Michael J. McCann's Blog: Open Investigations, page 11
May 11, 2015
Happy 4th Anniversary to the Plaid Raccoon Press
Today, May 11, marks the fourth anniversary of the Plaid Raccoon Press!
Four years ago today the province of Ontario, in its infinite wisdom, issued a business license to this saucy little Canadian procyonid and turned him loose on the world to publish crime fiction and supernatural fiction. Goodness knows, my living room hasn't looked the same since.
As with all anniversaries, it's a time to glance back down the winding gravel road we've been mooching along in search of entertaining stories, modest revenue, and a chance to tweak the bill of the annoying Random Penguin and his ilk whenever possible. Hard to believe we've published four novels in the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel series, a supernatural thriller (The Ghost Man), and Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, as well as Lynn L. Clark's debut work, The Home Child, in such a short time span. Seven publications in four years! Not bad for a little ring-tailed scamp who'd rather be off raiding someone's corn crib or catching trout in the stream out back.
Of course, being an independent author has its down side. Can't get mainstream media outlets to review my novels. The largest bookstore chain in the country won't stock them on their shelves or list the paperbacks in their database. Not eligible for government grants because I don't fit their definition of a professional author.
It is what it is, right?
On the up side, my fourth Donaghue and Stainer novel, The Rainy Day Killer, was longlisted for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel in Canada, placing ahead of submissions by Margaret Atwood, Linwood Barclay, Louise Penny et al.
I get fan mail from people who've read one of my books and were sufficiently pleased by it to write me an e-mail to let me know.
I meet people at art festivals and craft shows who bought one of my books the last time I was there and have come back for another.
So never mind the disdainful newspaper editors, the elusive agents, and all the other professionals in the industry who consider independent authors such as myself to be a pox upon their house. For each one of you, I have ten who've actually read one of my novels and go out of their way to tell me they can't wait for the next one.
THAT's what it's all about, folks.
So today we're blowing out the candles on our anniversary fishcake and making a wish for the future.
Hard to believe the Raccoon is already four. He keeps crossing the road on his way to that cornfield on the other side, and he's still fast enough to get out of the way of the trucks before they blast him into next week. Seven books in four years, and two more to come before he turns five!
And as I always say -- there's nothing else I'd rather be doing!
P.S. Don't miss this opportunity to check out our newly revamped website at www.theplaidraccoonpress.com. The Raccoon is very proud of it, and he suggests you peek into the new webstore before you leave!!!
Four years ago today the province of Ontario, in its infinite wisdom, issued a business license to this saucy little Canadian procyonid and turned him loose on the world to publish crime fiction and supernatural fiction. Goodness knows, my living room hasn't looked the same since.
As with all anniversaries, it's a time to glance back down the winding gravel road we've been mooching along in search of entertaining stories, modest revenue, and a chance to tweak the bill of the annoying Random Penguin and his ilk whenever possible. Hard to believe we've published four novels in the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel series, a supernatural thriller (The Ghost Man), and Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, as well as Lynn L. Clark's debut work, The Home Child, in such a short time span. Seven publications in four years! Not bad for a little ring-tailed scamp who'd rather be off raiding someone's corn crib or catching trout in the stream out back.
Of course, being an independent author has its down side. Can't get mainstream media outlets to review my novels. The largest bookstore chain in the country won't stock them on their shelves or list the paperbacks in their database. Not eligible for government grants because I don't fit their definition of a professional author.
It is what it is, right?
On the up side, my fourth Donaghue and Stainer novel, The Rainy Day Killer, was longlisted for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel in Canada, placing ahead of submissions by Margaret Atwood, Linwood Barclay, Louise Penny et al.
I get fan mail from people who've read one of my books and were sufficiently pleased by it to write me an e-mail to let me know.
I meet people at art festivals and craft shows who bought one of my books the last time I was there and have come back for another.
So never mind the disdainful newspaper editors, the elusive agents, and all the other professionals in the industry who consider independent authors such as myself to be a pox upon their house. For each one of you, I have ten who've actually read one of my novels and go out of their way to tell me they can't wait for the next one.
THAT's what it's all about, folks.
So today we're blowing out the candles on our anniversary fishcake and making a wish for the future.
Hard to believe the Raccoon is already four. He keeps crossing the road on his way to that cornfield on the other side, and he's still fast enough to get out of the way of the trucks before they blast him into next week. Seven books in four years, and two more to come before he turns five!
