Great (yet largely unknown) Canadian set mysteries

by Vicki Delany
|
7 books
Almost every crime reader can name one Canadian author who writes books set in Canada. You almost certainly know who I mean. But, even if they`re Canadian, if you ask them to name a second they will likely come up blank. And that`s a shame, because Canada`s a big country, with a vibrant history, great geography, and lots of good stories to tell. I will give you a few of my favourite authors, Canadians telling Canadian stories, set in Canada.
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Going to Beautiful

Anthony Bidulka, 2022
Called “A Love Letter to Saskatchewan”, this standalone novel won the Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada. Heartfelt, funny, sad, and ultimately life-affirming, a celebrity chef heads for the small, rural town where his murdered husband grew up in search of answers. And finds far more than just answers.

Wreck Bay

An Amanda Doucette Mystery
Barbara Fradkin, 2023
The Amanda Douchette mysteries follow a former international aid worker who returns to Canada after a traumatizing incident. To heal herself, she travels across the country. In this, the latest in the series, Amanda is on wild and rugged Vancouver Island. In each book, the sense of place is exceptionally well done.

Arctic Blue Death

A Meg Harris Mystery
R.J. Harlick, 2009
Even Canadians don’t set many books in Canada’s far north, and this one not only set there, but the character becomes involved in the world of Inuit art forgery in the Arctic town of Iqualit, Nunavit.

The Almost Wife

A Novel
Gail Anderson-Dargatz, 2021
At first glance, this book first appears to be a standard domestic suspense (nothing at all wrong with that); the suspense is executed brilliantly and accented as the protagonist struggles to survive in the remote wilderness of Ontario’s Manitoulin Island.

The Goddaughter

Melodie Campbell, 2012
A novella rather than a novel, this book is the laugh out loud adventures of a mob granddaughter trying to go straight in the (not very) mean streets of modern day Hamilton, Ontario. A short, very fun read.

In the Shadow of the Glacier

Vicki Delany, 2011
This is the first in my eight book Constable Molly Smith series. The vibrant, remote mountain town of Nelson, British Columbia, is perhaps my favourite place in all the world, and I wanted to set a book there. So I created the town of Trafalgar. A police series about Canadian police, doing their jobs and living their lives in a small Canadian town.

Lorraine and Winnie's Life of Crime

Janet Kellough, 2024
Absolutely hilarious and a portrait of small town Canadian life as it truly is. When Lorraine’s husband dies of COVID she’s faced with a lot of very bad choices. But when, she and her best friend Winnie find a hill full of cash, they have quite a dilemma of what to do with it. What would you do with tens of (no longer circulating) thousand dollar bills? Kellough lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where this book is set and it shows.