Dear Readers,
As Canada cheers for our soccer team, we also have exciting news for you: another award for Therese’s coauthoring of The Many Names of Robert Cree, a new psychological suspense thriller from Lisa, Rosemary’s short story in a new British anthology coming out in September, the resurrection of the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award, and Our Power of 13 anthology now has a cover!
THE POWER OF 13
Announcing our cover reveal of The Power of 13 (ta-dah!), our seventh anthology celebrating our 13th anniversary!!
The Power of 13 celebrates the Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem’s 13th anniversary; we were founded in 2013. Our anthology features 20+ crime stories by leading Canadian crime writers ranging from comedy to noir, from traditional to historical to the supernatural.
Publication date is Fall 2026, in good time for Bouchercon.
CONGRATULATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
Congratulations to Mme Therese Greenwood and Chief Robert Cree! The Many Names of Robert Cree has received a Silver Medal from the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards, marking the memoir’s third win and fifth nomination since publication.
This Silver Medal in the Canada-West category follows a remarkable awards season for the book. Elder Cree was the first Indigenous author recognized in the Memoir-Biography category when the book received a Bronze Medal from the 2026 Axiom Business Book Awards. In early June, it received the Alberta Literary Award for best memoir, presented by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
The book is also nominated for a High Plains Book Award, with the winner to be announced in October 2026, and was a Finalist for the 2026 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada for best nonfiction.
Published by Toronto’s ECW Press, The Many Names of Robert Cree is a first-person account of survival in a brutally racist residential school system designed to erase Indigenous culture, language, and knowledge, and of a life rebuilt through the wisdom of his ancestors and a commitment to reconciliation. Now a respected Elder and spiritual leader, Cree champions forgiveness as a force that brings healing and transformation for all.
The book is available in bookstores and on all major platforms in print, eBook, and audiobook narrated by celebrated Indigenous actor Lorne Cardinal.
Congratulations to Mme Lisa de Nikolits. Her latest thriller, That Time I Killed You, was just released by Level Best Books and is available on Kindle on Amazon. Paperback coming soon.
That Time I Killed You eBook : de Nikolits, Lisa: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
Lisa also has a poem in a tribute book to Luciana, Inanna Publications late senior editor.
Congratulations to Mme Rosemary McCracken whose story, “The Millenium Project”, is part of the anthology, Canadian Chronicles, published by Murderous Ink Press in the UK. The book will be released on October 8th this year, also in good time for Bouchercon.
BONY BLITHE LIGHT MYSTERY AWARD
After six years of being asleep in the closet, the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award “for books that make us smile” is back, thanks to our wonderful sponsors: the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and author Jan Field. The award is the jolly plaque (shown below) plus $1000. The 2027 award will be presented once again next year at the 2027 Bony Blithe Mini-con on Friday, May 14 (mark your calendars).
The award is for books that are fun to read. No angst, no gravitas, no brutality or horribleness. It’s for traditional mysteries, cozies, capers, satires, heists, humorous books (from gentle humour to laugh-out-loud fun), books that don’t hammer us with A Message. In other words, books that entertain us, that make us feel good, that make us smile.
You can find the full rules posted on the Bony Blithe website www.bonyblithe.ca and elsewhere, but in a nutshell, you are eligible to submit to the award if:
· Your book was published for the first time between January 1 and December 31, 2027. The book can be published in any format: print, e-book, or audio book.
· Your book is in English.
· Your book is a minimum of 60,000 words.
· You are a Canadian citizen (you don’t have to be living in Canada) or a permanent resident of Canada. Your publisher does not have to be Canadian.
Either you or your publisher can submit your book. Right now, we are rebuilding our sadly out-of-date list of publishers we can contact to submit books to the award. If you are published by a publisher who submits books to award contests, please send the name of the publisher plus contact info for whoever is responsible for submitting books to us at award@bonyblithe.ca.
For more info, write to us at info@bonyblithe.ca.
Mesdames of Mayhem 