Bony Blithe Shortlist

Murder Is Nothing to Have Fun With...Or Is It?

Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award Announces Finalists


The Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award, an annual Canadian award that celebrates traditional, feel-good mysteries is pleased to announce this year’s finalists. The award is for a “mystery book that makes us smile” and includes everything from laugh-out-loud to gentle humour to good old-fashioned stories with little violence or gore.

Congratulations to the five finalists for the 2015 Bony Blithe Award:


Cathy Ace, The Corpse with the Platinum Hair (Touchwood Editions)

Judith Alguire, Many Unpleasant Returns (Signature Editions)

E.C. Bell, Seeing the Light (Tyche Books)

Janet Bolin, Night of the Living Thread (Berkley Prime Crime)

Allan Stratton, The Resurrection of Mary Mabel McTavish (Dundurn Press)

The award will be presented at the Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award Bash on Friday, May 29, at The Hot House Restaurant & Bar, 35 Church St., Toronto (Church at Front). The festivities start at 6:30 p.m. in the Library Room. For more information, contact us at bw-award@bloodywords.com.

The winner will receive a cheque for $1,000 plus a colourful plaque.

Thank you to all the publishers and authors who submitted their books for this year’s contest. May there be many smiles in your future.

Website: www.bonyblithe.com

Facebook: Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award

Twitter: @bonyblithe

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA SHORTLISTT

Crime Writers of Canada announced, across the country at the same time last night, the shortlist for the Arthur Ellis Awards for excellence in Canadian crime writing. These awards will be given out at the annual Arthur Ellis Awards banquet in Toronto, on Thurs. June 5th, the evening before the Bloody Words Conference kicks off. So, if you're going to one, consider adding the other. All the banquet details are on the Crime Writers of Canada website, www.crimewriterscanada.com

Congratulations to all who are shortlisted! And in Ottawa, we're pretty pleased that Brenda Chapman is up for a Best Novella award.



Best Novel
John Brooke, Walls of a Mind, Signature Editions
Seán Haldane, The Devil’s Making, Stone Flower Press
Lee Lamothe, Presto Variations, Dundurn
Howard Shrier, Miss Montreal, Vintage Canada
Simone St. James, An Inquiry into Love and Death, Penguin Books

Best First Novel
E.R. Brown, Almost Criminal, Dundurn
A.S.A. Harrison, The Silent Wife, Penguin Books Canada
Axel Howerton, Hot Sinatra, Evolved Publishing
J. Kent Messum, Bait, Penguin Canada
S.G. Wong, Die on Your Feet, Carina Press

Best Novella
Melodie Campbell, The Goddaughter’s Revenge, Orca Books
Brenda Chapman, My Sister’s Keeper, Grassroots Press
James Heneghan, A Woman Scorned, Orca Books

Best Short Story
Donna Carrick, Watermelon Weekend, Thirteen, Carrick Publishing
Jas. R. Petrin, Under Cap Ste. Claire, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, October 2013, Dell Magazines
Twist Phelan, Footprints in Water, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 2013, Dell Magazines
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, The Emerald Skull, Thirteen, Carrick Publishing
Sam Wiebe, The Third Echo, Girl Trouble: Malfeasance Occasional, MacMillan/St Martin’s Press

Best Book in French
Chrystine Brouillet, Saccages, La courte échelle
Jacques Côté, Et à l'heure de votre mort, éditions Alire
Maureen Martineau, L’enfant promis, La courte échelle
Jacques Savoie, Le fils emprunté, Éditions Libre Expression

Best Juvenile/YA
Karen Autio, Sabotage, Sono Nis Press
Gail Gallant, Apparition, Doubleday Canada
Elizabeth MacLeod, Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries, Annick Press
Ted Staunton, Who I’m Not, Orca Books

Unhanged Arthur
L.J. Gordon, Death at the Iron House Lodge
Rachel Greenaway, Cold Girl
Charlotte Morganti, The Snow Job
Kristina Stanley, Descent
Kevin Thornton, Coiled

Thanks to everyone who took part in and attended our Shortlist Event in Ottawa!

CRIME ON MY MIND

Gotta love that book!

So how much do you love that book you’re writing? Do you enjoy going back to it each day? Do you look forward to spending time with the characters? Entangling them in all sorts of sticky situations? Having them solve the crime?

You’d better because you’re going to be spending an awful lot of time with them! I don’t mean writing time. That varies with each writer of course. You may whip through a draft in a couple of months, revise in another two or three and have the finished product off to the publisher within a year. Or, you may have been working on this baby for too many months to count.

It matters not in this context. Because once you do send it off, you’ll be revisiting it again and again. And again when it comes time to doing the promotional gigs.

Here’s the scenario – you finish the manuscript, breath a massive sigh of relief and perhaps, feel a tiny let down because those long months of visiting (insert name of setting) are over. So is the routine of writing daily. What – you have a life again?

Only for a short time. So make the most of it. Because it’s on to the next book.

And after a few months of writing, at a point where you’re brain is so wrapped up in the new plot, then you get the editor’s comments. If you’re an amazing writer, there may not be much to touch up or re-do. Otherwise, dig your head out of the new and get back to reading the entire manuscript and doing those changes.

