Santa Fe, here I come!

I’m almost packed. Have bookmarks, flyers along with my secret Canadian hat for our Canadian panel on Thursday, along with mystery prizes. Have the dogs, their food, crates and toys ready to take to the kennel. And then I’m off to Santa Fe to attend Left Coast Crime. I’m getting very excited. It will be my first time visiting that part of New Mexico.

I am participating in four events, starting with Thursday’s Cuentos session on Crime Hot Spots of Canada from 2:00 pm to 2:45. Vicki Delany, Barbara Fradkin and I will take you on a tour to some of these hot spots.  We’ll be having a draw for some uniquely Canadian door prizes.

On Friday from 2:45 pm to 3:30, I will be moderating the Living Diversity: mysteries with a difference panel. I’m looking forward to grilling Gar Anthony Harwood, Deborah Ledford, Neil Plakcy, Daryl Wimberley and Robert Bennett on what Living Diversity means in their mysteries.

Very early Saturday morning at 7:30, I will be speed dating, i.e. flogging my Meg Harris mystery series, at the Established Authors Breakfast. If it’s anything like the Malice-Go-Round, it should be a hoot.

Than later on Saturday from 10:15 am to 11:00, I will be participating in the panel on When Location Makes All the Difference – Settings in Mysteries. I will be joining fellow panelists, Pete Goodman, Sara Sue Hoklotubbe, Annamaria Alfieri, with Jeanne Mathews as moderator. As you well know settings is one of my favourite topics, so I am very much looking forward to this panel.

I hope to see some of you there. 

Publication Delay

For all of you anxiously awaiting the next Meg Harris mystery, the publication of A Green Place for Dying has been delayed almost a year to February 2012. While I am looking forward to working with my new publisher Dundurn, unfortunately their 2011 publication schedule was already set and it wasn't possible to fit my book in. If there is any change in this, I will keep you posted.

March Madness

The book event season is starting to hot up. And even though the latest Meg Harris mystery, A GREEN PLACE FOR DYING, won’t yet be available for these upcoming March events, I am certainly very happy to sign the 4 earlier books.

The first event is in Kemptville, Ontario on Sunday March 6. I am very honoured to be participating in the Kemptville Literary Follies held at Leslie Hall on Clothier St. West. At 3:00 pm I will be discussing and reading from the latest Meg Harris mystery. 

Then on Thursday, March 10, I will be the speaker at a Food For Thought luncheon, a program for seniors which is held bi-monthly at a local Ottawa restaurant.

Towards the end of March I fly to Santa Fe NM to attend the Left Coast Crime conference. I will be participating in 3 events. On Thursday Mar. 24, 2:00 pm – 2:45, Vicki Delany and Barbara Fradkin will be joining me to talk about the Crime Hot Spots of Canada using our respective series as the travel guide. On Friday, Mar. 25, I will be moderating the Living Diversity panel from 2:45 to 3:30 pm and on Saturday, Mar. 26, I will be participating in the panel, When Location Makes All the Difference, from 10:15 to 11:00 am. I am very much looking forward to my visit to this historic part of New Mexico and hope to see some of you there.

On Tuesday, Mar. 29 from 7:00 pm – 9:00, I will be signing my books at Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ. I’ll be joined by fellow Canadian authors Vicki Delany and Wayne Arthurson.

My last event is next day, on Wednesday, Mar. 30, 2:00 pm at the Velma Teague Library in Glendale, AZ. Vicki will be sharing the podium with me. I'll be talking about my newest book, A GREEN PLACE FOR DYING. 

And I must not forget to mention that I am very excited about being a guest author at this year's Scene of the Crime Mystery Writing Festival being held Sat. August 13 on Wolf Island.  I will be joining Maureen Jennings, Elizabeth Duncan, C.B. Forrest and Howard Shrier. It promises to be a terrific day. Registration is limited, so register early and get a chance to not only hear us but to enjoy the festival's renowned church supper.

Publisher Change

An era in Canadian publishing ends with the buy-out of my publisher Napoleon & Co. by Dundurn Press.
Napoleon under the stewardship of Sylvia McConnell made a significant contribution in promoting Canadian stories by publishing distinctly Canadian mysteries and juvenile fiction. She and her editor Allister Thompson were wonderful to work with. Fortunately, we won't be saying good-bye. They are moving over to Dundurn to work as our editors. And rest assured that Meg Harris mysteries will continue with the spring publication of A Green Place for Dying by Dundurn.

The next Meg Harris mystery

Whew… I’ve done it. I’ve finally sent A Green Place for Dying off to my publisher.  I feel as if a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. But I tell you after living with Meg, her cast of supporting characters and her adventures for the past year and a half, I feel a bit lonely… and bored. Now what do I do? On to the next Meg Harris mystery…  or should I do something else….?

I am very excited about A Green Place for Dying. In this 5^th book in the Meg Harris mystery series, Meg returns to Three Deer Point after her trip to the Arctic, only to discover that the daughter of a friend has been missing from the Migiskan Reserve for over 2 months. Treating her as a runaway, the police refuse to do little more than a nominal search and continue to stall even when the girl’s friend turns up murdered.

As the mother struggles with her daughter’s disappearance, Meg vows to do what she can to find her and in the process uncovers an underside of life she would rather not know existed. And when the search takes an unexpected turn, Meg is forced to finally face her own demons and admit to the guilt she’s been hiding since a teenager.

In this latest Meg Harris mystery not only do I explore a major issue in Canada, that of missing aboriginal women (currently over 560) with little or no attention paid to their cases by police but I also delve into guilt and the detrimental impact it can have on shaping people’s lives.

Although A Green Place for Dying won’t be in bookstores until May, it is available for pre-order on online bookstores. 

Season's Greeting

I wish you a joyous and wonderful Christmas. And if you are travelling to 

spend it with family and friends, please drive safely. 

All the best in 2012

Christmas Crime Wave

Your last chance before Christmas to buy signed copies of mysteries by your favourite Ottawa crime writers. On Tuesday, Dec. 21 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 come to the Ottawa Citizen at 1101 Baxter Road in Ottawa. Barbara Fradkin, Mary Jane Maffini, Brenda Chapman, C.B. Forrest and I will be joining Randall Denley in a Christmas crime novel extravaganza.  This is your chance to buy copies of their latest books that are already sold out in area stores. Hope to see you there.