SCHMOOZING WITH EVA GATES

1.Who has influenced you the most in your writing career?

My many friends in the Canadian writing community. It’s one thing to write a book, it’s quite another to perfect it (as near as possible), to get it published, and then to market and publicize it. You can write a book on your own, but you need help and advice to do all that other stuff, and I have found the Canadian mystery community, and now the cozy community, to be very close-knit and friendly. It is all about networking


2. What are you working on now?

The third Lighthouse Library mystery, Reading up a Storm.

3. In what ways is your main protagonist like you, if at all?

Lucy Richardson is her name and she is not like me in the least! She’s young (and I am not), inquisitive, brave, impulsive. She is intensely loyal to her friends, however, and I do hope that if ever I was in her shoes, I could also be counted on to do the right thing by my friends.

4. Are you character driver or plot driven?

Character. I have all these wonderful, eccentric Outer Banks people and I just love tossing them into the mix and seeing what they’ll do next.

5. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Total plotter. I began my career as a pantser, and now that I am with Penguin, they require a solid outline as part of the contract. And I have found that I love writing from an outline. All the hard work is done ahead of time and I can enjoy weaving it all together. Which isn’t to say that I won’t deviate from the outline if I have a good reason to, but an outline provides the structure in which I can write. I love it.

6. What do you hope readers will most take away from your writing?

Fun. Nothing but a few hours of laughter and entertainment. If you’ve had a hard day at work or your family is giving you grief, there is absolutely nothing better than to settle down with a good cozy novel and be taken away on a fun ride to an interesting place.

7. Where do you see yourself as a writer in 10 years?

Under my real name of Vicki Delany, I have sixteen published books, of different sub-genres. But now, I’ve found my niche and I will be very happy if in ten years I’m still writing cozies. I will mention, if I may, that Vicki Delany is writing the Christmas Town mysteries for Berkely Prime Crime of which the first, Rest Ye Murdered Gentleman, will be out November 2015. Just in time for Christmas.

8. What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to know about you?

That I have sixteen published books?

9. What do you like to read for pleasure?

I read crime novels almost exclusively, with the occasional non-fiction thrown in. I am particularly enjoying the modern gothic format these days by writers like Kate Morton, Carol Goodman, or Simone St. James. My favourite book of 2014 was The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, followed closely by The Secret Place by Tana French.

10. Tell us about your book in a Tweet:

When a priceless first edition Jane Austen is stolen from the Lighthouse Library, Lucy finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery—and she’s not so sure there’s going to be a happy ending....

Eva Gates is the author of the Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin Obsidian, set in a historic lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, featuring Boston-transplant librarian, and highly reluctant sleuth, Lucy Richardson. The first in the series, By Book or By Crook, will be released in February 2015. Eva is the pen name of bestselling author Vicki Delany, one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. Eva can be found at www.lighthouselibrarymysteries.com and Vicki at www.vickidelany.com

MYSTERY REVIEW - UNDER COLD STONE

UNDER COLD STONE
by Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press



This review will be biased as I always look forward to the latest book in the Constable Molly Smith series and am in a very good mood when I get my mitts on it. Vicki Delany has managed to hold my attention through six previous novels and she didn’t let me down this time.

The central characters in this excellent British Columbia-based police procedural series are Constable Molly (Moonbeam) Smith and Sergeant John Winters of the Trafalgar police, but Molly’s mother, Lucky Smith, adds verve and humour to each book. Lucky is my favourite character in a crowd of major contenders. Lucky’s hippy leanings and environmental activism have been at odds with her daughter’s choice of career and have made the young officer’s life more difficult than it needed to be. They’ve also given the reader much enjoyment. Lucky’s full of surprises though and the latest one is her deepening relationship with the Chief of Police, Paul Keller, despite their differences over, well, practically everything.

Their romantic Thanksgiving getaway to Banff Springs Hotel goes off the rails when Paul’s estranged son, Matt, becomes connected to a murder and the subject of a manhunt. But Lucky also has a connection to Matt and it’s not a good one.

Meanwhile Molly is trying her hand at making her fiancé a traditional Thanksgiving meal with hilarious results. Next to that, solving crimes looks easy. Good thing, because Molly is soon on her way to help her mother and the resulting search in the back country makes for gripping reading. Once again, Delany uses the setting to enhance a strong plot. The relationships are deep, interesting and unpredictable throughout this series. Molly continues to grow and develop as a police officer.

Vicki Delany never fails to deliver strong female characters who don’t shy away from conflict or danger. She does a great job of exploring family bonds and conflict with characters you care about. No wonder I stayed up half the night.



Reviewed by Mary Jane Maffini
As half of the writing team Victoria Abbott,
The Wolfe Widow, #3 in the Book Collector Mysteries,
is coming in Sept., 2014.

MYSTERY REVIEW - UNDER COLD STONE

UNDER COLD STONE
by Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press



This review will be biased as I always look forward to the latest book in the Constable Molly Smith series and am in a very good mood when I get my mitts on it. Vicki Delany has managed to hold my attention through six previous novels and she didn’t let me down this time.

The central characters in this excellent British Columbia-based police procedural series are Constable Molly (Moonbeam) Smith and Sergeant John Winters of the Trafalgar police, but Molly’s mother, Lucky Smith, adds verve and humour to each book. Lucky is my favourite character in a crowd of major contenders. Lucky’s hippy leanings and environmental activism have been at odds with her daughter’s choice of career and have made the young officer’s life more difficult than it needed to be. They’ve also given the reader much enjoyment. Lucky’s full of surprises though and the latest one is her deepening relationship with the Chief of Police, Paul Keller, despite their differences over, well, practically everything.

Their romantic Thanksgiving getaway to Banff Springs Hotel goes off the rails when Paul’s estranged son, Matt, becomes connected to a murder and the subject of a manhunt. But Lucky also has a connection to Matt and it’s not a good one.