Off it goes again. Maybe you can actually break the back of the next book. Oops…that email from your editor just came in. Now it’s time for a cover conference, so write the cover blurb please and send suggestions about the cover. What? That next plot has enveloped your mind again so it’s back for a scan of the first book. Do it and send it off and wait. It won’t be long until another email appears.

Only this time, it’s from the copyeditor with his/her suggestions which could mean a lot of red lines and hidden comments. Put the next book on the cold back burner once again. Start reading the manuscript from start to finish, once again. Do what needs to be done. Send it back.

Think you can really immerse yourself into writing at this point? Forget it. Next come the proofs and that requires a very thorough reading for typos, etc. Mmm, the plot seems way too familiar. But it gets done.

Another sigh of relief and back to writing. Until release date of the first book and then you have a launch which requires a reading done by you. Hadn’t thought of that, had you? Better re-read and find the appropriate portion of your work of art that will have them hooked.

All done? Not likely. But enjoy the moment. And by the way, do you still love that book?

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April, 2012
From Berkley Prime Crime
(available for pre-order on Amazon)

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

TGIM!

Thank goodness it's Monday!

Others may herald the end of the week, particularly if it's been a tough one at the office, but I like the blank slate that is Monday. Think about it. An entire new week to shape. For my Mom, Monday was laundry day and it's a habit I've gotten into. Clean towels, clean sheets, windows open and a clean breeze blowing through the house. Fortunately, this year I'm able to open those windows so late in November.

But Monday is much more than household chores, says someone who usually avoids said chores. It's time to plot your week as well as a new novel, perhaps. Some appointments are already on your calendar, especially the hard-to-get ones like with a foot specialist. Some of the weekly routines, the meetings or groups that have a regular afternoon or evening to which they are attached, will be there, too.

But there are all those blank spaces in the agenda that open themselves to new opportunities when viewed with Monday eyes. By Thursday, time is running out and the week's almost over. Whenever will you fit everything in?

My advice is to embrace Monday. If you're toying with the thought of starting a new short story -- Monday is the day to do it. If you want to take an extra hour to sit in your pj's with a coffee and newspaper -- it's a good way to break in the new week.

So, what will you do that's new today?

Mary Jane Maffini's regular Monday blog will return. Stay tuned!


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April 3, 2012
from Berkley Prime Crime

MYSTERY REVIEW

RELUCTANT DEAD
by John Moss
Dundurn Press

John Moss is quite the storyteller. He seamlessly blends historical details, descriptions of locations, and spy-tingling adventure into a page-turning novel. It's called Reluctant Dead. And although it starts with a murder or is it a suicide, in Toronto, that somehow gets lost in the convergence of lost treasure, spy antics, political factions, romantic notions and exotic locations. And yet, it doesn't get lost. It's still there, under the surface and weaves its way through it all.

In this, the third outing for Toronto police detectives Miranda Quinn and David Morgan, the partners take different paths. Quinn is on a three month sabbatical to Easter Island, in order to write a mystery novel. Morgan is handed the investigation of the death of Maria D'Arcy, wife of well-known lawyer, on a yacht moored at Toronto Island. Or is it truly a suicide, as he's led to believe?

Quinn's idyllic retreat turns into a hazardous setting, where she's drawn into a maze of deadly dealings having to do with a lost culture and political aspirations. While Morgan finds himself in the Arctic, trying to survive a rescue mission gone bad. Their stories converge back in Toronto and play out as both try to unravel the clues in this deadly game. The body count is high and the stakes are even higher. Plus, there are some unusual methods of murder!

There are a lot of layers to this novel, so be sure to pay close attention when reading. Part of the pleasure lies in the wonderful use of words that Moss chooses. And that's part of the annoyance, because you want to linger on the sentences. But you also feel the urgency to get on with the story and read to the conclusion. For instance, "Rove paused to let his emotions catch up to the narrative." ; and, "Miranda spun the notion around in her mind, looking for traction."

Reluctant Dead is also an homage to the settings -- Toronto, Easter Island and the Arctic. Do not expect a typical police procedural. But do expect to be entertained.

CRIME ON MY MIND

And the winners are....

What a terrific event last night! The annual Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet was held in Victoria, B.C. at the Hotel Grand Pacific and what a flock of Canadian crime writers attended!

And here are the winners:

Best Novel: Louise Penny for Bury Your Dead
Best First Novel: Avner Mandelman for The Debba
Best Short Story: Mary Jane Maffini for So Much in Common, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Best Crime Non-fiction: Stevie Cameron for On the Farm
Best Young Adult: alice Kuipers, for The Worst Thing She Ever Did
Best French Crime Book: Jacques Cote for Dans le quartier des agites
Best First Unpublished Novel: John Jeneroux for Better off Dead

Congratulations to all of the winners! And also, to everyone who was short-listed. It's always a difficult decision as there are so many wonderful writers in Canada.

Congratulations, too, to Crime Writers of Canada for this night of recognition of just how diverse and wonderful are our mystery writers. And to hold the event in Victoria was also an acknowledgement of just how widespread is this community. Of course, today is the start of Bloody Words 2011...so most natural to tie it in.

Let the weekend festivities begin! Hope to see you at Bloody Words!


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April 2012
from Berkley Prime Crime