AUTHOR DIANNE SCOTT SETS A MYSTERY SERIES IN THE PSYCHEDELIC 60s

Photo Printed with permission, Courtesy of the Toronto Star Photograph Archives,
Photographer Harold Whyte.

Canadian Dianne Scott lives a short ferry ride from Toronto Island, which is the setting of her award-winning Christine Lane Mystery series. When Dianne is not writing, she is walking Toronto’s neighborhoods, coffee klatching with friends, and cuddling her Bichon Poodle. Learn more about Christine and her books at https://diannescottauthor.com/

Setting a Mystery in the Psychedelic 60s

The setting of a novel is an important choice by an author. Geographical location and time period can inspire plot, characterization and themes. And the setting of Yorkville, Canada does not disappoint as a locale of a mystery book.

 

In the 1950s, the Yorkville area of Toronto was populated by coffee shops and local artists. Young people gravitated to the neighborhood because of its cheap rent and creative sensibilities. Local art hung on café walls and folk and jazz singers would play for their food. Musicians like Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell sang in the music venues that dotted the area.

 

Within a decade, Yorkville had become a mecca for hippies and was crowned the “Haight-Ashbury” of Canada. Thousands of youths converged on its streets to drink coffee, listen to music, smoke drugs, hook up, protest war, and be seen.

 

Clearly, 1960s Yorkville was a fascinating place. But why did I set the third book in my Christine Lane Mystery series there?

 

I blame it on my dad. My father was a Toronto Police officer and had patrolled Yorkville in its hippie heyday. He told me about an undercover operation he had led to catch a persistent purse thief. (Not only did Yorkville have the grooviest music around, but it also had a street of high-end boutiques for Toronto’s carriage crowd to dine and shop.)

 

My father requested a policewoman for the sting. (Note, they were called policewomen in the 1960s, not police constables.) She came dressed to the nines and was asked to walk up and down Cumberland Ave as bait to the purse snatcher. My dad would move in for the arrest when the thief appeared. Unfortunately, the policewoman attracted the attention of storekeepers and interested suitors, so the purse snatcher didn’t approach. 

 

On day two of the sting, another policewoman arrived, tall and athletic, and dressed in simple, plain clothes. After an hour walking Cumberland Ave, a man dashed by and grabbed her purse. The policewoman held tightly onto the purse strap, pulled a brick from her purse and knocked the thief senseless.

 

When I heard that story, I thought, Aha! That’s my main character! Christine Lane would bring a brick to a purse snatcher operation and take control of the situation. My father’s story sparked the idea of setting a Christine Lane Mystery in Yorkville.

 

Yorkville is a rich setting for a mystery. By the end of the 1960s, thugs and motorcycle gangs had overrun the streets. Young people were overdosing on drugs that were toxic. Violence, sexual assault, and hard drug use were on the rise. Politicians were fed up with the simmering, crime-stricken area. It was a perfect place for my protagonist Christine Lane and her officer friends to go on an undercover mission to find a missing teen and the source of the deadly drugs.

 

Another benefit of this groovy Yorkville setting was that it forced my straight-laced protagonist to loosen up. As an undercover youth volunteer, Christine Lane had to be relatable, sociable and sometimes flirty as she chatted with the local youth.

 

The last advantage of the Yorkville setting is that I could easily incorporate themes such as social justice, friendship and community that are important to my series. 

 

So when a book’s setting is rife with crime, allows opportunity for character development, and easily integrates important themes, then it becomes a mystery writer’s go-to locale. Unfortunately, as Joni Mitchell sang, they paved over Yorkville’s paradise of cafes and music venues and put up parking lots, boutiques and high-end art galleries. The groovy Yorkville setting of the 1960s is no more, except in the pages of books.

 

Lost and Found

A Christine Lane Mystery, Book 3

 

A drug-ridden Village. A missing daughter. An undercover cop way over her head.

 

Policewoman Christine Lane was accustomed to the easygoing pace of Toronto Island patrol. The lake view was gorgeous, the locals friendly and the crime nominal. Then Lane and her officer friends are handed a risky undercover assignment: stamp out the illegal drug trade poisoning the hippie neighborhood of Yorkville Village in downtown Toronto.

 

Not only is Christine inexperienced in dealing with gangs, bikers and drug dealers, but she’s assigned a secret mission to find a missing Village teen. Immersed in subterfuge, Christine desperately searches for the girl while trying to ascertain the heroin pipeline. Can she rescue the teen and expose the drug kingpin before her cover is blown?

