Barb has worked at the Information Desk at the St. Thomas Public Library (Ontario) for almost 20 years. She has written at the amateur level for years and won several small awards in local writing contests. Her entry "was inspired by the cozy mysteries that I see on a daily basis at the library. I always get a kick out of the spunky heroines."

Honourable mention goes Leanne Olson for "Murder, She Sang." Leanne is a new librarian, currently working at the University of Western Ontario, where she completed her MLIS in 2008. "Murder, She Sang" was inspired by the time she spent working as a co-op student in the Music Library at UWO.

Entries were judged on their entertainment value and the inventive use they make of our specialist skills rather than their potential interest to a literary agent.

The winner and honourable mention were selected by a jury from among 21 entries submitted by library and information specialists in all types of roles. The members of the jury were: Mary-Jane Maffini (mystery writer and lapsed-librarian), Ross Gordon (former director of the RCMP Library) and Anne Van Iderstine (Judges' Librarian at the Nova Scotia Dept of Justice).