Meanwhile Molly is trying her hand at making her fiancé a traditional Thanksgiving meal with hilarious results. Next to that, solving crimes looks easy. Good thing, because Molly is soon on her way to help her mother and the resulting search in the back country makes for gripping reading. Once again, Delany uses the setting to enhance a strong plot. The relationships are deep, interesting and unpredictable throughout this series. Molly continues to grow and develop as a police officer.

Vicki Delany never fails to deliver strong female characters who don’t shy away from conflict or danger. She does a great job of exploring family bonds and conflict with characters you care about. No wonder I stayed up half the night.



Reviewed by Mary Jane Maffini
As half of the writing team Victoria Abbott,
The Wolfe Widow, #3 in the Book Collector Mysteries,
is coming in Sept., 2014.

CRIME ON MY MIND

CANADIANS DOWN SOUTH

Another Malice Domestic just wrapped up and if you've never been to one, especially if you love traditional mysteries, you don't know what you're missing. It takes place every year in Bethesda, MD and boasts a long line-up of writers and fans. It also includes the very popular Agatha Awards which are voted on by the readers and bestowed at the Sat. night banquet. Although Canadians have been nominated in the past,sadly, there wasn't one on this year's list.

But the Canadians did troop the colours! We had an impressive turnout, although we were missing some of our usual travel-mates from previous years. Authors who were there, whose names I'm sure you know are Cathy Ace, Janet Bolin, Erika Chase, Vicki Delany, and Mary Jane Maffini/Victoria Abbott. And we were pleased to see ardent mystery reader, who pops up at all the conferences, Elaine Naiman from Ottawa. Now, I know I shouldn't name names because I know I'll miss someone, like the delightful readers from out West. But, I dared to do it.

It's great to get together once a year, or like some of us who went to Left Coast Crime in Monterey in March, more times. It rejuvenates the writing spirit, and more often than not, we come back with some great ideas on writing and promotion. For many years, before being publishes, I went to hear what the authors had to say and to meet them. I always looked forward to the weekend and never came away disappointed.

There's an opportunity for much the same coming up next month in the form of Bloody Words in Toronto on June 6-8. Sadly, this will be the final year for this wonderful conference. So I highly advise that if you've been putting it off for a better year, it doesn't get any better than this! You'll meet mystery authors from across Canada, along with many from the U.S. and overseas. And of course, some amazing readers. For all the details, visit http://www.bloodywords.com I hope to see you there!

And, if you're in Ottawa, plan on a day of mystery on Sat. May 10th at the Ottawa Public Library when Capital Crime Writers presents a day of Capital Mayhem. For the grand price of FREE, you'll enjoy early morning coffee, Peter Robinson, panels of local mystery authors, plus lunch....did I mention it's free. And, it starts at 9 a.m. Books will be available for purchase, too.

Crime thrives...between the pages, of course. Don't miss out!

SCHMOOZING WITH VICKI DELANY

1.Who has influenced you the most in your writing career?

My friends. And I have so many friends. When I decided to take up the life of a writer, about the last reason was to meet interesting people and make new friends. And that's turned out to be the very best part of it. The Canadian crime-writing community is close, and I cherish the support and friendship it gives me very much.

2.What are you working on now?

The second book in the Lighthouse Library series for NAL-Penguin. The first book is titled By Book or By Crook and will be released in Feb 2015. I am using a pen name this time out - Eva Gates.

3. In what ways is your main protagonist like you? If at all?

I am always a bit stumped by this question, because I have so many protagonists. Constable Molly Smith of the series of that name is a young policewoman. She is nothing at all like me. Fiona MacGillivray of the Klondike Gold Rush series is smart, ruthless, determined, and totally without scruples. She is also the most beautiful woman in the Yukon. She is not the least bit like me. Perhaps the protagonists of my standalones are more like me. Just ordinarym women, caught up in events beyond their control, trying to do the right thing.

4. Are you character driven or plot driven?

Again, depends on the series. I'd say usually character driven, certainly in the standalone novels and the Klondike books; the Molly Smith ones are more plot driven. The Klondike books are probably more setting driven. Everything that happens and all the characters are determined by being in Dawson City, Yukon in the summer of 1898.

5. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

In the past I would have said a pantser with a bit of an idea for what I wanted the plot to do. But with the Lighthouse Library books I have to submit a detailed outline first, and I've found that I really like working like that. So from now on, I intend to be a plotter.

6. What do you hope readers will most take away from your writing?

The love of reading and the tremendous variety to be found between the pages of a book. My books are not intended to provide biting social commentary, and they have entertainment value first and foremost. But I hope they have something to say about the world we live in. In the standalone novels I try to say something about the present, through giving the reader a glimpse of the past.

7. Where do you see yourself as a writer in 10 years?

I really can't say. On April 1st, I will have sixteen published books. I have a three book contact for the Lighthouse Library series, I hope to do another cozy series. I'll write as long as I enjoy it and then I won't any longer.

8. What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to know about you?

I am one of the world's great introverts.

9. What do you like to read for pleasure?

Crime novels almost exclusively. I love the modern gothics by the likes of Kate Morton, and I love the British police procedurals by people like Susan Hill or Peter Robinson. I read a lot of Canadian mysteries, often for the setting. Our people, telling our stories.

10. Give us a summary of your latest book in a Tweet.

Under Cold Stone: A Constable Molly Smith Novel Banff National Park. A hotel inspired by a Scottish castle.A romantic weekend. An unlikely couple. An estranged son, and a call for help.

