Howard Shrier

Howard Shrier is the author of six novels and one collection of short fiction. His debut novel BUFFALO JUMP, published by Random House Canada in 2008, won the Crime Writers of Canada’s award for best first novel. The sequel, HIGH CHICAGO (2009), won the CWC award for best novel. BOSTON CREAM received starred reviews in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and LIBRARY JOURNAL and a rare five-star review in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE, while MISS MONTREAL was shortlisted for another CWC best novel award. His 2025 novel THE AMERICAN ZONE, set during construction of the Panama Canal in 1906, has been called “a masterpiece of historical crime fiction” by the Seaboard Review of Books.

Howard was born and raised in Montreal, where he earned an Honours Degree in Journalism and Creative Writing at Concordia University. He has taught creative writing at the University of Toronto, the Toronto Public Library, the San Miguel Writers Conference, Kingston Writers Festival and Mississauga Literary Festival. In 2026, he’ll be teaching a four-part online course for SMWC; three online workshops for the San Francisco-based LitCamp; and a five-day course in crime fiction at U of T’s Summer Institute.