The awards celebrate Alberta’s best books of the year across 14 categories
Canadian writers Darcy Tamayose and Anthony Bidulka are among the finalists for the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.
The prize, administered by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, annually celebrates the province’s best books of the year across 14 categories.
Going to Beautiful is a finalist for mystery & thriller book of the year.
When thriving celebrity chef Jake Hardy has a horrible accident, his life is upended as he moves to a small snowy town in the Prairies. Going to Beautiful follows Hardy during his recovery in a scenic new environment as he befriends his 78 year old transgender neighbour. When Hardy begins to believe what happened to him might not have been an accident at all, he and his neighbour discover murder cases from decades ago.
Bidulka is a crime and mystery writer from Saskatoon. He is also the author of the Adam Saint books, the Russell Quant Mysteries and Flight of Aquavit which was the first Canadian book to win the Lambda Literary Award in the men’s mystery category. Going to Beautiful also won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Canada West Best Fiction.
Anthony Bidulka spoke with host Garth Materie about his latest novel ‘Going to Beautiful,’ which won the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada award for Best Crime Novel.
Mystery & Thriller Book of the Year:
- Going to Beautiful by Anthony Bidulka
- There Are Wolves Here Too by Niall Howell
- To Those Who Killed Me by J.T. Siemens
- Why Are You Still Here? by Lynda Partridge and Dave Nicholson
The winners of the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards — including the pecial Achievement in Publishing Award, the Lois Hole Award for editorial excellence and the Lifetime Achievement in Publishing Award categories — will be announced at a reception in Edmonton to be held on Sept. 21, 2023.
Previous winners include Canadian writers such as Dionne Brand, Dawn Dumont, Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and Wayne Arthurson.
See the complete list of nominees at CBC Books