Vicki is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of the Constable Molly Smith series and standalone Gothic thrillers from Poisoned Pen Press, as well as the light-hearted Klondike Gold Rush books from Dundurn. Her first Rapid Reads book, A Winter Kill, was shortlisted for the 2012 Arthur Ellis Award for best novella. In April she will see two books published, Under Cold Stone, the seventh book in the Smith & Winters police procedural series and Juba Good, a Rapid Reads Novella from Orca Books set in South Sudan. Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com, on Twitter @vickidelany and Facebook at www.facebook.com/Vicki.Delany. She blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com.

MYSTERY REVIEW - GOLD WEB

GOLD WEB
By Vicki Delany
Dundurn

Travel back in time to the days of the Klondike gold rush and meet one of the fiestiest ladies then and now. She's Fiona MacGillivray - Mrs. MacGillivray to her many customers at the Savoy Saloon and Dance Hall, which she co-owns in Dawson, 1898. And she can't seem to stay out of trouble.

In fact, trouble seems to track her down, as witnessed in the earlier three books in this series. But that shouldn't be surprising because as we find out right from the start, Fiona has a somewhat questionable past, despite all her ladylike qualities, and being far away in the north suits her just fine. In fact, in Gold Web, we find out even more about her past and how her life on the streets as a young girl contributed to the determined, clever and crafty woman who is tough enough to own a saloon in a town filled with men struck with gold fever.

All the regulars are back -- Angus, her twelve-year-old son who works part-time in the general store and dreams of being a Mountie; the handsome North-West Mounted Police Corporal Richard Sterling who has a soft spot for Fiona but can't seem to tell her about it, partly because he's too busy keeping the rowdiness of this wild town in check; and, her business partner Ray Walker.

Dawson, being a wide open town with lots of gold nuggets flowing across the bars, gambling tables and stages, attracts an equally boisterous gang of prospectors and women. This time, there's a murder out back of the Savoy and the victim calls out Fiona's name as he stumbles towards her.

The story is rich in historical references. You can see the mud on the street as Fiona tucks her skirt into her boots and trudges along; cringe at the sight of the lecherous drunks; and get a sense of the tightrope the NWMP would often walk in order to keep law and order.

Delany has added another historical layer this time, that has the possiblity of the Scottish Independence Movement taking hold in the Yukon and hints of the Fenian Brotherhood. There's also the American interest in obtaining the territory and even a plot to trade Alaska in exchange for the Yukon...well, you'll have to read it to get the whole picture.

Vicki Delany has managed to fill the pages with a different era, with history and scenery that comes alive on the pages, and with three-dimensional characters whose stories will capture you in the web. The Gold Web, that is.

CRIME ON MY MIND

Busy month ahead!

If you haven't heard about my latest blogspot woes, this time I've not been able to post my usual Events column. I must admit, I have only so much patience when it comes to anything electronic. Maybe one day, when my frustration is a dim memory, I'll try again. In the interim, I thought I'd use today's blog to highlight some of the book events coming up in November. There are a lot more happening in this city, Ottawa being a city that's brimming with mystery writers, however these are the signings that I know.


Sat. Nov. 9 -- Erika Chase signs her latest, COVER STORY at Books on Beechwood, 35 Beechwood Ave., 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Mike Martin signs his second mystery, THE BODY ON THE T at Brittons, 846 Bank St., 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Sat. Nov. 16 -- Erika Chase signs COVER STORY at Perfect Books, 258 Elgin St., 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Sun. Nov. 17 -- Sandra Nikolai signs her second book, FATAL WHISPERS at Brittons in the Glebe, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Sat. Nov. 23 -- Barbara Fradkin signs her latest, THE WHISPER OF LEGENDS at Brittons in the Glebe, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Sat. Nov. 30 -- Vicki Delany signs her newest mystery, A COLD WHITE SUN at Brittons in the Glebe, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

For a more complete list of book events happening across the country in November, I suggest you visit the Crime Writers of Canada website, always a good place to keep on top of mysterious happenings! www.crimewriterscanada.com

MYSTERY REVIEW

A COLD WHITE SUN
By Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press

This is the sixth outing for Const. Molly Smith of the Trafalgar Police Service in B.C. In many ways, Molly’s still learning her job while in others, she’s yearning for much more. Policing suits her well and she’s morphed over the series from an awkward newbie to an officer who is more restrained, questioning more, and therefore, a better cop.

A lot of this is thanks to Sgt. John Winters who sees her potential and unofficially mentors her on the job. This case is no different. Winters is faced with a baffling murder, that of high-school teacher Cathy Lindsay, wife and mother of two, whose body is found with a bullet in the back, on a trail one morning during March break.

As is the procedure in most murder cases, the marriage is analyzed and the husband scrutinized. What surfaces is not a very happy scene. An adulterous husband; one child bordering on delinquency. And then there’s Cathy’s own flirtatious behaviour at work. A teacher who’s facing down his own personal demons. There are red flags everywhere on this case.

Winters is also drawn into a complex situation at his wife’s art gallery involving an employee who seems to have lost touch with reality. And Molly is in danger of being swept off her skis by a charming stranger she meets on the slopes. Even a small town like Trafalgar is not immune to the evils of the outside world with a large development project threatening to take over nearby property, much to the chagrin of Molly’s mom.

It the day-to-day stuff of community life that makes this murder seem even more obscene and for the police in this picturesque town in ski country, the ultimate challenge.

Vicki Delany is a prolific crime writer with two series (Const. Smith, and the Klondike series), mysteries for reluctant readers, and numerous stand-alones to her credit. And, she’s now embarking on yet another series, this one a cosy series set in the U.S.

It takes great writing skill to be able to produce top notch stories in so many different styles. Just as Molly has blossomed in her career as a cop, Delany has grown into a writer to be taken seriously, with mysterious tales to tell and an impressive way with words. She definitely should be on your bookshelves.

