Crime Writers of Canada's Podcast

Marcelle Dubé's story, Chuck Berry is Missing, (published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July/Aug 2024 issue) is nominated for Best Crime Novella sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $200 prize. Marcelle Dubé writes mystery and speculative fiction novels and short stories. Mostly. She grew up near Montreal. After trying out a number of different provinces and living in the Yuk...

The Derrick Murdoch Award is a special achievement award presented at the discretion of the Board Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. It recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to developing crime writing in Canada. William’s bibliography includes twenty-one novels, many drawing from his extensive legal experience. Notable works include Trial of Passion, which earned the Dashi...

In this episode, we speak to Jonathan Whitelaw. His book, The Concert Hall Killer, (HarperNorth/HarperCollins Canada) has been shortlisted for The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery, sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize Jonathan Whitelaw is a writer, award-winning journalist and broadcaster.  After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism, covering everyt...

SCOTT THORNLEY grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, which inspired his fictional Dundurn. As president and creative director of Scott Thornley + Company , a strategic creative firm, Thornley worked with cultural and health science clients in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Over time, his love of graphic and typographic design grew to include writing the stories that would bring his client’s...

Kelly Young has a BA in English from the University of Waterloo and worked as a reporter for many years before becoming a swimming instructor. She has since retired. A member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime, she is the self-published writer of the Travel Writer Cozy Mystery series, the Travel Writer Day Trips Cozy Mystery series, the Haunted & Harassed Paranormal Mystery series...

Janice MacDonald is a Canadian author of mystery novels, textbooks, non-fiction titles, and stories for both children and adults. She is best known for writing seven novels featuring amateur sleuth Miranda “Randy” Craig. The Randy Craig Mysteries were the first detective series to be set in Edmonton, Alberta, where Janice lives and works. The last installment, The Eye of the Beholder , was publish...

Called the “Queen of Comedy" by the Toronto Sun, Melodie Campbell was also named the “Canadian literary heir to Donald Westlake” by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.  Winner of 10 awards, including the Derringer and the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence, she has multiple bestsellers and has been featured in USA Today.  She is the past executive director of Crime Writers of Canada. Her...

Joanna is an author, podcaster, and illustrator. her debut novel, The Unravelling, and her second novel in the  Dealer’s Child were both Canadian Book Club Awards finalists, and now Spy Girls, the third novel in the Jade and Sage thriller series,  has received Chick Lit Book Cafe's International Book of Excellence Award for best spy thriller and suspense. Joanna's novels have been publis...

Cheryl Freedman is a long-time freelance editor who edits anything she finds interesting, including crime fiction, academic papers, Jewish mysticism books and articles, memoirs, and more. She was the executive director of Crime Writers of Canada for 10 years as well as the sometime-chair of the Bloody Words Mystery Conference and its successor, the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award/Bony Blithe Mini-...

Robert Rotenberg is a crime author and criminal defense lawyer, recognized for his legal thrillers, many of which are set in Toronto. His debut novel, "Old City Hall," was published in 2009 and became an international bestseller. Since then, he has written seven additional novels in the Ari Green detective series. Additionally, Rotenberg is a screenwriter who has contributed to several e...

Laura is a communication specialist and journalist in the Annapolis Valley. She is currently teaching communication to first year kinesiology students at Acadia University, focusing on writing, research and presentation skills. Her first book, Two Crows Sorrow, won the 2020 bronze award for creative non-fiction from the Miramichi Reader. In this interview, we discuss her third book, Footprints in...

Amber Cowie is a BC mystery author best known for her captivating psychological thrillers. The talented author graduated from the University of Victoria and has been working as a freelance writer for Salon, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and Crime Reads. Her first novel, Rapid Falls, was a Whistler Book Awards nominee, hit number one overall on Amazon, and was a top-100 bestselling Kindle...

Angela Douglas is a Canadian author who lives in the Okanagan (British Columbia) with her husband and kids. She writes thrillers and creative nonfiction. When she isn’t working or hanging out with her family, she hides in her studio with her bulldog Frankie, writing her next book. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Crime Writers of Canada and was the VP of Communications of Sist...

Shane Peacock is an author published in twenty languages in eighteen countries. He has won the Junior Library Guild of America Selection seven times, the Arthur Ellis Award twice, and been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. His young adult novels include the Boy Sherlock Holmes series, the Dylan Maples Adventures, The Dark Missions of Edga...

For three decades, Katie has been an award-winning screenwriter and director, collaborating on projects in animation, television and motion pictures. After winning an international novel contest for women writers in 2013, Katie landed a publishing deal for her debut novel. The thriller Dark August is set in the Wellington West neighbourhood where she lives. The novel became an international bestse...

The Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem are a collective of established Canadian crime fiction authors and talented new writers of the genre. Visit their website, mesdamesofmayhem.com , to watch the CBC documentary about them.  Joining host Erik D'Souza are authors Donna Carrick, Madeleine Harris-Callaway, Jane Burfield, Blair Keetch, Rosemary McCracken, Lynne Murphy, Lorna Poplak, and Melisa Yi...

Shane Joaquin Jimenez is the author of the feminist neon-noir thriller novel Bondage.  His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Rain Taxi, The Greensboro Review, Denver Quarterly, Hunger Mountain, Bat City Review, and elsewhere. He went to the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University. Shane has lived all over, from Las Vegas to Brooklyn to Seoul to Portland, but now calls BC ho...

After 31 years in the Fire Service and attaining the rank of Deputy Fire Chief, David Wickenden retired to write thriller novels full time. He has published six thrillers and one YA Fantasy since 2018. He is a member of the International Thriller Association, International Screenwriter Association, the Writer’s Union of Canada, the Canadian Crime Writers, and the Sudbury Writer’s Guild. He has pub...

David W. Barber is a journalist and musician and the author of more than a dozen books of music (including Accidentals on Purpose; Bach, Beethoven and the Boys; When the Fat Lady Sings; and Getting a Handel on Messiah) and literature (including Quotable Sherlock, Quotable Alice and Atonement and other stories). Formerly a writer and entertainment editor of The Kingston Whig-Standard, editor of Bro...

Lorne Tepperman, a long-time resident of Toronto and distinguished figure in academia, ventures into the realm of fiction with his debut work. As a Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, Tepperman authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited 88 academic books, delving into topics ranging from social inequality to families to gambling addiction, deviance, and crime. Deadly Donation, T...

A.J. Devlin has a BFA in Screenwriting from Chapman University, a MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute Conservatory, and has worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood . COBRA CLUTCH (“Hammerhead” Book 1, published by NeWest Press ) was nominated for a 2019 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and won the 2019 Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best First Novel. The acclaimed sequel ROLLI...

Winona Kent was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School. Winona’s debut novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Award and was p...

Maureen Jennings is the author of the beloved Murdoch mystery books, which have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. The first books in the series were made into films for television. Soon after, Murdoch Mysteries began in 2008 and is still running today. In addition to the Murdoch mysteries, Maureen has also published two Christine Morris books and three Tom Tyle...

J. Ivanel Johnson is the pen name for an author living with (dis)Ability who now resides in the Appalachian range of Northwestern New Brunswick on a small farm overlooking inspirational views of nature. Like her grandmother before her (the 'Ivanel' of her pen name) she has written her entire life, first publishing two poems with Annick Press in Toronto when she was only 12. She has been...

J. Woollcott is a Canadian author born in Belfast, N. Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. She has won the RWA Daphne du Maurier Award for Mainstream Mystery and Suspense, has been long-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2019 and 2020 and short-listed in 2021. She was a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville in 2023 and agai...