CRIME ON MY MIND

Cool Canadian Crime!

If you have time for a breather over the holiday weekend, I hope you'll grab a mystery by a Canadian author and just chill out for a while. Since we're celebrating the birthday of our wonderful country, it's a good time to also revel in the accomplishments of so many talented Canadians. I mean the entire gamut of folks who shine in the arts, sports, humanities, medicine, technology, military, yes, even the government. And so many more. We owe them a lot because they make this country so amazing.

I could never list all the Canadian mystery writers out there but you could check the Crime Writers of Canadian website for a fairly extensive list. http://www.crimewriterscanada.com. And there are many others, too. But I'd like to compile a list (yes, another list but different from the Summer mystery reading list -- which I'm hoping to post over the weekend).

I'll start...hope you'll add your favourites in the comments section. In no particular order:

Gail Bowen, William Deverell, Joan Boswell, Peter Robinson, Barbara Fradkin, Mary Jane Maffini, Thomas Rendell Curran, C.B. Forrest, Brenda Chapman, Vicki Delany, Sue Pike, Lou Allin, Pam Curran, D.J. McIntosh, Elizabeth Duncan, Robin Spano, Garry Ryan, Peggy Blair, Anthony Bidulka, R.J. Harlick, Melodie Campbell, Maureen Jennings, Eric Wright, Howard Engel, John Brady, Jose Latour, Janet Kellough, Giles Blunt, Linwood Barclay Howard Shrier, Phyllis Smallman, Rick Mofina, Cathy Astolfo, Brad Smith, Alison Preston, Dave Hugelschaffer, John Moss, John Lawrence Reynolds, David Russell, Janet Bolin, Erika Chase, Deryn Collier, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Anne Emery, Rosemary McCracken, Janice MacDonald, Jill Edmondson, Alison Bruce, Gloria Ferris, Susanna Kearsley, Robert Rotenberg, Hilary MacLeod...

Okay...I'm all worn out. Your turn!

Congratulations to all our hot writers of cool Canadian crime! Happy Canada Day!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

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

TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLE

Time mangament...what's that?

Only one more day left in February...and that's a gift this year, being a Leap Year. I for one, can certainly make good use of that extra day. It's like turning the clocks back one hour in the fall. One more hour a day -- whoee!

When did life become so hectic? Can't answer that one but each day I hope to gain control again, to set some order to my agenda and become more productive to boot.
So I use lists. The days I don't, I fall behind. It's not like I'm a slave to the list because I often don't even consult it. In fact, I often can't find it which is to say, tidying my desk is always at the top of the list.

It's the act of writing things down that allows me the perception I'm once again in control of the hours. Often, that action also makes the tasks take hold in my memory and I follow through merrily. Who cares if I've skipped #1 and can't find the list anywhere.

Today, being the day before the final day in February, means one more day to make any RRSP contributions for the past year. The fact that I can't remember if I did it when I received my notice of assessment is not a surprise. This happens every year. I need to make a quick call to my financial advisor and all will be dealt with. But it shouldn't come down to this last minute scurrying each and every year.
I should have a master list for the year and address these annual issues as they arise. Of course I should.

And, I should, being aware that when I'm feeling the pressures of finishing a book, realize that's the time the edits from the previous book will arrive in my email mailbox. And they then become the priority.

But that's also the time that more promotional tasks for the earlier book kick in -- like planning the launch, setting up signings, preparing for panels and workshops.

I know all this...right? So why is it the second to last day in February and I'm in a tizzy? I should write that down on my list...item #2 -- get into tizzy mode. Then I can deal with it by losing the list.

Besides, I always work better to deadline. Or so I like saying.

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

MAYHEM ON MONDAY

Mayhem on Monday has been the story of my life. Although in recent years, Mondays still mean mayhem but not in the same hideous way they used be. Nope. Gone are the days when mid-afternoon on Sunday I’d start to obsess about the next morning in all its nightmarish qualities. As a child the worry was undone homework or impending math tests or the need to sit quietly muzzled among the long rows of other kids, wishing to be almost anywhere else — with the exception of the Principal’s Office. Flash forward and school has become work. On Sunday afternoon, the specter loomed of perma-meetings starting at the crack of dawn and grinding inexorably through the day, while the mile high inbox teetered. And of course, there was the unrelenting pressure of locating two shoes from the same pair in the dim early morning. This didn’t always happen successfully, but that’s a story for another day. I haven’t even mentioned the traffic, often compounded by snow!

No matter how much I liked my jobs — the work was very interesting and I had excellent colleagues many of whom are still friends — I could never manage being a morning person. And as for being a Monday morning person: are you kidding? Mayhem doesn’t come close.

Now, if there’s any mayhem on my Mondays, it happens in a good way: cheerful, empowering, fun. The fictional game of creating murder mysteries has many lovely advantages, quite aside from the ongoing game of wits with readers, the fun of playing with characters’ lives and the joy of dreaming up bizarre and dangerous scary experiences for them, not to mention bumping off people.

Here are my top ten reasons to love Mondays now:

· Working in my pajamas
· Drinking endless cups of coffee, made the way I like it
· Having the right – no, make that the obligation – to nap
· Enjoying the advantage of having my dogs cuddled up
· Getting paid for telling lies (oh the thrill!)
· The commute to my kitchen is less than a minute. No snow. Bare feet!
· Being able to bump off anyone who has annoyed me in even the smallest way (Hear that Mr. Big Shot in the Cadillac Escalade? You are toast)
· Reading two papers in the morning and having that count as research (yes, that includes comics and horoscopes because I make the rules)
· Talking out loud to myself and knowing it’s definitely in the job description
· Meeting the nicest people without leaving the house! You know who you are – friends, readers, former colleagues, cozy mystery lovers
· What’s not to love? Hey, my whole week is like that!

And as for you, gentle Monday reader: what’s the best or the worst about your Mondays? Are they filled with mayhem? Or are they marvelous? Don’t hold back.


Mary Jane Maffini is a lapsed librarian, a former mystery bookstore owner and a lifelong lover of mysteries. In addition to the four Charlotte Adams books from Berkley Prime Crime, she is the author of the Camilla MacPhee series, the Fiona Silk adventures and nearly two dozen short stories. She served two terms as President of Crime Writers of Canada. She loves mysteries of all kinds and is enjoying the surge in Canadian crime (writing).

Her latest Charlotte Adams book, The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder, will be published in April, 2011. She says she’s grateful for all the tips she gets from Charlotte and for the opportunity to write the series. She lives and plots in Ottawa, Ontario, along with her long-suffering husband and two princessy dachshunds. Visit her at www.maryjanemaffini.com