SCHMOOZING WITH JANET KELLOUGH

Who has influenced you most in your writing career?

When I was about ten, I started reading a series of great historical potboilers by Thomas Costain. He jumped all over the place in terms of era – Biblical, medieval England, the time of Marco Polo – but they were rattling good reads. They haven’t really held up for me as an adult reader, but through them I got hooked not only on historical fiction, but history itself. As a writer, I figured it would be a fine thing if I could that for someone else.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just started the fifth book in The Thaddeus Lewis Mystery series. It doesn’t have a title yet because I’m not far enough in, and I’ll have to put it aside in a few weeks to work on the edits for the fourth book The Burying Ground, which will be released in July 2015.

In what ways is your main protagonist like you?

As a Methodist saddlebag preacher, Thaddeus Lewis constantly analyses and evaluates his actions and attitudes within the framework of his religious beliefs. Although my core moral base is not religious in nature, I too question everything in the light of my personal code of ethics. It sometimes makes me very unpopular. Especially at dinner parties and on Facebook.

Are you character driven or plot driven?

The Thaddeus Lewis Mysteries are very much character-driven, but the historical background is the real engine for the series. Rather than leave Thaddeus rooted in one particular time and place, he and his family are moving through the years between Canada’s 1837 rebellions and Confederation. Both the plot and their reactions to events bend to the historical record.

Are you a panster or a plotter?

Oh, I am such a panster. Usually I find fascinating, but unrelated bits of information and then I have to turn them inside out and upside down until I figure out how they fit together. Sometimes that doesn’t happen until the very last moments of the first draft. Sometimes I panic.

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

The sense that Canadian history is not boring. It’s just different. Unlike other countries it’s not all about wars and armed conflict, but a very unique set of circumstances that led very directly to the kind of country we are today. If you understand the history, it’s easier to evaluate the headlines you see in the newspaper.

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

My initial hope was to complete the Thaddeus Lewis series at Confederation, but I can see that it may well carry on from there. I have also been dabbling in speculative fiction and we’ll have to see what happens with it. But I’ll still be writing. I’m not happy if I’m not writing. Ask my family.

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

A lot of my readers also know me as a performer, and even at readings and book-signings I tend to come across as very out-going. They might be surprised to know that I’m really a high-functioning introvert. I need a huge amount of alone time and I’ve never been afraid of long stretches of silence.

What do you like to read for pleasure?

I read a lot of non-fiction, about everything from quantum mechanics to Antarctic exploration. I just like to know stuff. I want to live forever, so I can find out everything about everything. And then I’ll tell you about it.

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

47 Sorrows - Kingston 1847: Lewis & kid Luke find murdered bodies amongst dying Irish emigrants. WTF?

Janet Kellough is an author and performance storyteller who lives in the unfashionable part of Prince Edward County, Ontario, near the cusp of The Marysburgh Vortex. She has written and performed in many stage productions featuring a fusion of music and spoken word and published two contemporary novels before launching into her popular Thaddeus Lewis mystery series with Dundurn Press.

SCHMOOZING WITH RICK BLECHTA

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

That’s sort of a tough one. If you mean for crime writing, I’d have to say there are three: Dick Francis for how he handled the horse racing backgrounds in his novels. I always felt there were just enough interesting informational tidbits as well as a clever way of working the racing background into the plot of the story. Even though the main character became pretty repetitious after awhile, Francis books are a good, fun read.

For dialogue, hand’s down, it has to be Rex Stout. He was such a deft hand at it, you seldom noticed how much information he was feeding you, not just with the words, but also with the actions and reactions of those speaking. There’s a lot to learn about good writing from reading Nero Wolfe.

Among current writers, I would have to say I really admire the way Michael Connelly and Val McDermid put their books together. They make very few missteps in plotting and can paint a pretty amazing picture with just a few, very spare phrases.

2. What are you working on now?

I’ve just finished a full-length novel for Dundurn which happens to be a sequel to my previous publication with them. This is called Roses for a Diva and even though it was a very difficult and time-consuming job, I really enjoyed it and am quite happy the way it all turned out. Roses will be released sometime late next year – at least, that’s what I’ve been told. Readers will like it (I hope) because this time the story travels to Italy for much of the book.

Also out next spring will be a new Rapid Reads novella titled The Boom Room. This is another Pratt and Ellis story and concerns a murder at a nightclub. I enjoy writing these stripped-down works a great deal. I think it improves my prose-writing in general since you have to say just as much with a greatly reduced palette.

