CRIME ON MY MIND

Take a book out for a talk!

Someone in The Ladies’ Killing Circle mentioned yesterday that within an hour, we’d shared over 15 emails. There were two, possibly three threads going and everyone had something to contribute. Busy minds or cold bodies?

It’s easy to get hooked on communicating via the net on days that are as cold as we’re experiencing. On Wednesday, Ottawa hit record low temps. for that day in 8 years with a windchill teasing –40. Some of us ventured out briefly to tend to commitments but it was so good to get home, get warm, and get connected.

Were we more isolated before this email thing took over the field of communication? I can’t remember…probably we spent most of the day on the phone but seldom did we do conference calls. Now everyone is included.

Another way of communicating is this great event that’s happening at most branches of the Ottawa Public Library on Sat. Jan. 26th. It’s called the Human Library, in conjunction with the CBC and part of the National Human Library Day. Between the hours of 11-3, people are able to “sign-out” people for 20-minute discussions. In Ottawa (and this is happening in many cities across Canada), there are 40 human books just waiting to be plumbed. I’ve heard ‘excerpts from several over the past week – a high school teacher, a Muslim woman, a chef, a recovering gambler, a drag queen, a firefighter, a former gang member, a war veteran…and the list goes on.

Besides being a terrific way to connect with others we might not otherwise meet in our community and to hear their stories, it seems to me to be a writer’s ideal research opportunity. Maybe, pick up some background information. Maybe meet a new resource.

I love the fact that libraries, and cultural centers, are spearheading this opportunity for readers to access these human books. Because books really do provide opportunities for learning and enjoying.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

READ AND BURIED
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
A KILLER READ, also available at your favourite bookstores and online.

CRIME ON MY MIND

Coming soon!

What's not to like about winter -- frigid cold days with the sun glistening on snowbanks; the Rideau Canal opened today for ice skating on this Heritage gem; and, spring is just around the corner.

To help you get through winter, if that's how you view it, and to add anticipation as we wait for spring, there are new releases from Canadian mystery and crime writers just waiting to hit the bookshelves (or ebook lists, if you prefer).

Coming up in February, Peggy Blair follows up on her acclaimed first novel, The Beggar's Opera with the second Inspector Ramirez, The Poisoned Pawn, from Penguin. The setting is Havana and what better place to be in the depths of winter.

In March, award-winning author Mary Jane Maffini has yet another new series being released! This one she's writing with her daughter, Vicky Maffini, under the pseudonym of Victoria Abbott. The Christie Curse, from Berkley Prime Crime,

is the first in a cosy series about two women, one aging and eccentric, the other young and determined, who find the road to valuable old manuscripts littered with bodies (think the female equivalents of the Nero Wolfe-Archie Goodwin crime duo.

Well-known mystery writer Barbara Fradkin has sent her Ottawa Police Inspector Green to the Nahanni in search of his missing daughter, in The Whisper of Legends. This is number 9 in this award-winning series from Dundurn Press and will appear in April.

I already have an advance reading copy of west coast author Lou Allin's latest RCMP Corporal Holly Martin's newest outing, Twilight is not Good for Maidens, and will review it closer to the release date, which is May. This is also from Dundurn Press.

And I know there's a copy of Edmonton writer Janice MacDonald's newest mystery on it's way soon. Watch for that review, too. And, looking way ahead to August, the mysterious Erika Chase has Cover Story, the 3rd Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery slated to appear.

That's just a sampling of what to look for and you know, it's all good. There will be many more titles from Canadian writers over the coming year. I'll post reviews as I receive books and I'll add a list of authors, titles and release months to this blogsite.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

READ AND BURIED
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
A KILLER READ, also available at your favourite bookstores and online.

CRIME ON MY MIND

Remembering Audrey Jessup


A lunch is taking place today in memory of a valued colleague, a very sweet lady with a killer pen. Audrey Jessup left us ten years ago and her presence is still felt when The Ladies’ Killing Circle gets together for a gig or just to have fun.

She left her imprint on this critique group – I can still hear her correcting something grammatical – and we were better writers, better friends for having her a part of LKC.

But she touched so many more lives, too.

As one of the original members of Capital Crime Writers, she’s been memorialized with the Audrey Jessup Award, given each year in the short story contest. Many of us remember, with a chuckle, the meeting where her dear husband Max was sitting right beside her when she asked a question of the guest speaker, a doctor I believe. She asked what poison to use that wouldn’t be detected. We all looked at Max. He sat very still.

For a regal looking woman with an elegant accent she wrote some very menacing short stories. You wouldn’t want to get on her bad side because she did know ways of doing a person in, without being caught. Aah, but there was that twinkle in her eye.

She loved to travel and she loved to write. And she loved the mystery world. She also loved the art world, and the volunteer world and so her many worlds will blend today as we lunch and remember the many facets and charms of Audrey Jessup.

If you knew her, you know what I mean. And if you knew her, you were very lucky!

Thank you, Audrey. You are missed!

CRIME ON MY MIND

Not another one!

I'm looking at a drawing of a blonde woman with the caption "1 Rule of a Flat Stomach". Do you see it, too? It's on the right of my screen, one of those pop-up ads that's so annoying on the internet. At the bottom, impinging on my blog site and making it difficult to edit until I zap the strip away, is the "Web Promotion Tools" toolbar. Why are these people trying to take over my screen or at the very least, my thought processes?

It's bad enough that the Amazons blast me every day with books I'll surely want to purchase. (That's what happens when you cave and buy something from their sites!); that every store where I've added my email address sends me daily reminders of sales (ok, my fault, I know -- but sometimes really great coupons appear); that Expedia, Air Canada, Travelocity and every other travel site I've used feels I need a holiday (although, they may be right); and that in a fit of curiosity, I signed on to several writing digests (my fault, I know)and now I'm inundated with the messages that I sometimes quickly scan, at other times just delete.

It is addictive, this wanting to know what others are thinking, reading, experiencing and it's the reason the internet is taking over lives. I read today that Facebook is looking at more ways to generate income -- watch out for more onslaughts of ads, etc. and even if you don't read them, they're an annoyance that needs to be dealt with before you can get on with the real stuff, like checking on 'Friends' and posting the most exciting moments of your life. Otherwise, it's all to easy to accidentally click on one of those tiny spots that then morphs into an entire screen.

And that, my internet friends, is my first rant of the new year. I've now totally forgotten what I wanted to blog about but maybe you can relate more to this. Either way, I wish you a year of interesting internet experiences.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

READ AND BURIED
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
A KILLER READ, also available at your favourite bookstores and online.