GUEST BLOG

Standalones vs. Series
by Vicki Delany

There are, basically, two types of mystery novels: standalones, in which characters appear once, never to be seen again, and series, in which characters feature in book after book.

As a reader as well as a writer, I am torn as to which I prefer. I believe that in real life a person, unless they’re a secret agent or bodyguard to a crime boss, has only one great adventure in them. Police officers will tell you that the job’s pretty boring most of the time, and crimes, even murders, are mundane things, easily solved.

A standalone novel gives the protagonist that one opportunity to achieve great things; to have that grand adventure; to meet the everlasting love of their life; to conquer evil, once and for all. In a standalone, the characters face their demons and defeat them.

Or not.

My first books were standalone novels of suspense. In Scare the Light Away the main character confronts, for one last time, the debris of her traumatic childhood. In Burden of Memory, the protagonist faces down the ghost of a past that is not hers, but is still threatening what she holds dear.

I then switched to writing series books, but returned in 2012 with a standalone gothic thriller, More Than Sorrow, about a woman attempting to recover from a Traumatic Brain Injury caused by an IED explosion in Afghanistan. The focus of the novel is on Hannah Manning’s attempts to recover her life while she experiences visions and fears she is losing her sanity. Her inability to explain where she was and what she was doing (even to herself) when a woman disappears, puts her in the cross-hairs of an old enemy.

Not a story line you could drag out over a series of books. How many old enemies can a woman realistically have?

As Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale says. “In a standalone the reader has no safety net. The reader knows it is possible the main characters may die. You can assume in a series they will not.”

Now I’m back to Constable Molly Smith, Sergeant John Winters and the town of Trafalgar, B.C. with the sixth book in the series, A Cold White Sun.

Series novels present different problems. The central character, or characters, confronts their demons, but they do not defeat them. Their weaknesses, all their problems, will be back in the next book. In each story the series character stands against, and usually defeats, someone else’s problem or society’s enemy, but she or he moves only one small step towards the resolution of their own issues, if at all.

It can be a challenge to keep the main character interesting and growing and changing (and not dying) but to do it so slowly that the reader’s interest in the character can be maintained over several books and several years.

In the Constable Molly Smith novels, set in a small town in the mountains of British Columbia, Molly is haunted by the death of her fiancé, Graham. It was a meaningless, preventable, tragic death and, even in her grief, Molly knows that returning to the small town in which she grew up and becoming a cop won’t help her to make sense of Graham’s death. But she does anyway, and as the series unfolds, Molly is able to confront the gulf that Graham’s death has left in her life and, eventually, move on. By the time we get to the sixth book in the series, A Cold White Sun, Molly has put Graham’s death behind her, and said her good-byes. Now she has a new man in her life, Constable Adam Tocek of the RCMP. But new problems arise.


`Was Tony flirting with her? He certainly was. It felt nice. He was a good-looking guy; he obviously found her attractive. He was a good skier. What could it hurt? She thought about Graham, her fiancé, dead for almost five years now. She thought about Adam. She thought about putting in a twelve-hour night shift and how she’d feel following that.
“I won’t be here until around one.”
He gave her a huge smile. “What a coincidence. So will I. Probably hanging around at the top of Hell’s Vestibule.”
“Molly, are you coming? I’m starving!” An exasperated Glenn said.
“I’m coming. Don’t be so impatient.” They carried the laden trays to their table.
Molly Smith knew Tony’s eyes were following her.
A Cold White Sun by Vicki Delany

Which do you prefer, standalones or series?

I suspect that, like me, you’ll vote for both.

Vicki Delany’s latest book is A Cold White Sun from Poisoned Pen Press. If you’d like to read the first chapter, please go to: www.vickidelany.com. Vicki can be found on www.facebook.com/vicki.delany, and twitter: @vickidelany. She blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave (http://klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com)

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

LOYALISTS IN CANADA

History, they say, is written by the winner. It’s also written differently depending on what side you happen to be on.

My newest book, More than Sorrow is set in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where I live. I moved here four years ago and one of the first things I noticed was the sign as you approach the main town, Picton (pop 4,000) proclaiming “A Proud Loyalist Town”. Highway 33 which runs through the County along the north shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston is named The Loyalist Highway, and signs depict a couple in period dress. What, thought I, is all this about? Then I began seeing flags – Union Jacks? Not quite. One of the stripes was missing.

In Canada we have a reputation of ignoring our history. I can’t really be counted among those, as I’ve always had a keen interest in history. I majored in Modern History at University. (Although my focus was Modern European History.) I knew something, vaguely, about the Loyalists who settled Ontario, but obviously not enough.

So I set about learning.

American history sometimes says that all but a few scoundrels and traitors were keen on independence in 1776. Not so fast. Apparently something like 30% of the residents of the colony thought it a bad idea. When all the smoke had cleared, there were in excess of 60,000 people who chose to leave the new United States.
They were refugees in every sense of the word. The British army and government remained loyal to those who’d been loyal to them, and provided transportation away from the States for anyone who wanted to leave. Many went back to England or Scotland, many to parts of North America that were not yet American, such as Florida, and many to the West Indies.

When I was in Turks and Caicos in the winter, we visited the remains of a loyalist plantation. Slaves who had supported the British side were given their freedom and a spot on a ship out. Many of them settled in Nova Scotia, where their descendants live today, and some went back to Africa. (If you are interested in the Black Loyalist story, try the superb Book Of Negros by Lawrence Hill. The Book of Negros was the list the British kept in New York of blacks wanting to flee.)A great many of these refugees came to Canada, over a thousand to what is now Prince Edward County.

What I hadn’t fully realized is that Ontario was almost totally unsettled at that time. Canada consisted of French Quebec and some settlements in Nova Scotia. A small township had been established in the Niagara area. And that was it. So when the new settlers came to this area there was nothing but wilderness. No roads, no towns. Nothing but dark, impenetrable forest.