And as I always say -- there's nothing else I'd rather be doing!
P.S. Don't miss this opportunity to check out our newly revamped website at www.theplaidraccoonpress.com. The Raccoon is very proud of it, and he suggests you peek into the new webstore before you leave!!!
April 27, 2015
SORROW LAKE - The Video Teaser!
The Plaid Raccoon Press is pleased to announce the release of the official video teaser for Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel by Michael J. McCann.
View it on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/cz3uySAROcI
View it on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/cz3uySAROcI
April 20, 2015
SORROW LAKE - Who Got Killed?
Every murder mystery has a victim.
Learning the identity of the victim is one of the first tasks taken on by our literary homicide investigators, as it is in real life. As John Douglas, the famous FBI profiler, explained in The Anatomy of Motive, understanding the victim is the key to understanding the motive, and once the motive is clear the detective will be that much closer to knowing the identity of the killer.
Victimology is a critical part of the investigation. Knowing the victim's activities before the murder and the relationships between the victim and the people around him help detectives understand who or what may have placed him in harm's way.
In Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, the victim is William Hansen, born October 21, 1957. A resident of the village of Sparrow Lake, Ontario, he ran his own business, a car wholesaling operation. He had a wife, Vivian, but no children. As Detective Inspector Ellie March and Detective Constable Kevin Walker move forward in the preliminary stages of the case, they discover that Bill Hansen's life revolved around his business, his cars, and his network of buyers, sellers, and drivers. He and his wife had no relatives in the area and no close friends.
While a search warrant is being executed in the victim's home by the forensics team under the watchful eye of Kevin Walker, Ellie spends time in other parts of the house by herself. "She was here because she wanted to get a sense of the victim and his wife. There were many unanswered questions" (Sorrow Lake, p. 70). Later, she gathers the team to reconstruct the time line of Bill Hansen's last day. "The final day of his life. Hour by hour, minute by minute, if necessary. Somewhere in the last twelve to fourteen hours of Bill Hansen's life they would find the event that would connect him to his killer" (Sorrow Lake, p. 210).
Did Ellie and her team succeed? Download a free review copy of Sorrow Lake from NetGalley and find out for yourself!
https://t.co/MlCnImBBxK
Learning the identity of the victim is one of the first tasks taken on by our literary homicide investigators, as it is in real life. As John Douglas, the famous FBI profiler, explained in The Anatomy of Motive, understanding the victim is the key to understanding the motive, and once the motive is clear the detective will be that much closer to knowing the identity of the killer.
Victimology is a critical part of the investigation. Knowing the victim's activities before the murder and the relationships between the victim and the people around him help detectives understand who or what may have placed him in harm's way.
In Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, the victim is William Hansen, born October 21, 1957. A resident of the village of Sparrow Lake, Ontario, he ran his own business, a car wholesaling operation. He had a wife, Vivian, but no children. As Detective Inspector Ellie March and Detective Constable Kevin Walker move forward in the preliminary stages of the case, they discover that Bill Hansen's life revolved around his business, his cars, and his network of buyers, sellers, and drivers. He and his wife had no relatives in the area and no close friends.
While a search warrant is being executed in the victim's home by the forensics team under the watchful eye of Kevin Walker, Ellie spends time in other parts of the house by herself. "She was here because she wanted to get a sense of the victim and his wife. There were many unanswered questions" (Sorrow Lake, p. 70). Later, she gathers the team to reconstruct the time line of Bill Hansen's last day. "The final day of his life. Hour by hour, minute by minute, if necessary. Somewhere in the last twelve to fourteen hours of Bill Hansen's life they would find the event that would connect him to his killer" (Sorrow Lake, p. 210).
Did Ellie and her team succeed? Download a free review copy of Sorrow Lake from NetGalley and find out for yourself!
https://t.co/MlCnImBBxK
April 13, 2015
Sorrow Lake--How Does the Story Begin?
In previous posts we've talked about the Canadian setting of Sorrow Lake, about the two main characters in the series, and early reviews of the novel.
It's time now for a sneak peek at the story itself, to whet the appetite. And what better place to choose than the beginning? So, without further ado...
SORROW LAKE
chapter ONE
His breath visible in the early morning air, Detective Constable Kevin Walker made his way down the hill and across the farmer’s field toward the body. There was a crust on the snow from freezing rain that had fallen two days ago, and his boots punched crisp holes as he followed the footprints of the old man who’d spotted something in the middle of his field just after dawn and had come down to investigate.
