The Rap Sheet

We now know which authors and books have won the 2026 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

I spent the better part of this week entertaining a friend who’d flown in from Minneapolis, so I wasn’t exactly on top of the crime-fiction news. That meant I missed alerting readers to the half-dozen nominees for the 2026 McDermid Debut Award. They are:

• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Penguin Random House)
• The Exes, by Leodora...

Today marks two decades—a full 20 years, folks!—since I began posting here in The Rap Sheet. If we consider this (generously) as a job, then it’s the longest one I’ve ever held down. It’s also the one that has brought me the smallest amount of remuneration. But of course I didn’t set out to become rich by blogging about crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. My intention w...