Fun time in British Columbia

I shall be heading off shortly to the land of mountains and sea for some thrilling events and awe inspiring adventure with a wee celebration thrown into the mix.

In Vancouver on June 1, I'll be talking about my Meg Harris series and offering a sneak preview into the next Meg Harris mystery, A Green Place for Dying due out in Feb. 2012.  The event is being held at the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch, at 350 West Georgia St. from 7:00 pm to 8:30.  I'll be joined by award winning author Barbara Fradkin, who writes the Inspector Green mystery series. If you happen to be in Vancouver that day, please drop by. We would love to see you.

And then I am off to Vancouver Island, to attend Bloody Words being held in Victoria this year from June 3 to 5. But on the way Barbara and I plan to enjoy some of the fabulous B.C. scenery by taking the ferry over to the island. On June 2, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed at the Arthur Ellis awards dinner, hoping that my favourite shortlisted authors win awards this year.

I am thrilled to be participating in 2 events at the conference. On Friday evening, June 3 at 8:30 pm, I'll be participating in an intriguing panel on Points of View: speaking from the margins. I'll be joining David Cole, Kay Stewart and George Szanto with Sylvia Warsh as our moderator. Then next day at 10:00 am, I will be doing the Mystery Cafe session, Silent Witness: landscape as character, with Stephen Legault. And of course I will be signing my books after the events.

And then the adventure begins. I fly to Haida Gwaii or Queen Charlotte Islands to do research on the next and 6th as yet unnamed Meg Harris mystery. To get a feel for these isolated mountainous islands, I will be exploring much of it from the water on a boat tour that will take me to Gwaii Hanas, the large protected southern third of the islands where totem poles of the once vibrant Haida stand as silent sentinels to the past. I will also be meeting with people from the Haida Nation.

And sometime during all this I will be celebrating a big birthday in the city of my birth and hoping at the same time to be celebrating the winning of the Stanley Cup by the Vancouver Canucks.

All in all it promises to be a very exciting trip.

Arthur Ellis Award Nomination!

I'm thrilled to announced that Arctic Blue Death has just been shortlisted for the 2010 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel, Canada's pre-eminent award for crime fiction. The winner will be announced in Toronto on May 27 at the annual awards dinner. Needless to say I'm absolutely overjoyed with this recognition of the many long hours spent in front of a computer creating the world of Meg Harris. And feel particularly honoured to be in the company of such great writers as Anthony Bidulka, Lee Lamonthe, James W. Nichol and Howard Shrier.

For more information check out Crime Writers of Canada