As he walked, Kevin kept his eyes moving across the snow, alert for anything out of the ordinary. Other than two sets of tracks, one belonging to the farmer and the other to Ontario Provincial Police Constable Bonnie Charles, the first responder to the scene, the surface of the snow was pristine. He reached the little circle of footprints where the farmer had staggered back and retched, he saw the spilled coffee and the cup the old man had dropped in his shock, and then he stopped.
Close enough.
The victim was a man in his fifties. He wore inadequate lowcut boots, grey trousers, and a tweed car coat. No gloves. No hat. The back of his neck was seared where a close-contact gunshot had passed through the base of his skull and out the front of his neck, leaving a frozen bloodstain on the surface of the snow. His face was turned slightly toward Kevin. The eyes were open and lifeless. The mouth was a frozen oval.
Kevin recognized him. He lived in the village, not two blocks from Kevin’s house.
He found it difficult to stop looking at the eyes. They had a disturbing cloudiness to them that made him feel uneasy. Kevin had participated in sudden death call outs before and so it wasn’t his first body, but it was the first that was an obvious and violent homicide. The blood, the stains on the trousers, and the cloudy, lifeless eyes were upsetting. He forced himself to stand there, taking in all the details, until he no longer felt repulsed.
He heard the sound of tires crunching in the farmer’s driveway at the top of the hill and, turning, saw the EMS ambulance arrive. Members of the Sparrow Lake volunteer fire department, they were, like Kevin, residents of Yonge Township, a strip of 128 square kilometres jutting north from the St. Lawrence River between Brockville and Kingston. He watched Constable Charles point the way down the hill, waving her arm to make it clear that they should avoid the farmer’s footprints and follow Kevin’s down the snowy slope.
As they edged their way toward him, he turned his eyes to the distant line of trees rimming the back of the field. A mixture of evergreen and bare-limbed deciduous, they were white with ice that had formed when the temperature had dropped below freezing again, the night before last. It made a picturesque tableau against the blue morning sky. A crow called out somewhere within the forest. Running his eyes along the tree line, Kevin saw nothing unusual. A second, distant crow answered the first. There was no visible disturbance in the snow between the body and the back of the field.
Somewhere in that stretch, however, would be the expended round that had killed the victim when it ripped through his neck.
He turned and looked at the footprints leading from the road to the body and back to the road again. Two sets coming in and one set returning to the road.
A one-way trip for the victim and a return trip for his killer.
“Another cold morning, Kevin,” one of the paramedics called out, by way of greeting. Behind him, his partner cursed as his boot rolled over a frozen clot of soil beneath the snow.
Kevin held up a hand. “Just you, Philip. Come up beside me.”
The paramedic shifted his equipment bag from one hand to the other and edged forward until he stood next to Kevin. He crouched, resting his bag on the snow, and swore. Behind them, his partner made a coughing sound and turned away. Philip studied the victim for a moment, then stood up and looked at the detective.
“Obviously dead,” Kevin said.
“Obviously dead,” Philip agreed. These two words, quoted from the Ministry of Health’s Deceased Patient Standard, obligated him not to touch the body unless directed to do so by the coroner. He turned to his partner. “Let’s get out of here, Dan. We’ll wait for Dalca in the truck.”
As they hurried back up the hill, they passed Constable Charles, who was talking into her shoulder microphone as she walked down. She took a long look at the body for the second time this morning before making eye contact with Kevin. “The road’s blocked off between Ballycanoe Road and Junetown Road. Everyone’s being advised to approach from the north. We’re setting up the inner perimeters now. You said to use Mr. Lackey’s yard as the command post, right?”
“Yeah.” The old man, Jerry Lackey, kept his yard well-plowed between his house and outbuildings, and it was large enough for a staging area that would accommodate all the respondents to the scene.
Kevin watched Charles depart, issuing instructions into her shoulder mike, then pulled off his gloves and used his smart phone to take a few photographs of the body. He brought out his notebook and drew a rough sketch of the scene, made a few notes, then slipped it back into his jacket pocket, put on his gloves, and trudged back up the hill.
**************************************
If you enjoyed this excerpt, why not download a free review copy of the novel now, while it's still available? NetGalley is free to join and offers you a wide variety of Advance Reading Copies of the hottest books before they hit the shelves-- books like Sorrow Lake! Just click here: https://t.co/MlCnImBBxK.