 

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FROM IDEA TO BOOK WITH AUTHOR LUKE MURPHY

Luke Murphy is the International bestselling author of two series: The Calvin Watters Mysteries and The Charlene Taylor Mysteries. He also played six years of professional hockey before retiring in 2006. In addition, he writes an award-winning sports column and has also worked as a radio journalist. Check out Luke’s website for more information about him and his books.

Right from day one, The Cradle Will Fall had a different feel, and boy what a ride it’s been—from the original plot idea to the research, and then the unsuspected release day changes. This novel has been a wild card.

 

The idea for the plot started formulating back in 2019, after I released Rock-a-Bye Baby (Book #2 in the Charlene Taylor series). The initial story featured only Charlene Taylor as the protagonist.

 

The idea of a baby-selling ring was first put into play in Rock-a-Bye Baby, and I ran with it, as it continued to develop and branch out. I was even surprised at how far it ended up taking me.

 

When I wrote Red Zone in 2020, a novel featuring both of my main characters, Calvin Watters and Charlene Taylor, I had no expectations of where it would take me. I had no intention of writing multiple books including these characters but look at us now.

 

It’s all because of my readers. The amount of positive feedback I received after Red Zone, how excited they all were with Calvin and Charlene working together, summed up the possibility of another novel featuring the two. So, I added Calvin to this novel.

 

The idea of a baby selling ring is not your everyday topic. I interviewed a lady I knew who had gone through the adoption process, adopting a baby from overseas. I took the information she relayed to me, and I ran with it. Of course, I used my creative freedom, and took it to a whole new place.

 

The plot is a continuation from Rock-a-Bye Baby, when I left cliffhangers to indicate that the case wasn’t over, and questions still remained. Readers continued to want more, so I hope I fulfilled their desires by filling in the gaps.

 

The release of this book certainly is interesting. The Cradle Will Fall was originally scheduled for a 2022 release, but…since the story takes place in the Ukraine, and with everything going on over there concerning the war with Russia, I decided to postpone the original release date. I waited and watched, tracking the war, and wondering when an appropriate time would be to introduce this book to the world. I don’t know if there is ever a right time, especially with everything that Ukrainians are going through right now, but I sensed it was as right a time as it will ever be. So, I took a chance.

 

I hope you enjoy The Cradle Will Fall and my interesting story behind how the book came to be.

 

The Cradle Will Fall 

A Charlene Taylor and Calvin Watters Mystery, Book 3 

 

A rogue cop...

 

When the FBI refuses to acknowledge the disappearance of Agent Matt Stone during a covert investigation overseas, Detective Charlene Taylor has no choice but to go on the hunt. The Ukraine can be unforgiving to outsiders, but the detective has no idea just how deep the corruption runs.

 

A renegade PI...

 

There is only one person Charlene can turn to. Trusted friend and former leg-breaker, Calvin Watters, is a protector, and the only man who can go head-to-head with the danger that awaits them. Charlene must put her faith in Calvin, and hope that, together, they can find a way to uncover the truth surrounding the missing Americans.

 

Can Charlene and Calvin team up one more time to overcome an evil syndicate of corrupt cops, and a government conspiracy covered-up by an entire country?

 

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AUTHOR J. WOOLLCOTT WEAVES LOCAL FOODS INTO HER NORTHERN IRELAND MYSTERIES

St. George's Market in Belfast

J. Woollcott is a Canadian author born in Belfast, N. Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and BCAD, University of Ulster. Her first book, A Nice Place to Die won the RWA Daphne du Maurier Award, was short-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2021 and a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville 2023. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

When my Canadian husband and I were first married, we would take holidays to N. Ireland. For me it was a way to stay close to a country I had left behind, to see friends and family I’d missed. For hubby, it was a nice cheap holiday with lots of fun, laughs and pubs. Fantastic scenery too of course and rain. What we didn’t expect was fine dining. And we weren’t disappointed.

 

Food at home years ago was not fine. It was good, filling and basic and––dare I say it, a bit bland. Luckily, back then we weren’t looking for fancy. We stayed with friends and family mostly, except for times we went off on trips and stayed in B&Bs. This brings me to my first traditional N. Irish dish. The Ulster Fry. Usually made for breakfast, it can be adapted for all day dining. I describe it in my new book, Blood Relations. Ryan and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Bridget are having an Ulster Fry for dinner…

 

“…is it okay to have wine with an Ulster Fry?” Bridget got busy in the kitchen.