Not even a lot of Native Canadians. There’s a big Mohawk Reserve near the County called Tyendenaga. It was settled by Loyalists also. The Indians fought on the side of the British in the Revolution (as they did in the War of 1812) and when their side lost, they lost their land and also became refugees.

Many of these refugees were not farmers: they might be townspeople, shopkeepers, newspapermen, tradesmen, maybe soldiers (a lot of German soldiers decided to stay in Canada rather than go back to Germany). As is the case with refugees down through time, most of them lost everything except the clothes they stood in when they fled their homes. The British government gave them transportation, and some supplies with which to begin. Imagine facing the true North American Wilderness, with a handful of seeds, a hand-made axe, maybe an ox to share with your neighbours, and no farming experience. The first order of business would have been to chop down a patch of ancient forest, to clear land and get wood to start building. They lived in tents or rough shacks the first years. In Ontario – in winter!

When I decided I wanted to write another standalone suspense novel,I knew I wanted it to be a modern gothic, a book with strands of the past and hidden secrets affecting people today. I am interested in how war affects lives, particularly the non-combatants, and quickly came up with the idea of a war correspondent injured in Afghanistan and a young female Afghan refugee. Refugee? Where had I heard that before?

Thus, in telling the story of Maggie Macgregor, a Loyalist refugee, I hoped to draw parallels between the refugee experience of Canada’s original settlers with those arriving today. And hopefully I have also had something to say about universal truths, particularly of women caught up in a fight that is not their own.

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most varied and prolific crime writers. Her popular Constable Molly Smith series (including In the Shadow of the Glacier and Among the Departed) have been optioned for TV by Brightlight Pictures. She also writes standalone novels of psychological suspense, as well as a light-hearted historical series, (Gold Digger, Gold Mountain), set in the raucous heyday of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com , www.facebook.com/vicki.delany, and twitter: @vickidelany. She blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave (http://klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com)

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

And a good time was had by all!

I'll bet you're not surprised! Scene of the Crime 2012 is now passed and we're back to laundry and reality today. But what a great event it was!

I'd say each one of us in the Ladies' Killing Circle was just thrilled by the tributes, the care and feeding provided by the SOTC board and its amazing volunteers, the friendship of our fellow authors attending, and of course, the beautiful award.

Each year, a kaleidoscope is crafted by Wolfe Island stained glass artist Linda Sutherland and she's adept at creating an award that relates to the author. In our case, since our logo is six pen nibs, we each received a pen with nib and attached kaleidoscope. The carrying case was also made by Sutherland and has the award title, our own name and the LKC logo. Just beautiful, don't you think?

We truly do feel honoured.

It was also so great to meet the many attendees who love mysteries so much! And what fun to see colleagues in the audience. It also was a rare opportunity to spend time catching up with old friends and new ones, since all authors were in the same bed and breakfast, Dreamcatcher's. Yummy breakfasts and lovely rooms!

The other authors at the event -- those who had to do all the work with readings and panels -- were Thomas Rendell Curran (who can be seen these days swanning around Ottawa in 'Stride 1', his new car/toy with the license plate bearing his Newfoundland detective's name); Y.S. Lee, now known to us as Ying (who writes a killer Young Adult series set in Victorian England and a great read for adults, too); D.J. McIntosh or Dorothy as we like to call her (her first antiquities thriller, The Witch of Babylon, skyrocketed to acclaim); and, John Moss (author of the stylish Toronto police procedural series that was set on the Easter Islands last time out).

Did I mention we had fun?

So, thank you to everyone involved with Scene of the Crime -- Violette Malan and Vicki Delany in particular who, as president of the board and board member respectively, spear-headed such a fabulous event.

Now back to the laundry.....

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

MYSTERY REVIEWS

GOLD MOUNTAIN
by Vicki Delany
Dundurn Press




I'm a bit late in reviewing this, since it was launched in mid-April (Vicki & I had a joint launch -- but I promise to be objective!). This is the third in the Klondike Mystery series and as usual, the intrepid Scotswoman Fiona MacGillivray is in fine form. In fact, such fine form that she's kidnapped by a love-stricken suitor who also has a bad case of gold fever.

There's no murder in Gold Mountain but really, you won't even miss the lack of bloodshed! Fiona is such a delightful, if not unorthodox, character that readers are swept into her story and make the trek through the wilds of the Yukon as her captor searches for the elusive Gold Mountain. Is it real or a figment of his mad imagination?
Hot on their trail is the intrepid Corporal Richard Sterling of the Northwest Mounted Police, himself under Fiona's spell, along with her determined young son, Angus. It's a hazardous and rough journey for them all and the reader is kept wondering if the wilds don't do them in...will Fiona's mad captor do it?

There are many reasons to read Gold Mountain. First, it's a delight. Second, as mentioned, Fiona is a heroine who's quite unique -- feisty, with a checkered past, clever, sarcastic, quick-witted, headstrong and quite fetching. Third, the setting of the Klondike gold rush is so vividly portrayed, from the mud-drenched roads to those desperately seeking their fortunes. Consider it a mini history lesson.



Vicki Delany should be a well-known name in Canadian crime writing. She's that prolific and good. She has two series on the go and a number of stand alones to her credit and more on the way. If you've missed the earlier Klondike novels, you'll still be able to jump right in for a rousing adventure on the way to Gold Mountain.

CRIME ON MY MIND

Overwhelmed with TBRs

I try to spend a fair chunk of time each day reading. Partly to have some reviews of upcoming or recently published Canadian mysteries but mainly for the pure pleasure of entering new worlds, visiting new places and meeting new people.