It's time now for a sneak peek at the story itself, to whet the appetite. And what better place to choose than the beginning? So, without further ado...
SORROW LAKE
chapter ONE
His breath visible in the early morning air, Detective Constable Kevin Walker made his way down the hill and across the farmer’s field toward the body. There was a crust on the snow from freezing rain that had fallen two days ago, and his boots punched crisp holes as he followed the footprints of the old man who’d spotted something in the middle of his field just after dawn and had come down to investigate.
As he walked, Kevin kept his eyes moving across the snow, alert for anything out of the ordinary. Other than two sets of tracks, one belonging to the farmer and the other to Ontario Provincial Police Constable Bonnie Charles, the first responder to the scene, the surface of the snow was pristine. He reached the little circle of footprints where the farmer had staggered back and retched, he saw the spilled coffee and the cup the old man had dropped in his shock, and then he stopped.
Close enough.
The victim was a man in his fifties. He wore inadequate lowcut boots, grey trousers, and a tweed car coat. No gloves. No hat. The back of his neck was seared where a close-contact gunshot had passed through the base of his skull and out the front of his neck, leaving a frozen bloodstain on the surface of the snow. His face was turned slightly toward Kevin. The eyes were open and lifeless. The mouth was a frozen oval.
Kevin recognized him. He lived in the village, not two blocks from Kevin’s house.
He found it difficult to stop looking at the eyes. They had a disturbing cloudiness to them that made him feel uneasy. Kevin had participated in sudden death call outs before and so it wasn’t his first body, but it was the first that was an obvious and violent homicide. The blood, the stains on the trousers, and the cloudy, lifeless eyes were upsetting. He forced himself to stand there, taking in all the details, until he no longer felt repulsed.
He heard the sound of tires crunching in the farmer’s driveway at the top of the hill and, turning, saw the EMS ambulance arrive. Members of the Sparrow Lake volunteer fire department, they were, like Kevin, residents of Yonge Township, a strip of 128 square kilometres jutting north from the St. Lawrence River between Brockville and Kingston. He watched Constable Charles point the way down the hill, waving her arm to make it clear that they should avoid the farmer’s footprints and follow Kevin’s down the snowy slope.
As they edged their way toward him, he turned his eyes to the distant line of trees rimming the back of the field. A mixture of evergreen and bare-limbed deciduous, they were white with ice that had formed when the temperature had dropped below freezing again, the night before last. It made a picturesque tableau against the blue morning sky. A crow called out somewhere within the forest. Running his eyes along the tree line, Kevin saw nothing unusual. A second, distant crow answered the first. There was no visible disturbance in the snow between the body and the back of the field.
Somewhere in that stretch, however, would be the expended round that had killed the victim when it ripped through his neck.
He turned and looked at the footprints leading from the road to the body and back to the road again. Two sets coming in and one set returning to the road.
A one-way trip for the victim and a return trip for his killer.
“Another cold morning, Kevin,” one of the paramedics called out, by way of greeting. Behind him, his partner cursed as his boot rolled over a frozen clot of soil beneath the snow.
Kevin held up a hand. “Just you, Philip. Come up beside me.”
The paramedic shifted his equipment bag from one hand to the other and edged forward until he stood next to Kevin. He crouched, resting his bag on the snow, and swore. Behind them, his partner made a coughing sound and turned away. Philip studied the victim for a moment, then stood up and looked at the detective.
“Obviously dead,” Kevin said.
“Obviously dead,” Philip agreed. These two words, quoted from the Ministry of Health’s Deceased Patient Standard, obligated him not to touch the body unless directed to do so by the coroner. He turned to his partner. “Let’s get out of here, Dan. We’ll wait for Dalca in the truck.”
As they hurried back up the hill, they passed Constable Charles, who was talking into her shoulder microphone as she walked down. She took a long look at the body for the second time this morning before making eye contact with Kevin. “The road’s blocked off between Ballycanoe Road and Junetown Road. Everyone’s being advised to approach from the north. We’re setting up the inner perimeters now. You said to use Mr. Lackey’s yard as the command post, right?”
“Yeah.” The old man, Jerry Lackey, kept his yard well-plowed between his house and outbuildings, and it was large enough for a staging area that would accommodate all the respondents to the scene.
Kevin watched Charles depart, issuing instructions into her shoulder mike, then pulled off his gloves and used his smart phone to take a few photographs of the body. He brought out his notebook and drew a rough sketch of the scene, made a few notes, then slipped it back into his jacket pocket, put on his gloves, and trudged back up the hill.