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

Since I don’t have a main protagonist that travels from book to book (except for this current one), there are only so many generalities about their personalities that they might share with me. My characters don’t give up easily, very much like me, and while they may be occasionally unsure of themselves, they know how to think things through. Some of them also have a rather ironic view of the world, which I definitely do. I do wish I had the amazing musical talents a few of them possess! In which case, I probably wouldn’t be writing novels…

4. Are you character driven or plot driven?

I’d have to say both. I have to really be engaged with the characters in my novels, the good as well as the bad, in order to write each one. They usually have some sort of flaw they have to overcome during the story (or not, if they’re a baddy), but I also feel the plot needs to be strong and compelling in order for the book to be ultimately successful for readers. So let’s put it this way: I like to explore my characters, but I don’t want that to get in the way of telling the basic story. Since not a few of my novels are whydunits rather than whodunits, the plot can be especially important. Above all, everything has to be believable. I’ve occasionally been told (by reviewers as well as readers) that my characters are very much like most people they know, but I take that as a compliment. How many really outré people does the average person know?

5. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Lately, I’ve been told by both my publishers that they want at least a detailed plot outline, if not a chapter-by-chapter summary. Because they require it, I do it, but I can’t say I like it. It does help sort things out for plot requirements, but once I send it in, I generally never look at it again while I’m writing the story. If I were to follow things off my summary, I would certainly be more apt to miss those interesting and exciting plot twists you come up against along the way. For instance, with The Boom Room, I got to the final chapter and realized the wrong person did it! If I’d followed my chapter outline, the storyline wouldn’t have changed enough to allow that to happen. As a sidebar, when you work this way it’s very interesting to finish a novel, then look at your long-forgotten summary and see how well you did at following it. To sum up, I would much rather work through my plots without the aid of too much forethought.

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

A sense of enjoyment, certainly, but since I write about music and try to do it authoritatively, I would hope they might enjoy the insights into how music is made, both internally and externally, since to many, being a musician or involved in the music biz is something mysterious and arcane. Foremost in my mind as I write is in producint “a good story, well-told” to quote one of my publishers.

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

I would like to not have to rely on a day gig to earn my living. I work best when I can concentrate totally on writing. Currently, that only happens on vacations or if I don’t have any graphic design work on my desk. And I sure hope that happens sooner than in ten years!

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

Probably that I can be very unsure of myself at times. I have learned how to think my way out of tight corners, but sometimes I’m very much up against it. They might also be shocked to find out that when I write I always wear a pirate costume – complete with eye patch and a live parrot on my shoulder. Just kidding…

9. What do you like to read for pleasure?

Anything that strikes my fancy. My wife and I both love looking at maps (we have a large number of British Landranger maps for instance), and I often read history. We have amassed over 150 cookbooks. I read one or two biographies every year – usually about musicians. I wish I had more time to read, actually, since it is one of life’s great pleasures. If I have a novel on the go, it’s extremely hard for me to feel anything but guilt that I’m reading instead of working on it.

10. Give us a summary of your latest book in a Tweet (140 characters or fewer).

Operatic soprano Marta Hendriks is being stalked as she travels the globe. Is it just an over-enthusiastic fan – or something more sinister?

Rick Blechta is a musician as well as a writer of crime fiction. He has successfully melded the two in his critically-acclaimed thrillers. His 9th and 10th novels are scheduled to be published in 2014. First, another novella for Orca Book Publisher’s Rapid Reads imprint will be released in spring. Next fall will see Dundurn publishing his full-length novel, Roses for a Diva, the sequel to his very popular The Fallen One.

Rick posts every Tuesday on the long-running Type M for Murder blog (http://typem4murder.blogspot.com) and you can visit his website at http://rickblechta.com.

Catch Rick playing trumpet with The Advocats Big Band on the first Monday of every month at Seven44 Restaurant and Lounge, located just south of Eglinton on Mount Pleasant in Toronto.

MYSTERY REVIEW

A GRAVE WAITING
by Jill Downie
Dundurn Press

Detective Inspector Ed Moretti and Detective Sergeant Liz Falla have returned. This Guernsey Island pair of police officers was first encountered in Jill Downie's Daggers and Men's Smiles last year. And this time around, they're trying to figure out why financial advisor Bernard Masterson, also suspected arms dealer, came to visit the Channel Island, and more importantly, why he was murdered.

His body is found by the cook aboard his palatial yacht, Just Desserts, the morning after he'd given his entire crew the night off. Video footage shows Lady Coralie Fellowes, now a local but once a star of the Folies Bergere as the only visitor to the boat. Even more incriminating is the fact she disposed of a gun into the water beside the dock. When it's revealed her deceased husband had been duped by Masterson, she shoots to the head of the suspect list.

