And on the surface die
by Lou Allin
A well-plotted classic mystery, with engaging characters in a new setting for Allin - the south coast of Vancouver Island. Her new investigator is RCMP Corporal Holly Martin.
Too close to home
by Linwood Barclay
Barclay’s forte is the snake in the suburban idyll. What if you woke up on morning and found your nearest neighbours had been murdered while you slept. What if your teenage son was the last person to see them alive. What if he knows something that could bring the killer to your house, to kill your family?
No such creature
by Giles Blunt
This clever and witty novel is not set in Canada, but Blunt’s gift for characterization, and this funny and touching story is a classic "road" novel and a coming-of-age story.
The Brutal heart
by Gail Bowen
Following national elections in Canada and the U.S. this is an excellent political murder mystery. Definitely one of Bowen’s best Joanne Kilbourn novels.
Victim impact
by Mel Bradshaw
A modern novel pitting an academic criminologist Boudreau against a murderous motorcycle gang.
The Going rate
by John Brady
Canadian John Brady’s Dublin Detective Matt Minogue stories are still fresh and exciting after 20 years. This book, full of fascinating characters gives wonderful insights into the new Ireland.
The Corpse will keep
by Pat Capponi
Toronto PI Dana Leoni is back in her second adventure in Toronto’s rugged Parkdale neighbourhood.
Snow candy
by Terry Carroll
A new setting for small town detective Carl North, St.Thomas, Ontario. What happens at a farm outside the city makes for a fine plot with some nice twists.
The Sealed letter
by Emma Donoghue
Based on the details of a scandalous divorce case that gripped England in 1864, The Sealed Letter is a provocative historical drama that is strongly relevant to modern issues surrounding woman, marriage, rights and roles.
Garcia’s heart
by Liam Durcan
Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 2008. A searing debut novel told with the dexterity of Graham Greene, the moral complexity of Ian McEwan, and the tension of a thriller.
East of Suez
by Howard Engel
A Benny Cooperman adventure, far from Grantham, a realistic story with the main character who has changed and is coping with that change.
Our Lady of Pain
by Elena Forbes
In this intelligent, beautifully constructed novel the victim is London art dealer Rachel Tenison. Forbes provides a terrific plot, great characters and plenty of atmosphere.
The K handshape
by Maureen Jennings
Jennings has put aside her Victorian detective Murdock and has written a second novel featuring Christine Morris, a Toronto forensic profiler. The politics of the deaf is a fascinating focus for a mystery novel, the title referring to the American Sign Language hand symbol for the word "kill"
Cold plague
by Daniel Kalla
If you have the slightest touch of hypochondria, forgo the works of this Vancouver emergency-room doctor. Scientists find themselves caught in a conspiracy that leads from the North to the South Pole.
Crime of fashion
by Jose Latour
We follow an assortment of diverse characters who will eventually converge. The most prominent are a pair of Miami fashion photographers on a mission to Toronto. This is a funny, smart and terrific take on Hogtown.
Six seconds
by Rick Mofina
From the streets of Baghdad to the Rocky Mountains of Canada to California, this is escape fiction with engaging characters
Transgression
by James W. Nichol
In 1946, a little girl finds a severed finger in a Canadian field. It points to a grisly crime that occurred nearby. It also points to the past, to the harrowing events in the life of a young French woman, Adele Georges, in war torn Rouen.
Tenderness of wolves
by Stef Penney
Set in a village north of Georgian Bay in 1867, Edinburgh resident Penney’s novel is a well constructed murder mystery, complete with an overland chase and a cast of brilliant characters.
The Murder stone
by Louise Penny
In this fourth Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, Penny has found her perfect formula with a carefully constructed puzzle plot in the perfect village with the classic cast of characters.
The Killing circle
by Andrew Pyper
While the novel’s narrator writers a perfectly shallow TV column, a serial killer is knocking off the neophyte writers of Ontario
Trumpets sound no more
by Jon Redfern
Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel in 2008.
In 1840 the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs. Without the techniques of the modern detective Inspector Endersby must root our the villain in six days, before Christmas Eve.
Devil bones
by Kathy Reichs
This novel is Reichs’ best, with solid characters and a tight plot about the spookiness of all North American religions, voodoo.
Until you are dead: Steven Truscott’s long ride into history
by Julian Sher
This book, published in 2001 has been revised and updated for this edition, providing a complete overview of the notorious case.
Buffalo Jump
by Howard Shrier
This debut novel leads PI Jonah Giller into the crime world of Toronto’s Golden Horseshoe, down to depressed Buffalo and back. The plot is tight and the characters engaging, and this one even has a believable and sympathetic bad guy.
Who named the knife: a book of murder and memory
by Linda Spalding
Spalding investigates the 1978 spree of armed robbery and murder by William Archer and his wife Maryann. Spalding,who was on the jury that convicted Maryann, reinvestigates her guilt and comes to terms with having decided Maryann’s fate.