You can have the shotgun back right after.”

Dan peered at him, unsure about the humour. “That’d make me an accessory. They’d throw both our asses in the can.”

“No place else to go until spring.” Marcel pulled a chair toward the gray-topped table, nudging aside a sleeping mutt with his boot.

Read the rest at LitBreak. Looks Just Like the Sun

Rooted in my teen years living in Kapuskasing, and written in part as tribute to friends who survived the foster care system, this story is a companion piece to "Trail of the Wolf" which won the NOWW short fiction contest in 2013.

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An Unhanged Arthur Finalist

For the second time, I've got a manuscript on the shortlist for the Unhanged Arthur. 

To learn more about the Arthur and the story, see When the Flood Falls

Here are the complete shortlists. Congratulations to all my friends listed in the various categories. 

Best Novel
Peggy Blair, Hungry Ghosts, Simon & Schuster
John Farrow, The Storm Murders, Minotaur
Andrew Hunt, A Killing in Zion, Minotaur
Peter Kirby, Open Season, Linda Leith Publishing
Inger Ash Wolfe, The Night Bell, McClelland & Stewart
Best First Novel
J. Mark Collins, Hard Drive, iUniverse
David Hood, What Kills Good Men, Vagrant Press
Ausma Zehanat Khan, The Unquiet Dead, Minotaur
Alexis Koetting, Encore, Five Star
Brian R. Lindsay, Old Bones, Volumes Publishing
Best Novella
Jeremy Bates, Black Canyon, Dark Hearts, Ghillinnein Books
Alison Bruce, Deadly Season, Imajin Books
M.H. Callway, Glow Glass, Carrick Publishing
Barbara Fradkin, The Night Thief, Orca Book Publishers
Brian Harvey, Beethoven’s Tenth, Orca Book Publishers
Best Short Story
Karen Abrahamson, With One Shoe, Playground of Lost Toys, Exile Editions
Hilary Davidson, The Seige, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Sharon Hunt, The Water Was Rising, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
Scott Mackay, The Avocado Kid, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
S. G. Wong, Movable Type, AB Negative Anthology, Coffin Hop Press
Best Book in French
Luc Chartrand, L'Affaire Myosotis, Québec Amérique
Jean-Louis Fleury, L'affaire Céline, Éditions Alire
André Jacques, La bataille de Pavie, Druide        
Jean Lemieux, Le mauvais côté des choses, Québec Amérique
Guillaume Morrissette, L'affaire Mélodie Cormier, Guy Saint-Jean éditeur
Best Juvenile/YA Book
Robert Hough, Diego’s Crossing, Annick Press
Jeff Ross, Set You Free, Orca
Kevin Sands, The Blackthorn Key, Aladdin
Allan Stratton, The Dogs, Scholastic
Stephanie Tromley, Trouble is a Friend of Mine, Kathy Dawson Books
Best Nonfiction Book
Gary Garrison, Human on the Inside: Unlocking the Truth about Canada’s Prisons, University of Regina Press
Dean Jobb, Empire of Deception, Harper Collins Publishers
Debra Komar, The Bastard of Fort Stikine: The Hudson’s Bay Company and the Murder of John McLoughlin Jr., Goose Lane Editions
Jerry Langton, Cold War, Harper Collins Publishers
Colleen Lewis and Jennifer Hicks, Mr. Big: The Investigation into the Deaths of Karen and Krista Hart, Flanker Press
The Dundurn Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel
Jayne Barnard, When the Flood Falls
Alice Bienia, Knight Blind
Pam Isfeld, Brave Girls
J.T. Siemens, Better the Devil You Know
J.G. Toews, Give Out Creek