**************************************
If you enjoyed this excerpt, why not download a free review copy of the novel now, while it's still available? NetGalley is free to join and offers you a wide variety of Advance Reading Copies of the hottest books before they hit the shelves-- books like Sorrow Lake! Just click here: https://t.co/MlCnImBBxK.
April 6, 2015
SORROW LAKE: Early Returns on the ARC Review Process
As you may know, the Advance Reading Copy of Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, is now available for review through NetGalley. If you're not a NetGalley account holder and would like access, it's free to sign up and free to download a copy of Sorrow Lake. Not a bad deal, right?
Not sure if you'd be interested in a crime novel set in Canada featuring homicide investigators from the Ontario Provincial Police? Take a look at the early response to the novel by NetGalley reviewers:
Blogger Mallory wrote: "A really inventive and deeply-characterized mystery/police procedural with a finely-delineated background of rural Ontario, SORROW LAKE is the first of a series, which I can tell will be one of my favorites. The characters are peeled down to the grain, and it's wonderfully gratifying to read of individuals who might be our friends, our neighbors--or even ourselves."
Librarian Rosemary wrote: "I am thrilled that this is the beginning of a new series. McCann is a new author that I will now be following. . . ."
Reviewer Tracy wrote: "An exciting Canadian police procedural mystery that had me hooked from the very first page. A great strong female lead and a nice male counterpart just learning the ropes of homicide. Twists and turns I never saw coming especially leading up to the ending. I would and will recommend this book to friends and family, even strangers should the time and place present itself."
I'm also pleased to note that the voting on the cover design is going nicely. NetGalley viewers have so far given it 17 thumbs-up and 0 thumbs down. Thanks!
Now it's your turn, faithful followers of my blog. Click on the link below to find out for yourself why Sorrow Lake is going to make a lot of noise for Canadian crime fiction in 2015! Thanks for your support.
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/open...
Not sure if you'd be interested in a crime novel set in Canada featuring homicide investigators from the Ontario Provincial Police? Take a look at the early response to the novel by NetGalley reviewers:
Blogger Mallory wrote: "A really inventive and deeply-characterized mystery/police procedural with a finely-delineated background of rural Ontario, SORROW LAKE is the first of a series, which I can tell will be one of my favorites. The characters are peeled down to the grain, and it's wonderfully gratifying to read of individuals who might be our friends, our neighbors--or even ourselves."
Librarian Rosemary wrote: "I am thrilled that this is the beginning of a new series. McCann is a new author that I will now be following. . . ."
Reviewer Tracy wrote: "An exciting Canadian police procedural mystery that had me hooked from the very first page. A great strong female lead and a nice male counterpart just learning the ropes of homicide. Twists and turns I never saw coming especially leading up to the ending. I would and will recommend this book to friends and family, even strangers should the time and place present itself."
I'm also pleased to note that the voting on the cover design is going nicely. NetGalley viewers have so far given it 17 thumbs-up and 0 thumbs down. Thanks!
Now it's your turn, faithful followers of my blog. Click on the link below to find out for yourself why Sorrow Lake is going to make a lot of noise for Canadian crime fiction in 2015! Thanks for your support.
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/open...
April 1, 2015
Advance Reading Copy of Sorrow Lake Now Available
The Plaid Raccoon Press is pleased to announce that the Advance Reading Copy of the new Canadian crime novel Sorrow Lake is now available.
The ARC is available in e-book format through NetGalley, the online service that allows all publishers, large and small, to distribute review copies of new books to reviewers.
If you would like an e-book copy of Sorrow Lake, here's the link:
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/open...
If you have a NetGalley account, simply sign in and you will be taken directly to the Sorrow Lake page, where you may download a copy. It's available in .epub, .mobi, and .pdf formats.
If you don't have a NetGalley account, you can register with them free of charge. There's also no charge, of course, for downloading a review copy of Sorrow Lake.
What's the catch? There's only one -- if you like the book, we'd appreciate it very much if you'd let the world know by publishing a short review in your blog or column, or on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or wherever you like to go to spread the word about a book you've enjoyed.
Thanks very much for your interest. I hope you enjoy the story!
The ARC is available in e-book format through NetGalley, the online service that allows all publishers, large and small, to distribute review copies of new books to reviewers.