I like to think of my To Be Read (TBR) piles as decorating accessories. What else do you do with stacks of books? I have them in every room of my house, except for the kitchen where cookbooks (a real necessity) are housed. You can't do that with an e-book, I might point out. I love the look of books, the ability to just grab one off the pile and sit down to read or just thumb through it, the reassurance that with that big a TBR, I'll never run out.

However, I obviously haven't been keeping up as I should. What with the steady stream of advance reading copies from publishers, and my own choices for either research or a total change of pace, there are now often two stacks right next to each other, where only last week there was one.

Bloody Words contributed to that growth in very positive ways, except when it came to getting the books home. The book bags that attendees were handed proved that publishers are getting far more generous these days. I hear the siren call of William Deverell's latest, Arthur Ellis nominated novel, I'll See You in My Dreams. Robert Rotenberg's The Guilty Plea is there, too along with Boston Cream by Howard Shrier! How can a gal choose where to begin?

I've just finished the wonderful Gail Bowen's newest, Kaleidoscope, which I'll review next weekend. C.B. Forrest will review Deryn Collier's Confined Space this weekend (it was next on my list, but he beat me to it!). ALso coming up are Gold Mountain by Vicki Delany (I am behind in my reviews, I admit it!), Spoiled Rotten by Mary Jackman, Bloodman by Robert Pobi and Whiskey Creek by Dave Hugelschaffer. Then, low and behold, in my mailbox yesterday -- Brad Smith's September release, Crow's Landing (and you might remember how I do look forward to his books!)

What's a girl to do? So many books, so little time! And all those bookish cliches. It's going to be a bookfest summer. Happy reading to us all!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Heading out...

Two things struck me late last night. I hadn't yet finished packing for Malice Domestic. And secondly, when I tried to post and schedule a new blog, I found that the 'Blogger' format and system had changed! When did that happen? Sometime since Monday morning, apparently. That was the last time I was physically accessing the blog settings. Why do they do that?! Especially when I don't have time to do a self-teaching session! So, I can eventually get into this space and write a blog but can I schedule a blog to be posted tomorrow, Friday or Monday? No! So, my apologies. While I'm away at Malice, the repeating blog will be by Joan Boswell, which I'm posting right before hitting the road in the morning. But it's a good blog and re-reading it may trigger some writing ideas. So that's a good thing. Nor can I get this Blogger to insert paragraphs! What's up????? But back to my rant, especially since in the cold light of day, nothing has changed. This hasn't morphed back into the easy Blogger I grew into liking. Nor has my suitcase been miraculously filled and better still, proven able to be closed. I draw two conclusions from this -- I truly am a luddite when it comes to all things electronic (like that DVD player still in its box 5 months later) and now, Blogger. Also, that I spend too much time fussing over what clothing to take to the conference. Of course, there are a variety of functions to attend over the weekend...and, a gal's got to have her shoes! But that's not the real focus of this conference. We all know that! Malice Domestic, which takes place in Bethesda, MD from April 27-29th is the ultimate 'cosy' conference in the U.S. It's been running for decades -- in fact, it was the first mystery conference I ever attended back in 1989, its very first year. I haven't been there for ten years so I'm really looking forward to seeing old and new faces, and enjoying the changes in format. And there have been many, starting with the New Author's Breakfast this Saturday (7 a.m.!!) at which we'll each have a short 2-min. interview and then spend the rest of the time munching along with our tablemates, a mixture of readers and writers. That's what Malice is all about. It's a terrific chance to meet the readers -- and boy, do they attend! -- and to get to know new colleagues, and meet with old friends. As part of the Killer Characters blogspot, we have a crossword puzzle planned with the prize, a year's supply of our books -- one a month from each of us to the lucky winner! That will be fun! And, then there are the panels. Mine is the Southern mysteries panel at 9:30 a.m. on Sat. and I'm on with some of my favourite authors. Then there's the Agatha Awards banquet that evening with two Canadians up for prizes -- Louise Penny for Best Novel, and Janet Bolin for Best First Novel. Fingers crossed! The day after the conference, we'll be in Oakmont, PA for the Festival of Mystery. That's in it's 17th year and attracts between 300 & 400 readers to a spot where the 50+ authors are in signing mode. Once again, the newbies will have short interviews and then it's a reader-writer fest! Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to all this and a chance to spend the weekend as Erika Chase! It will also be much fun getting there as we're driving the ten-hour route. That's R.J. Harlick, Vicki Delany, Janet Bolin and Erika. Can you imagine the laughter! So, back to packing mode. And maybe I shouldn't worry about unpacking when we get home. After all, it's just a month until Canada's amazingly great mystery conference Bloody Words in Toronto. Being a mystery author is a really hard job!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase A Killer Read Berkley Prime Crime, now available Read & Buried, coming Nov., 2012

CRIME ON MY MIND

The party's over...pass the caffeine!

Wow...what a night! Had such fun at my joint launch with Vicki Delany at the Library & Archives last night. Couldn't believe how quickly the time went. First we were setting up, then signing, talking and reading and then cleaning up. What did that take -- 20 minutes?

Thanks to everyone who attended. It really means a lot to an author to have old friends, for me -- former customers who I'd lost touch with, family and writing colleagues turning out to help celebrate. Because each launch, but especially the launch of your first book, is so special and exciting.

Vicki Delany, ever glamorous in her exotic hat collection, was worth the price of admission! She's such fun to work with on an event. And an old pro, having had ten of these already under her belt! Thanks, Vicki.

Thanks, too to Mary Jane Maffini who also glammed up the event as our MC! Witty and mysteriously adept at ferreting out facts with which to pepper the intros! And thanks, too to the ever-supportive members of The Ladies' Killing Circle!

I'm afraid I can't get my brain working in blog format today so will leave it at this launch wrap-up. Because as we all know, today it's all about back to work. A deadline is looming....aren't they always!