 

Ryan set the table, and they tucked into plates of bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes, fried bread, and mushrooms. Thankfully, no black pudding, which he wouldn’t allow in the house. Bridget was appalled, but let it go. They had a bottle of red wine with the meal. “This has to be breaking a few cosmic rules,” he said as they finished.

 

Fried bread, or a ‘dipped piece’ as we called it, was thick white bread, placed in the pan used to cook the bacon, then fried to a nice crisp brown colour on both sides in the bacon fat. So bad for you, yet so delicious.

 

Black pudding. Well, let’s not go there. People back home love it. I hate it, hence my hero DS Ryan McBride hates it too. Pig’s blood, that’s all I’m saying.

 

Nowadays, there has been a resurgence of sorts and N. Ireland’s restaurants, bars and hotels enjoy a fantastic reputation for fine dining. Lots of food shops, too, and markets to service the restaurants. St. George’s, in the middle of Belfast, is a fine example of that, and a great place to visit. Lots of farm-fresh vegetables and meats plus baked goods and cakes. Fresh cheeses and fish. All used by local bars and restaurants and everyday shoppers getting away from supermarket produce.

 

I didn’t want my policeman hero to have a major interest in cooking. He loves to eat but doesn’t have much time. He’s too busy solving murders. I decided his sister Erin would be the one to provide a little bit of culinary interest to the book.

 

I have Erin as a food blogger, a wonderful cook, and in Blood Relations she’s about to open a specialty food store. A few years ago that wouldn’t have done so well, now Belfast is bursting with them. Here are some photos of a terrific shop in the middle of Belfast, the kind of place I see Erin starting.

 

As an author and reader I’m always a tiny bit disappointed when I read a book and there’s no mention of food or eating, especially if it’s set abroad. What do you think, do you like reading about meals and visits to restaurants and pubs?

 

Blood Relations

A DS Ryan McBride Novel, Book 2

 

Belfast, Northern Ireland: early spring 2017. Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner Detective Sergeant Billy Lamont are called to his desolate country home to investigate. In their inquiry, they discover a man whose career with the Police Service of Northern Ireland was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present? And who hated the man enough to kill him twice? Is it one of Patrick Mullan’s own family, all of them hiding a history of abuse and lies? Or a vengeful crime boss and his psychopathic new employee? Or could it be a recently released prisoner desperate to protect his family and flee the country? Ryan and Billy once again face a complex investigation with wit and intelligence, all set in Belfast and the richly atmospheric countryside around it.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH KARINA CARDINAL FROM AUTHOR ELLEN BUTLER'S KARINA CARDINAL MYSTERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with Karina Cardinal from author Ellen Butler’s Karina Cardinal Mysteries. 

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was just your average Joe working on Capitol Hill. Seriously, my life leaned toward the side of bland. I’d been dating this guy who seemed normal, and I worked for a medical association in their government affairs department. I attended lots of boring fundraisers and committee meetings. My life could not have been more ordinary. Then one day, it was like … poof … the end of my normal life. The guy I’m engaged to turns out to be a stalker. His father is involved with the mafia, and my own impetuosity gets me into a jam that endangers my life. Ever since then, I keep finding myself amid the most ridiculous capers. 

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I’d have to say, I’m fiercely loyal to my friends and family. As a matter of fact, it is my utmost loyalty that has gotten me into some difficult situations. 

 

What do you like least about yourself?

Well, Mike would probably say it was my impulsiveness. It borderlines on recklessness. I’ll admit, patience is not my strength. I’m not good at waiting around, and, occasionally, I act before knowing all the facts. 

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

*eyeroll* Boy that’s a tough question to answer. So many choices—perhaps it was the time Rodrigo and I chased an assassin up I-95, until he turned the tables on us (Fatal Legislation). Maybe the time I allowed my neighbor to talk me into smuggling an Egyptian artifact into Mexico (Pharaoh’s Forgery). Or the latest, holding a séance at my aunt’s house to speak with the Civil War ghost living there (Spectral Revelations releasing October 2023). Really my author thinks up the most insane shenanigans. Sometimes I wonder if I’m in an I Love Lucy skit. 

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

Of course, we argue! It takes plenty of drafts and deletions before we’re both satisfied.