If you would like an e-book copy of Sorrow Lake, here's the link:
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/open...
If you have a NetGalley account, simply sign in and you will be taken directly to the Sorrow Lake page, where you may download a copy. It's available in .epub, .mobi, and .pdf formats.
If you don't have a NetGalley account, you can register with them free of charge. There's also no charge, of course, for downloading a review copy of Sorrow Lake.
What's the catch? There's only one -- if you like the book, we'd appreciate it very much if you'd let the world know by publishing a short review in your blog or column, or on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or wherever you like to go to spread the word about a book you've enjoyed.
Thanks very much for your interest. I hope you enjoy the story!
March 23, 2015
Cover Reveal - SORROW LAKE by Michael J. McCann!
The Plaid Raccoon Press is thrilled to unveil the cover art for SORROW LAKE by Michael J. McCann. Set in eastern Ontario, Canada, SORROW LAKE is the first installment in the new March and Walker Crime Novel Series. It features Detective Inspector Ellie March of the Ontario Provincial Police and Detective Constable Kevin Walker of the OPP's Leeds County Crime Unit.
To see the cover, and to read an interview with the author on the cover design process, visit The Overnight Bestseller!
Don't forget to let him know in the Comments if you like the cover!
To see the cover, and to read an interview with the author on the cover design process, visit The Overnight Bestseller!
Don't forget to let him know in the Comments if you like the cover!
March 16, 2015
Sorrow Lake: Who Are These Canadian Detectives?
Last week I introduced you to my new crime novel, Sorrow Lake, which will be making its first appearance next month. In that post I discussed the novel's Canadian setting (https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...).
Now it’s time to meet the two main characters who give the March and Walker Crime Novel series its name.
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR ELLIE MARCH is a nineteen-year veteran of the Ontario Provincial Police. A major case manager with the Criminal Investigation Branch at OPP General Headquarters in Orillia, she investigates homicides and other major crimes in the force’s East Region.
Kevin Walker’s early impression of her is of a woman
in her early forties... Tall, slender, a little gawky. Her ring finger was bare. Her nails were closely trimmed. She wore no cosmetics at all and her hair, although neatly combed, was straight and unattractive. Her cheekbones were high and prominent. Her eyebrows were unplucked. The eyes beneath them were narrow and sober. He’d yet to see her smile. Even when she joked, revealing an active sense of humour, her wide, pursed lips didn’t participate. She was a very strange and intense person who didn’t seem to care what anyone thought about her.
Ellie is divorced. Her ex-husband, Gareth Miller, is an economic advisor for the federal Conservative Party. Her two daughters, Melanie (16) and Megan (12), dislike her intensely. They believe she is “the unhappiest person, like, ever. You make happy people feel unhappy.” Ellie, though, thinks this might be a somewhat unfair assessment.
DETECTIVE CONSTABLE KEVIN WALKER has been assigned to the OPP’s Leeds County Crime Unit for two years. Born and raised in Brockville, he completed a two-year college program and was hired by the Sparrow Lake Police Service as a constable. He spent nine years in the village, the last five as their only detective, before transferring to the OPP when the SLPS was disbanded and Yonge Township awarded their policing contract to the OPP.
Ellie first sees Kevin at the crime scene. He’s standing near the body of the victim with forensic Identification Sergeant Dave Martin:
The one in the ski jacket and toque was big and looked very young, while the other, the Ident officer in his white coveralls and hood, was short and middle-aged. The kid looked like a football player in full pads standing next to a referee.
Young and enthusiastic, Kevin is pleased to have an opportunity to work with Ellie, whose reputation as an interrogator and case manager precedes her. He hopes that his intelligence and insatiable curiosity for esoteric information will compensate for his lack of law enforcement experience. However, at least one of his colleagues in the crime unit feels strongly that Kevin doesn’t belong with them.
Next week: your first look at the cover of Sorrow Lake!
Now it’s time to meet the two main characters who give the March and Walker Crime Novel series its name.
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR ELLIE MARCH is a nineteen-year veteran of the Ontario Provincial Police. A major case manager with the Criminal Investigation Branch at OPP General Headquarters in Orillia, she investigates homicides and other major crimes in the force’s East Region.