Happy writing and happy launching to those planning their own fetes!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A Killer Read
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
Read and Buried, coming Nov., 2012
www.erikachase.com

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

It’s launch time!

If you follow Erika Chase or me on Facebook, or on Twitter, you’re undoubtedly aware that tomorrow night is LAUNCH NIGHT! The first Ashton Corners Book Club mystery, A Killer Read will officially make its presence known.

Not that anyone could have missed the fact that it’s now on the bookshelves in local stores and available on line. And, please allow me a little BSP here, as I’m

sure this will happen only once in my life – it made #2 on the Barnes & Noble Mystery Bestseller list and #28 on their overall list last week! I don’t know if I was more shocked or delighted. Probably a dead heat.

So now, two weeks and some days later, it’s the launch. Why bother, you might ask? Everyone knows already.

True. But the point of the launch is to celebrate. I’ll be celebrating with my good friend Vicki Delany as she launches her 11th novel! That’s quite an achievement in itself. Gold Mountain is the third book in her second series, the Klondike Gold Rush series and it’s a lot of fun. Vicki’s really made a name for herself over the years and it’s taken a lot of hard work to get where she is. So, we’re celebrating all of that.

And, we’re celebrating our writing friends and readers. It’s a wonderful, supportive community and I know, Erika wouldn’t have made that bestseller list without a lot of reviewing, tweeting, and liking by friends.

Of course, writers write for themselves. For the pure pleasure of weaving together a story and then sharing it with the readers. So, this is also a celebration of the reader. Without them, who would buy the books? Okay, relatives are a given. But we’re truly thankful that someone chooses to buy, read and enjoy what we’ve spent so many months writing and agonized over through rewrites and edits.

So, I hope you’ll be able to join Vicki and me for our celebration of us and you! And don’t forget…there will be chocolate!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A Killer Read
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
Read and Buried, coming Nov., 2012
www.erikachase.com

TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLE

The Anti-Noir

I believe I may have invented a new sub-genre: the anti-noir.
Noir is roughly defined as essentially pessimistic, having a hopeless tone, depicting a world that is inherently corrupt, a sense of heightened anxiety and alienation. (Wikipedia)

In contrast, my new book, Gold Mountain: A Klondike Mystery is set in the Yukon in 1898, at the height of the Great Klondike Gold Rush, where optimism, warranted or (mostly) not, was the order of the day.

In the late 1890s, the United States was in the midst of a severe depression. When news of a gold strike in the remote Canadian Territory of the Yukon reached the depression-stuck cities of the south, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people abandoned farms and factories and families, sold all their possessions, borrowed what they could, quit jobs, and headed north, into the wilderness. It was perhaps the last time in history when thousands of people could simply leave home, sell everything, and set off – on foot! into the wilderness in the hopes of making a fortune.

They were driven by a spirit of optimism that was largely unwarranted. By the time news got to the Outside of the gold finds, most of the best claims had been taken, and all that was left for those who scrambled up the Chilkoot Trail (with a thousand pounds of supplies on their back) were jobs working someone else’s claim. Other than a few lucky miners, the people who really made the money were those who ‘mined the miners’. The dance hall owners (such as my protagonist, Fiona MacGillivray), businessmen, shop keepers.

When you consider that in the summer the sun barely set, that dance halls, bars and gambling rooms were open 24 hours a day (with the exception of Sunday), that the North-West Mounted Police (precursors to the RCMP) had stamped law and order on the town so that crime wasn’t much of a problem, Dawson in 1898 really was the opposite of noir. Is there a word for that? There should be.

But clouds were gathering…

The nineteenth century was coming to an end, and the twentieth about to begin. With so much hope and promise. In Gold Digger, the first book in the series, the landlady, Mrs. Mann, says to Fiona’s son Angus, when he wishes they had a telephone: Many wonderful changes you’ll see in your lifetime, dear.

The tragedy of the twentieth century is that all the changes weren’t exactly wonderful. Angus is 12 in 1898 – in 1914 he’ll be 28, just the right age to enlist in World War I.

I have attempted to keep a lighthearted tone in the series, fitting the sense of the time and place that I get reading about it and looking at all the wonderful old photographs. The horrors of the twentieth century are still to come, so let’s let the cheechakos and sourdoughs and dance hall girls and NWMP officers and gamblers and ladies of the night have their fun while they can in the Last Great Gold Rush.


“It’s a crime not to read Delany,” so says the London Free Press.

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most varied and prolific crime writers. Her popular Constable Molly Smith series (including In the Shadow of the Glacier and Among the Departed) from Poisoned Pen Press have been optioned for TV by Brightlight Pictures. She writes standalone novels of modern gothic suspense such as Burden of Memory and More than Sorrow (Sept 2012), as well as a light-hearted historical series, (Gold Digger, Gold Mountain), set in the raucous heyday of the Klondike Gold Rush, published by Dundurn. She is also the author of a novel for reluctant readers, titled A Winter Kill, part of the Rapid Reads series.
Having taken early retirement from her job as a systems analyst in the high-pressure financial world, Vicki is settling down to the rural life in bucolic, Prince Edward County, Ontario where she rarely wears a watch.
Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com , www.facebook.com/vicki.delany, and twitter: @vickidelany. She blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave (http://klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com)

TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLE

The authors who launch...

Sue Pike blogged a couple of weeks ago about Peggy Blair's upcoming book launch for her first novel, The Beggar's Opera. It will be held on Thurs., Feb. 16th in Ottawa and promises to be anything but ordinary. Her book is set in Havana and she's bringing the sounds and tastes of Cuba to this event. She's also not doing a reading! What next?

All kidding aside, it sounds like a great affair and I'm looking forward to buzzing it on my way to choir. But Peggy's plans got me to thinking about other launches, my own among them. It will be in April, a joint launch with Vicki Delany and her latest Klondike Gold Rush mystery.