 

What is your greatest fear?

Losing my sister or family members during one of my escapades. 

 

What makes you happy?

Shoes. I love shoes. I’m an absolute shoe-a-holic. I should probably see someone about that. 

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

That would be my neighbor down the hall, Jasper. He’s into reptiles, and his condo is like Wild Kingdom. He’s always wandering the halls with a snake or lizard. It freaks me out.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

My eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Thundermuffin. To say she’s colorful is an understatement. She’s also sharper than she lets on. I want to be like Mrs. T when I grow up.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog? 

You can find her at her website. She also writes historical spy novels. You think I get into trouble. Wait until you read about her spies in WWII and the Cold War. Those ladies were something else. She bases the novels on true events.

 

What's next for you?
My author just finished the sixth book in my series, and she says she’s done with them. Perhaps, it means I can return to my normal life. However, you know the old saying—never say, never. Maybe in a few years, my author will come up with a new adventure. 

Ellen (the author): Don’t count on it. *crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow*

 

Pharaoh’s Forgery

A Karina Cardinal Mystery, Book 4

 

Margaritas, mayhem, and murder. Too bad her only defense is a cocktail umbrella.

 

After some of Karina Cardinal’s recent adventures—her lover Mike Finnegan would call them scrapes, jams, or pickles—she’s more than ready to blow this D.C. pop stand for a short girls’ trip to Mexico. Until Jillian’s roller skate wreck blows their plan out of the water.

 

With Jilly injured and Mike working, her fellow co-worker Rodrigo volunteers to share some sun, sand, and margaritas in Cancun. It’s tough to relax, though, knowing what’s in her suitcase. A package she promised to hand off to Mrs. Thundermuffin in Mexico.

 

Mrs. T’s evasive maneuvers around Karina’s questions wave more red flags than a bullfighter, leaving Karina no choice but to take a peek. Okay, so it’s not a kilo of something illegal. It’s an Egyptian death mask that turns out to be a magnet for crooks, conmen, kidnappers, and outright killers.

 

When the situation explodes into chaos, Karina and Rodrigo are lucky to have friends in the right place—at their backs. But they’re in one heck of a jam. And they could be going home in something tackier than a souvenir t-shirt—more like a body bag.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH CRIME AND WOMEN'S FICTION AUTHOR DAMYANTI BISWAS

Today we sit down for a chat with crime and women’s fiction author Damyanti Biswas. Learn more about Damyanti and her books here.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I started writing short stories back in 2008, but it was in 2011 that one of them kept growing and eventually became my first novel, You Beneath Your Skin.

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

For me publication was never a dream. It’s always been part of the writing process. I believe that writing begins in the author’s mind but is completed in the reader’s.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I’m traditionally published. You Beneath Your Skin was published by Simon & Schuster India. The Blue Bar is published by Thomas & Mercer, and they have also contracted its sequel.

 

Where do you write?

It depends on what’s good that day. I always end up writing somewhere other than my writing table, sadly. I also write at cafes if I’m too blocked to write at home.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

I usually write with white noise in the background, either sounds of rain or forest birdsong.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Some of the incidents in my books draw inspiration from newspapers. I’ve not written anything based on my life for the crime novels.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

The main characters are always born within my consciousness along with their names. The Blue Bar started with Tara without a conscious thought process, and then I had to figure out why she was named so. 

 

The supporting cast is named as per their roles, and these names often change in case they sound too similar. They have names befitting their social class, and the part of India they hail from. India is a complex country, and a fair amount can be divined about a person’s background based on their surnames.

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

So far, all the settings in my novel have been real.

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

I don’t think I could have written any of the books already written by others. My books emerge from my subconscious, and I can’t picture myself having written any others not already within.

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

As a college graduate, I went into fashion design, and lost touch with reading for a few years. I wish I’d understood myself and my calling earlier, and not missed tons of great books. Mortality looms, and on some days, I feel bad I wasted all that time.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

My own tendency to use certain words in my writing, which I then have to pull teeth finding and replacing in an appropriate fashion!

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

 A good book. A bottle with a water filter. A knife.

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

The absolute worst was as a model at a car fair. 

 

Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I like her sharp observations and wit, and also her vulnerabilities. She’s one of the earliest heroines of the novel form, and a strong, incredibly wise one.

 

Ocean or mountains? 

Mountains

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy? 

