The Red Chesterfield

{{Infobox book | name = The Red Chesterfield | image = File:The Red Chesterfield.jpg | image_size = | border = | alt = | caption = First edition | author = Wayne Arthurson | audio_read_by = | title_orig = | orig_lang_code = | title_working = | translator = | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = Canada | language = | series = | release_number = | subject = | genre = mystery | set_in = | publisher = University of Calgary Press | publisher2 = | pub_date = 2019 | english_pub_date = | published = | media_type = | pages = | awards = | isbn = 9781773850771 | isbn_note = | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = | followed_by = | exclude_cover = | website = }} '''''The Red Chesterfield''''' is the eighth novel from Canadian writer Wayne Arthurson.<ref name=cbc2020-03-27/>

On May 22, 2020, the Crime Writers of Canada recognized ''The Red Chesterfield'' with the Arthur Ellis Award for the best crime novella of 2019.<ref name=ctv2020-05-22/> The award comes with a $200 cash prize.<ref name=cbc2020-05-22/>

During an interview with Shelagh Rogers Arthurson told her he used the novel to play with the tropes of the mystery genre.<ref name=cbc2020-03-27/> {| class="wikitable" | {{block indent|left=1.5|1="That genre trope around how [protagonists] always focus on the crime, regardless of what it does to their family — I wanted to mess with that. The mystery 'MacGuffin,' like the red chesterfield, usually would disappear after a while. I wanted it to appear again and again, to add a bit of magic realism to it. I wanted to play with that trope as well. I just tried different things."<ref name=cbc2020-03-27/>}} |}

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=ctv2020-05-22> {{cite news | url = https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/criminal-masterminds-the-crime-writers-of-canada-name-their-best-books-for-2020/ | title = Criminal Masterminds: The Crime Writers of Canada name their best books for 2020 | work = CTV News | author = Scott Burton | date = 2020-05-22 | location = London, Ontario | access-date = 2020-05-24 | quote = Other winners included: best crime novella, won by Wayne Arthurson for The Red Chesterfield. Arthurson’s award was sponsored by Mystery Weekly, an online monthly journal of short crime fiction based in London, Ont. }} </ref>

<ref name=cbc2020-05-22> {{cite news | url = https://www.cbc.ca/books/michael-christie-s-greenwood-wins-best-novel-at-arthur-ellis-awards-for-canadian-crime-writing-1.5578964 | title = Michael Christie's Greenwood wins best novel at Arthur Ellis Awards for Canadian crime writing | work = CBC Books | author = Jane van Koeverden | date = 2020-05-22 | accessdate = 2020-05-24 | quote = Wayne Arthurson received the best novella honours, a $200 prize, for The Red Chesterfield. The story follows a bylaw officer who, while investigating a suspicious yard sale, discovers a severed foot in an old red chesterfield. }} </ref>

<ref name=cbc2020-03-27> {{cite news | url = https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-march-28-2020-1.5512034/wayne-arthurson-plays-with-the-mystery-genre-and-magic-in-his-novel-the-red-chesterfield-1.5512055 | title = Wayne Arthurson plays with the mystery genre and magic in his novel The Red Chesterfield | work = CBC Radio | author = Shelagh Rogers | date = 2020-03-27 | accessdate = 2020-04-14 | quote = In his latest, The Red Chesterfield, he purposefully subverts the mystery form with a story that has clues that lead nowhere and motivations that are deliberately ambiguous. }} </ref> }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Chesterfield, The}} Category:Canadian novellas Category:Canadian mystery novels Category:2019 Canadian novels Category:2010s novellas