However, Fellowes is not the sole name on that list which includes Masterson's housekeeper, two Germans who are recent additions to the crew, a local doctor, and even a member of Moretti's jazz band. Add to the mix a retired, reclusive spy and some colourful locals, and the detectives have their hands full chasing leads but still coming up empty on why Masterson was there in the first place.

The island of Guensey is the main attraction of this series, so wonderfully depicted as the mystery unfolds. Detective Sergeant Liz Falla also stands out as a very real character, alert and savvy. Moretti's personal life entwines with the plot as we see him in the evenings with his main passion, playing jazz piano, and as his love life gets a new spark with the addition of a mysterious trio on the island.

Jill Downie has written a complex mystery that draws the reader in and, with increasing fervor, to the unearthing of a plot with international intrigue, and the more basic motives of love and revenge.

MYSTERY REVIEW

THE FALLEN ONE
by Rick Blechta
Dundurn Press

Enter the world of opera, travel, suspense, despair, tragedy, deceit, delight, and terror. All this in one book, Toronto author Rick Blechta's latest mystery, The Fallen One. Blechta's background in music shines through in this tale of Canadian opera star Marta Hendriks, battling to get her career back on track after bowing out for a couple years following the tragic death of her husband, Marc in a house fire.

When Marta travels to Paris to sing the role of Violetta in Traviata for the Paris Opera, she's counting on this being her re-entry into that world. She hasn't bargained on seeing her dead husband on a Paris street, shaking her confidence and threatening to undo the years of therapy. To save her sanity and her career, Marta travels back to her home in Toronto, and then onto the ruins of the house Marc was building for them, just outside Ottawa in the Lanark Highlands. She searches through Marc's pickup truck which has been stored on the property and finds a clue that leads her to a small apartment in Montreal. And Marc's true identity.

She's then drawn into a cat-and-mouse game involving biker gangs, RCMP, two more deaths and finally, an attempt on her own life when she searches for Marc back in Paris. She doesn't know who to trust -- the good guys are indistinguishable from the bad. Along the way, Marta matures as a soprano who is now in demand, dares to care about another man, faces her demons, and emerges with the truth.

It's a suspense-filled journey, often terrifying, but also one of opulent opera halls along with the colourful characters who populate that world. Blechta has skillfully woven it all together into a novel that's hard to put down. Enter the world of opera, of suspense, of a mystery not to be missed!

MYSTERY REVIEW

SHE DEMONS
by Donald J. Hauka
Dundurn Press

The incomparable Mister Jinnah is at it again. In She Demons, the second book in this imaginative series, ace crime reporter Hakeem Jinnah is pit against a cult--the Millenial Magic or MiMis -- and even worse, the Yaksha, a drug running killer organization from the U.S.

The first body is that of a cult "prophet", Thad whose be-headed body (albeit, the head is resting in place complete with signs carved on the cheeks) signal that sinister things are taking place in Vancouver. This is not news to Jinnah, who on the continual search for a page one story, is ready to tangle again with cult leader Lionel Simons, a shock-rocker star to whom Jinnah once had to print an apology, something he still smarts about.

The carving signals the first sign of the Yaksha across the border. But no one believes Jinnah. Not even his friend, police Sergeant Craig Graham whose career is threatened by this murder. He's out to do damage control, enlisting Jinnah.

Jinnah teams up with for Miss Wreck Beach beauty Jassy Singh, another person with reason to hate Jinnah for past stories. But they share a common goal -- to rescue another cult member, Andy Gill from deep within the clutches of the MiMis. It doesn't help that Andy is the son of an acquaintance and Jinnah has promised to find him.

Things get very dicey when Jinnah's own son, Saleem, gets cult-struck and starts attending raves and "meetings" at the drop-in centre. Jinnah's wife is non too pleased with him for trying to use Saleem for some recon on these outings.

It's all getting to be too much for the brash-mouthed, wise-cracking Jinnah and he truly believes it's the end when he's captured and ear-marked to be part of a mass cult murder.

This fast-moving plot takes the reader on a tour of Vancouver, from it's grungy under-belly to the classy West Vancouver mansions, with Jinnah in his Gucci loafers and his van, known as the "satellite-guided Love Machine". There's grit and violence along with humourous dialogue and memorable characters.

The first Jinnah, Mister Jinnah, was adapted for television, followed by another television adaption a couple of years later. No doubt, She Demons will soon be on the tube, too.


Linda Wiken