City

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

I’m editing the sequel to The Blue Bar, after which I’ll be polishing up a novel for submission that my agent really likes. Hope to write another novel this year.

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

The Blue Bar is set in Mumbai, a megapolis of 21 million people. It has the most expensive private residence in the world, worth 2 billion USD, with 400,000-square-feet area divided into 27 floors. 

 

Not far from it stands Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in the world. 2 million people crammed into 0.81 square miles.

 

Since my work is set in India, the contrasts shown are extreme, and everyday reality is overwhelming to the senses. In terms of color, sounds, scents, and the sheer density of humanity, Indian cities have few equals. 

 

With The Blue Bar, I’ve tried to take readers to the megacity of Mumbai— its skyscrapers and its underbelly, its stories of love and hate, its beaches and swamps, its movie sets and police stations. I hope readers will come along for the journey. 

 

The Blue Bar

A Blue Mumbai Thriller, Book 1

 

On the dark streets of Mumbai, the paths of a missing dancer, a serial killer, and an inspector with a haunted past converge in an evocative thriller about lost love and murderous obsession.

 

After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.

 

Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.

 

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost. Could the key to finding Tara and solving these murders be hidden in one of his cold cases? Or will the next body they recover be hers?

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR BETH CAMP REIMAGINES THE LADY AND THE UNICORN INTO AN INTERNATIONAL MYSTERY

The Lady and the Unicorn (sight)

Beth Camp has been an international banker, a social policy analyst, and a college English instructor. Upon retiring, she turned her attention to writing novels, blending historical fiction with romantic suspense. Learn more about her and her books at her blog.

Can you imagine a month in Paris? Or another month in Edinburgh, exploring castles and museums?

 

These two trips, nearly a decade apart, led to my first art crimes mystery, The Seventh Tapestry.

In Paris, at the Musée de Cluny (left), now also known as the National Museum of Middle Ages, we opened the gate to what was once a Roman bath and once a retreat for abbots. The ornate door was embellished with symbols to show the abbots had completed pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Inside, the museum featured a most famous medieval collection of many religious statues, illuminated manuscripts, and more. Upstairs, we entered a room with low light to protect the tapestries.

Here, I discovered the six very famous tapestries named the Lady and the Unicorn. Woven in the 15^th and early 16^th Centuries in the millefleurs style (meaning ‘thousand flowers’) and lost for generations in a dusty attic until the Musée de Cluny purchased them in 1882, scholars have named the first five tapestries after the five senses (touch, taste, hearing, smell, and sight). 

        

Scholars have argued about the meaning of the sixth tapestry to this day. For this sixth tapestry shows a young woman, flanked on either side by a lion and a unicorn, and an inscription which translates “To my only desire.” Many believe she is renouncing worldly goods as she returns her jewelry to a small casket.

Scholars also argue about the meaning of the many symbols on these tapestries. I will only note that the lion and the unicorn are also key symbols of the Scottish Coat of Arms during the time of James V.

But the germ of an idea for The Seventh Tapestry didn't begin until we visited Stirling Castle in Scotland. We wandered through the castle grounds, docents in period dress answering our questions. The walls were covered with tapestries. I found a mermaid carved in stone on the entry to a basement under the Great Hall which was built in 1501. 

 

Here’s an artist’s rendering of how the walls were richly decorated with tapestries during this time.

We walked out behind the Great Hall through the North Gate to find a Tapestry Studio set up with four great looms, the weavers busy at work. They were reconstructing the Hunt of the Unicorn, a set of seven tapestries currently held in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The head weaver proudly answered our questions, for we wanted to know why they were working on recreating these tapestries. Today, these gorgeous tapestries are displayed in the Queen’s Bedroom at Stirling Castle.

 

Here, I learned of James V, his love of tapestries, and of his Summer Queen. According to the terms of the Treaty of Rouen, James V must marry a princess of France. 

 

Dutifully, he sailed off to the court of Francis I, anticipating his coming nuptials. But he fell in love with Madeleine, another daughter who suffered, according to the records, from tuberculosis. Francis I wanted Madeleine to join a nunnery to protect her health. But, James V convinced Francis he should marry Madeleine, even if he could not speak one word of French. They were married at Notre Dame in Paris on January 1, 1537, and she sailed home with him. Sadly, she died on July 7, 1537, one month shy of her 17^th birthday, forever known as his beloved Summer Queen.