I thought this was going to be relatively easy. I've planned many launches for and with authors over the years. But perhaps it's time to re-visit the old model and try for some creative flair. Thanks a lot, Peggy!

Vicki -- we'll talk!

The other launches I started wondering about are for authors with e-books. If that's your only format...what about the launch? Or will you even have one? Here again, it could be very creative -- no signing of a book cover but something else? Or is it strickly on-line, a blog party perhaps?

I haven't heard of an e-book launch but I'm sure they happen. Maybe you've even taken part in one. In this new age of publishing, what happens to the traditional book launch? Any suggestions?

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April, 2012
from Berkley Prime Crime
www.erikachase.com

TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLE

Write what you want to know.

There is an old adage: Write what you know. I’d like to change that to: Write what you want to know.

I know all about designing computer systems for the banking industry, growing (and eating) tomatoes, driving long distances, and reading mystery novels. All of which hardly makes for fascinating books. So I set myself to learning what I wanted to write about.

I write a traditional village/police procedural style novel in the Constable Molly Smith series. I have no experience in law enforcement whatsoever. None. The books are set in Canada, in the British Columbia Interior. Thus I am at a disadvantage because as consumers of popular culture we Canadians read British books and watch American TV and some aspects of policing are different here in Canada. Veracity is important to me in my books.

Yet I love police novels in the British vein and that’s the sort of book I wanted to write. Before beginning the first book in the series, In the Shadow of the Glacier, I wrote to the police force in the real life town upon which Trafalgar is based asking for help and got a very positive response. Over the years they have helped me enormously. When I moved to where I now live, I contacted the local police detachment (and gave them a copy of In the Shadow of the Glacier). I’ve since been on police ride-alongs, to watch in-service training, to the firearms range, and even had my own private training session in close quarters combat. I had a lot of fun and learned a great deal about what I wanted to know.

My next book for Poisoned Pen Press is a standalone suspense in the Gothic tradition, tentatively titled Walls of Glass. (Fear not dear reader, Molly Smith will be back). I decided to set the book on an organic vegetable farm because that’s something I’m interested in. (Wondering how an organic farm can be a gothic setting? You’ll have to read the book.) Now, my tiny tomato patch is nothing at all like a working, viable farm, so I set out once again to find out what I wanted to know. Which is how to run a thriving, small-scale, family farm. I happen to live in agricultural country, and there happen to be a good number of small scale farms near-by. I contacted the farm owners (off season, these are busy people come summer and fall) and spent some very pleasant afternoons touring the farm and talking about the ins and outs of the modern organic food culture. This fits nicely into one of my primary interests these days which is the locovore movement – eating good food grown close to home and supporting local farms at the same time.

The backstory of Walls of Glass concerns Loyalist settlers, i.e. refugees from the American Revolution who settled in Ontario in 1783. This is another topic I wanted to learn more about since I moved to Loyalist county three years ago and so I’m very much enjoying doing the research.

Being a writer doesn’t pay very well, so it’s nice to have unexpected benefits. Like having the opportunity to learn what you’d like to know more about.


The fifth and newest book in Vicki Delany’s critically-acclaimed acclaimed Constable Molly Smith series, Among the Departed, will be released on May 3rd 2011. Vicki is also the author of the Klondike Gold Rush series (Gold Fever) and standalone novels of psychological suspense (Scare the Light Away, Burden of Memory).
Having taken early retirement from her job as a systems analyst in the high-pressure financial world, Vicki is settling down to the rural life in bucolic, Prince Edward County, Ontario where she grows vegetables, eats tomatoes, shovels snow, and rarely wears a watch.
Library Journal gave Among the Departed a starred review saying: “Her exceptional ability to create characters, both realistic and sometimes creepy, makes this another terrific addition to her outstanding body of work.”
Visit www.vickidelany.com. She is on Facebook and twitter @vickidelany.

MAYHEM ON MONDAY

Canadian crime writers rock!

So, this is not Mary Jane Maffini blogging although it is her day. I've given her the day off. Shouldn't a winner get some extra perks? And in case you haven't kept up with the good news, Mary Jane won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story at the Malice Domestic conference this past weekend!

Although being an award winner is not something new for our gal, it is especially exciting since it's an award given out in the U.S., voted on by those attending the conference, so mainly Americans. What an honour in the cosy mystery market! It's like breaking into a new market all over again.

This award is for a short story that appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery magazine, the Sept/Oct issue. Hope you'll give it a read at http:www/themysteryplace.com/ Her two previous awards have been the prestigious Arthur Ellis from Crime Writers of Canada, again in the Short Story category, beginning with 'Cotton Armour', which appeared in The Ladies Killing Circle, the first anthology for the group. For a complete list of her many nominations and wins, visit Mary Jane's website at http:www.maryjanemaffini.ca

And there's more good news! Mary Jane Maffini is short listed for another Arthur Ellis Award, for So Much in Common, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Those winners will be announced in Victoria, B.C. on June 2nd, the night before the Bloody Words conference kicks off.

Wait! There's more celebrating to be done. On Mon., May 9th, at 7 p.m., Mary Jane's latest book in the Charlotte Adams' series, The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder, will be launched along with Vicki Delany's Among the Departed, her new Const. Molly Smith mystery...at the Library & Archives, Sunken Lobby, 395 Wellington St.

What a trip you're on MJ! Congratulations.

And also, congratulations to Louise Penny for yet another Agatha Award for Best Novel. She won for her latest Insp. Gamache mystery, Bury Your Dead. Canadians really rocked at Malice!

Hurray for all Canadian crime writers!


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
Mystery Book Club series coming
April, 2012 from Berkley Prime Crime