William Deverell

The Derrick Murdoch is a special achievement award for contributions to the crime genre. It is awarded at the discretion of the Board Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. Known as the Chairman’s Award when first presented in 1984, it was later renamed in honour of its first recipient, Derrick Murdoch.

Murdoch, “the driving force behind the creation of Crime Writers of Canada,” reviewed crime literature for The Globe and Mail for over twenty years—a career he took up in 1963, according to a 1983 interview in the Ottawa Citizen, after failing spectacularly in door-to-door sales and real estate. In addition to his column, he published two books of crime nonfiction. His biography of Agatha Christie, The Agatha Christie Mystery (1976), was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award. Disappearances: True Accounts of Canadians Who Have Vanished (1983) appeared when he was 74. Murdoch served as first president of the Sherlock Holmes Society of Toronto, which also offers an award named in his honour. Born in England in 1909, he immigrated to Canada in 1950 and died in 1985.

Deverell’s bibliography includes nineteen novels, many drawing from his extensive legal experience. Notable works include Trial of Passion, which earned the Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing in 1997 and Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Canadian Crime Novel in 1998. Trial of Passion introduced readers to Arthur Beauchamp, QC, a character who became central to a series that includes titles such as April Fool (2003 Arthur Ellis award winner) and Kill All the Judges. He is the author of A Life on Trial – The Case of Robert Frisbee, based on a notorious murder trial in which he was defense counsel.

Street Legal, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994, was the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television. The show was based on an original pilot, Shellgame, which Deverell authored.

Beyond his writing, he continues to be a pivotal figure in Canadian literature, inspiring readers and mentoring emerging Canadian writers within the crime and mystery genres.

Deverell is a founder and honorary director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. He served as chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada in 1994 and 1999 and is a life member of the Writers Guild of Canada, a Member Emeritous of Crime Writers of Canada and a member of PEN International.