 

Ah, but those tapestries resonate with mystery. What if (the writer’s favorite question), James V had commissioned a special set of seven tapestries to honor his Summer Queen? And, what if, when she died, he could not bear to look at them, and so he refused their delivery? What if there were a seventh tapestry, this one to honor his bride? And so began the story of The Seventh Tapestry, my first art crime mystery, out of the wanderings through several museums, along the winding halls of castles, and between the lines of recorded history.

 

Click here to read more about the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries at the Musee de Cluny. 

 

The Seventh Tapestry 

When precious artifacts go missing at the Museum of Medieval Art in Edinburgh, Sandra Robertson, a newly hired curator, is immediately under suspicion. But, when she’s asked to help find out who’s involved, Sandra ignores her attraction to Neil McDonnell, art crimes investigator assigned to the case, and gets to work. After a priceless 16th Century tapestry goes missing, Sandra begins to receive threatening phone calls. Do Sandra and Neil have a future together? What will they risk to recover the missing artifacts, stop the thefts, and find out who’s behind a series of mysterious deaths?

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MYSTERY AUTHOR SUSAN OLEKSIW TALKS ABOUT TITLES AND INDIAN DIETIES

Susan Oleksiw has lived in India and returned often for short visits. The Anita Ray series is set in a part of South India she knows well, Southern Kerala. She also writes the Mellingham series, set in a small town on the New England coast and featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva. Susan co-founded Crime Spell Books, which publishes the annual anthology of Best New England Crime Stories. Bloodroot appeared in 2021, and Deadly Nightshade will be published in November 2022. Learn more about Susan and her books at her website. 

 

In Sita's Shadow

Anyone who gets involved with India, on any level, cannot fail to recognize the vastness and richness of its culture. There are so many ways to discover this land, and so many worlds within it to learn about. When I began crafting a novel set in India, I struggled to find a focus. It took a while, several false starts and dead-ends, but at last, the pieces came together. Anita Ray is an Indian American photographer living in South India at her aunt's tourist hotel on the rocky coast of Kerala. Foreigners look out over a beach where guests swim and fishermen work their nets.

 

To give the series more cohesion I wanted a recurring format for the titles. Each entry in the Anita Ray series revolves around an aspect of a particular deity. This seemed the best way to tighten the focus on parts of the complex culture of this ancient civilization. 

 

Picking the deity of the title is a big part of the fun of the series. I may have an idea for a story line, but the particular image I choose becomes a heavy influence. Kali, the goddess of diseases and destruction, can be frightening, but as her younger prettier self, she can be enchanting. Her terrifying side, along with various rituals she participates in, seemed the perfect choice for the first book, Under the Eye of Kali. 

 

For some time I wanted to write about how traditional cultures have practiced conservation long before it became fashionable or necessary, and after a stay at a traditional home in central Kerala, I found my vehicle. The kaavu is a plot of land set aside by the homeowner for the deity that no one may enter. An image of the presiding deity sits on the boundary and is honored daily. The home where I stayed had a kaavu presided over by Bhairava, a manifestation of a fierce Shiva. From that came the title for the second book, The Wrath of Shiva. Parvati is well known as the consort of the deity Shiva and seemed a good choice for a story about marriage. For the Love of Parvati takes Anita and Auntie Meena into the mountains during the monsoon to visit relatives.

 

Indian names, terms, and general vocabulary are spreading throughout the English-speaking world, so when I settled on Krishna, the god of love, as the next deity to appear in a title, I wasn't worried about who would recognize it. When Krishna Calls is all about what we will do for love, how far we will go to protect those we care about. While cruelty threads its way through the narrative, pinching the heart of a business woman and curdling the life of a young boy, the devotion of a mother redeems them all.

 

The fifth entry, In Sita's Shadow, calls on the story of Sita to set the stage and direct the narrative. In India, everyone knows the name Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, both king and deity. She is the epitome of the virtuous woman and perfect wife, loyal and devoted and honorable. When her husband is exiled to the forest, the result of jealousy by another member of the royal family, Sita dutifully goes with him. She's kidnapped, rescued, and restored to her lord, who is also restored to the throne. When rumors spread that maybe she wasn't so virtuous when she was alone with her abductor, she calls on the earth to testify to her purity, and the earth does so. Indians revere her, but she's a tough act to follow.

