2017 Arthur Ellis Award, Best First Novel — Winner
A dark and suspenseful noir thriller, set in the Yukon.

As winter closes in and the roads snow over in Dawson City, Yukon, newly arrived journalist Jo Silver investigates the dubious suicide of a local politician and quickly discovers that not everything in the sleepy tourist town is what it seems. Before long, law enforcement begins treating the death as a possible murder and Jo is the prime suspect.

Strange Things Done is a top-notch thriller — a tense and stylish crime novel that explores the double themes of trust and betrayal.

2017 Women in Film “From Our Dark Side" Contest — Winner • 2015 Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel — Winner • 2014 Telegraph/Harvill Secker Crime Competition — Shortlisted • 2014 Southwest Writers Annual Novel Writing Contest — Silver Winner • 2014 Criminal Lines Crime-Writing Competition — Shortlisted • 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award — Longlisted

Elle Wild grew up in a dark, rambling farmhouse in the wilds of Canada where there was nothing to do but read Edgar Allan Poe and watch PBS mysteries. She is an award-winning short filmmaker and the former writer/host of the radio program Wide Awake on CBC Radio One. Her short fiction has been published in Ellery Queen Magazine. Strange Things Done, Wild’s first novel, won the Arthur Ellis Award 2015 for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel and was shortlisted internationally. Wild lives on an island in the Salish Sea.

Elle Wild's profile page

• Winner, Arthur Ellis Award, Best First Novel
• Winner, Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel
• Long-listed, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
• Short-listed, The Telegraph Harvill Secker Crime Competition
• Winner, SouthWest Writers Annual Novel Writing Contest
• Short-listed, Criminal Lines Crime-Writing Prize

The title is perfect, the characters fully developed, the plot well-paced and gripping, but this is above all a novel about setting. And what a setting it is. Dawson City, Yukon, as the tourists flee and the long, dark, lonely winter settles in. The airport and roads close, the winds blow, and the snow piles up, trapping those who remain in town, including a journalist haunted by a tragic mistake and so determined not to make it again that events begin repeating themselves. This is the Dawson City of relentless gamblers, heavy drinkers, tattooed bar girls, ruthless miners, and people who’ve reached the end of the road and find there is nowhere left to go. The perfect setting for a novel about conflicted people and dark ambition.

Vicki Delany, author of the Constable Molly Smith series

[A] highly readable, slick and professionally executed thriller.

Vancouver Sun

The Girl on the Train meets Robert Service.

Toronto Star

A remote Canadian community hunkering down for a grim, lonely winter is the perfect setting for this atmospheric crime novel.

Library Journal

Elle Wild’s Strange Things Done is a boisterous tale of small town eccentrics, dark secrets, and strange things done in the bush, all delivered in crisp, expert prose. Wild’s suspenseful tale of murder and mayhem in the Yukon delivers on its promise of noir thrills and chills.

Gail Anderson-Dargatz, author of The Cure for Death by Lightning and A Recipe for Bees

What a wonderful dark, quirky, and complex debut novel this is. Canada’s north was never more sinister. Jo Silver is a character who needs more than one book.

Ian Hamilton, author of the internationally bestselling Ava Lee series

[A]n entertaining story that captures much of the surrealism of the North and the colorful characters drawn to it.

Publishers Weekly

It's easy to see why this is an award winner. It's a well-spun thriller, set in a closed community, with the cold, snowy weather bringing in an extra element of menace.

Reviewingtheevidence.com

Strange Things Done

by cherylch

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
by the men who moil for gold…"

Many (many) years ago, my evil elder cousin tried to frighten the wits out of me with a midnight rendition of The Cremation of Sam McGee, the Robert Service poem that begins with those memorable lines. I was suitably terrified…and I loved every minute of it. Life and death in the Yukon captured my imagination then, as it does now. So it's no surprise that I could hardly wait to get my hands on Strange Things Done, the debut novel by Canadian author, Elle Wild.

Winter in Dawson City, Yukon: the river freezes, the airport shuts down, roads close, and for the intrepid few year-round residents, survival means outsmarting the bitter, killing cold. Journalist Josephine (Jo) Silver hopes to leave her troubled past behind when she signs on as the new editor of the Dawson Daily. Instead, she uncovers a possible murder and soon finds herself the prime suspect. In a town where things (and people) are seldom what they seem, Jo must question everything and learn to trust her instincts if she hopes to uncover the truth.

Elle Wild's love of the north shines as she brings Dawson City vividly to life, peopling the iconic town with memorable, well-developed characters. Jo Silver may not be instantly likeable, but she really grew on me as she struggled to reconcile her past while making a place for herself in Dawson. I was fascinated by Sally, the bad-girl roommate, who does whatever it takes to get by. RCMP Officer Johnny Caribou is quietly believable as a cop, but even better were the glimpses of his off-duty persona and his own difficult past. Ms. Wild delivers a satisfyingly dark and suspenseful mystery with enough chills to rival the Yukon winter. I was glad to see plenty of scope for continuing the story – here's hoping a Jo Silver series is in the works.

Strange Things Done rates a solid 5 stars and joins my favourites of 2016 on the keeper shelf.