 

In Sita’s Shadow

An Anita Ray Mystery, Book 5

 

Hotel Delite, perched on the rocky coast of South India, has welcomed all sorts of tours. Every one of them has been touched by the beauty of the milky moon rising over the Arabian Sea and glowing over palm trees and clean white beaches. But one group of Americans seems immune to the setting, and very odd in other ways.

 

Angela Deetcher, a renowned scientist, is a dour creature and seems intent on maintaining an extreme skepticism of everything she sees. Sandra Stover is laconic to the point of muteness, though she is always beautifully coiffed and attired. Larry Forche has eyes for no one else but Sandra and is undeterred by her coolness toward him. Crocker Dawes seems to be the only one pleased to be in India, but no one sees him after he checks in. He disappears the first morning, and the only one who knows he has been in and out of the hotel is the maidservant who cleans his room. But at least the tour leader, Kenneth Maxinter, seems normal. Enthusiastic and gregarious, he encourages his charges to see everything and presides over meals with energy that is exhausting.

 

When one member of the tour is found dead, Anita and Auntie Meena prepare to tell the other members and cope with their reactions. But the tour members don’t react. They are quiet, still, and nod, offering little more than perfunctory acknowledgments. At least until Anita tells them who the corpse is—Kenneth Maxinter. They insist she must be mistaken.

 

Tourists have many reasons for coming to India, but as Anita explores the oddities of this particular tour group, she learns of other reasons she had never before considered.

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY - AUTHOR LYNNE HANDY ON DRUIDS, CELTS, TREES, AND OLD IRELAND AS INSPIRATION

Lynne Handy is a librarian, genealogist, poet, and author of the Maria Pell mystery novels. In Old Sins, she once again creates characters, who carry out acts of "wild justice."  Handy combines a love of history and nature to provide dramatic settings. Her style is lyrical, but to the point. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Writing Old Sins, a Tale of Wild Justice in the Emerald Isle

According to the Book of Invasions (thought to be written by Christian monks), Ireland was originally settled by the descendants of Noah, who arrived some three hundred years after the Flood. Generations later, plague infested the land, killing most of the inhabitants. Those who survived migrated north to other lands, where they learned about divination, druidism, and philosophy. Returning to Ireland, they called themselves the Tuatha Dé Danann, or people of Danu, the great earth goddess, and lived in peace until the warlike Celts came. To prevent bloodshed, the Tuatha took up residence in grassy mounds and ancient hills, beneath thorn trees and circles. Their love for Ireland was so strong, they could not leave. (Old Ways, Old Secrets, Jo Kerrigan). 

 

What a great setting for a mystery novel! In Old Sins, poet Maria Pell visits Ireland to research ancient Celts as source material for a book of poems. Since little exists in the form of written material, she relies on faerie trees, mysterious mounds, sacred stones, and artifacts for inspiration, and attempts to get inside the minds and hearts of ancient people, who walked the earth as extensions of the natural world, taking shelter where they could—under trees or in caves. Faith, perhaps, became synonymous with shelter. Trees gave cover, and in some cases, as with oaks and their acorns, also provided food. 

 

Worship of trees, particularly the oak, was a natural outcome. The oak, and other trees were considered sacred with magical properties. Esteemed for longevity, the oak represented wisdom, stability, and sovereignty. Kings were consecrated under the oak. St. Bridgid built her cell under an oak. A deity directed St. Brendan to use oak boards to build the boat that may have transported him to North America over a thousand years before Columbus. 

 

Could trees have a secret world? And could the ancients, with their affinity to nature, have known about it? In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben claims trees are social beings that communicate through root systems, sending nutrients to each other when in need—particularly to old venerable stumps they wish to keep alive. Stumps may be parent trees, necessary to survival in ways not yet understood. Other studies have shown that trees communicate with each other through smell, and perhaps even sound. Have you ever heard the crackling of roots?

 

I wish I had read Wohlleben’s book before writing mine. It would have allowed me to provide a richer understanding of pagan thought and practice. 

 

Old Sins

A Maria Pell Mystery, Book 3

 

Battered by her archeologist lover's betrayal, poet Maria Pell flees to an Irish village to study prehistoric people and write her next volume of poetry, but her sanctuary is invaded first by her moody cousin and then by her Togolese lover, who unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep. When the discovery of a girl's body on a nearby beach reawakens a devastating childhood memory, Maria's days become haunted. As teenage girls disappear, villagers are terrified that sex-traffickers are targeting their community. With crimes to be solved, both past and present, Maria risks her life to bring the perpetrators to justice.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AND POLICE PROCEDURAL AUTHOR J. WOOLLCOTT

Inside the Garden Writing Studio

Today we sit down for a chat with J. Woollcott, author of mysteries and police procedurals. Learn more about her at her website.  

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I’ve always enjoyed writing but with working and raising a family, I could never really concentrate on that. I read instead. 

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

I started to write my first book just when I left work. It’s hard when you start this journey alone. I didn’t know much about the process and basically tried to copy the style of books I read. Then I took a class on formatting a novel, basic information and it was an eye-opener. Indents, Times New Roman, all that. Very helpful. I joined Crime Writers of Canada, then managed to get a great mentor in Canadian writer Cathy Astolfo, and she helped me with lots of advice. I finished that book and with her encouragement entered it in the Arthur Ellis Awards. I made the long-list for unpublished manuscripts. I was thrilled, and it gave me the will to carry on. That process took about three years. It would take about four more years and a different novel before I got my contract.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

Traditionally published.

 

Where do you write?

Oh, good question. My husband built me a lovely little studio in the back garden and I work there sometimes. But I seem to gravitate back to our house and sit in the living room (make a bit of a mess I’m afraid). Perhaps I miss the chat, the company.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

No music or chat. I do like silence, I know – I should stay in my garden studio … I know.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Not plots and the like because I’m always writing about murders and crimes. (Although I do come from Belfast). I have a problem with names, and I do reach back in time to my friends and relatives for those. I tend to make up characters and honestly, I do not know where they come from. They sometimes arrive fully formed in my head with their frizzy dyed blond hair and badly applied red lipstick. No clue.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

Once the character is in my head, I try a few names out. The name has to fit the person, and I always try to make sure I don’t use similar names. That’s a real pitfall. I see the character and think, is she a Sheila? A Gwen or a Gwendoline? 

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

Mostly real, but I’ve been know to make stuff up.

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

I have a few odd ducks, but one in my second book, Sheila Howells I really enjoy. She’s very quirky, a Chief Superintendent, she’s loud, irreverent, drinks Negronis, swears like a trooper, tells off-colour jokes, and has a degree in Clinical Psychology. (She’s the one with the dyed blond hair and red lipstick).

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I think I have lots, but I do like my coffee strong, in a nice cup – not a big mug.

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

That’s a very difficult question. There are so many. I loved Denise Mina’s Garnet Hill. And there’s Kate Atkinson, anything at all. (Okay, Big Sky). Just one more, Plum Island by Nelson DeMille. Mina because her writing is just so raw and funny and the stories so original. Kate Atkinson is just one of the few writers who can discuss appalling crimes and yet add humour to the book. Its not all gloom and doom. Same with DeMille in Plum Island. It’s genuinely funny. I love his protagonist, John Corey, a detective from New York on medical leave.

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

I wish I’d had the nerve – and the money, to leave work earlier in my career and write. 

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Loud, inconsiderate people

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Coffee, books, and a computer.

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Summer job at a canning factory in the middle of nowhere in England.

 

Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?

Right, this is very difficult. Do I have to choose between Virgil Flowers, Lucas Davenport, Harry Palmer, Jackson Lamb, Jackson Brodie, John Corey, Dalgliesh, and Vera? Okay – if I have to choose … Jackson Brodie.

 

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

City

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

As far as my writing goes, number two in the DS McBride Series is with a developmental editor. And I’m working on two other manuscripts, a WW2 mystery, and a standalone crime novel about a damaged police Inspector who retires to an island off the coast of Northern Ireland and finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery.

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

Just that I’m so happy to have found this writing community, other writers, and readers. Such a wonderful welcoming group to be part of.

 

A Nice Place to Die

A Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride Mystery, Book 1

 

The body of a young woman is found by a river outside Belfast, and Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride makes a heart-wrenching discovery at the scene, a discovery he chooses to hide even though it could cost him the investigation – and his career.

 

The victim was a loner but well-liked. Why would someone want to harm her? And is her murder connected to a rapist who’s stalking the local pubs? As Ryan untangles a web of deception and lies, his suspects die one by one, leading him to a dangerous family secret and a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep it.

 

And still, he harbors his secret ...

 

Coming August 30th from Level Best Books.

Add A NICE PLACE TO DIE  to your TBR list.

Pre-order and buy links coming soon!

Please check https://www.jwoollcott.com for updates.