Kevin Walker’s early impression of her is of a woman
in her early forties... Tall, slender, a little gawky. Her ring finger was bare. Her nails were closely trimmed. She wore no cosmetics at all and her hair, although neatly combed, was straight and unattractive. Her cheekbones were high and prominent. Her eyebrows were unplucked. The eyes beneath them were narrow and sober. He’d yet to see her smile. Even when she joked, revealing an active sense of humour, her wide, pursed lips didn’t participate. She was a very strange and intense person who didn’t seem to care what anyone thought about her.
Ellie is divorced. Her ex-husband, Gareth Miller, is an economic advisor for the federal Conservative Party. Her two daughters, Melanie (16) and Megan (12), dislike her intensely. They believe she is “the unhappiest person, like, ever. You make happy people feel unhappy.” Ellie, though, thinks this might be a somewhat unfair assessment.
DETECTIVE CONSTABLE KEVIN WALKER has been assigned to the OPP’s Leeds County Crime Unit for two years. Born and raised in Brockville, he completed a two-year college program and was hired by the Sparrow Lake Police Service as a constable. He spent nine years in the village, the last five as their only detective, before transferring to the OPP when the SLPS was disbanded and Yonge Township awarded their policing contract to the OPP.
Ellie first sees Kevin at the crime scene. He’s standing near the body of the victim with forensic Identification Sergeant Dave Martin:
The one in the ski jacket and toque was big and looked very young, while the other, the Ident officer in his white coveralls and hood, was short and middle-aged. The kid looked like a football player in full pads standing next to a referee.
Young and enthusiastic, Kevin is pleased to have an opportunity to work with Ellie, whose reputation as an interrogator and case manager precedes her. He hopes that his intelligence and insatiable curiosity for esoteric information will compensate for his lack of law enforcement experience. However, at least one of his colleagues in the crime unit feels strongly that Kevin doesn’t belong with them.
Next week: your first look at the cover of Sorrow Lake!
March 9, 2015
Sorrow Lake: What's All This about a Canadian Setting?
As spring approaches, work is underway to prepare my next novel for publication. Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, is set in eastern Ontario and features homicide investigators of the Ontario Provincial Police. The advance reading copy for review will be available next month in e-book format through NetGalley and in paperback through my imprint, The Plaid Raccoon Press.
I'm very excited to talk about this new series, which is a bit of a departure from the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel series familiar to readers through Blood Passage, Marcie's Murder, The Fregoli Delusion, and The Rainy Day Killer (yes, a fifth novel in the series will eventually join them!). First and foremost, crime fiction fans will be interested to note that this Canadian crime fiction author is now using a Canadian setting for his mysteries!
Canada can proudly boast a strong lineup of home-grown crime fiction authors including Barbara Fradkin, Robert Rotenberg, Giles Blunt, and Louise Penny, who was quoted in the past as saying that “it was excruciatingly difficult to find an agent or a publisher in Canada or elsewhere interested in a procedural with a Canadian setting” (please see http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/... for the text of the article). However, her success with the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec's Eastern Townships and the popularity of Blunt's John Cardinal series set in a thinly-disguised North Bay (population 64,000) are proof that Canadian settings need not be a deterrent to success in the crime fiction market.
The OPP provides policing services to more than 300 communities in Ontario, including rural Leeds County, where Sorrow Lake is set. Homicide investigators in the force's East Region--where Detective Inspector Ellie March, one of two lead characters in the series, is assigned--investigate major crimes in a land area of 35,000 sq. km. with a population of over 900,000 people. Stories in the series will be set not only in Leeds but in other parts of the region as well.
It's very interesting to compare the scope of this setting to, say, Iceland. Scandinavian crime fiction, still immensely popular in Canada and the US, includes bestselling, award-winning Icelandic novelists such as Yrsa Sigurdardóttir and Arnaldur Indridason. In fact, I have copies of their novels on the bookshelf in my bathroom. How do we explain the amazing success of Icelandic crime fiction, set in a country with a population of only 323,000 people (a third of eastern Ontario)? A question for another day, but further proof that crime fiction with underpopulated settings can be surprisingly successful.
I'm very anxious for you to have a chance to experience March and Walker in action as they investigate the brutal execution-style murder of a local used-car wholesaler in Sorrow Lake. As procedurals go, this one is well-researched, carefully told, and features intriguing, engaging characters you'll want to follow through each of their upcoming adventures.
Stay tuned for more!
I'm very excited to talk about this new series, which is a bit of a departure from the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel series familiar to readers through Blood Passage, Marcie's Murder, The Fregoli Delusion, and The Rainy Day Killer (yes, a fifth novel in the series will eventually join them!). First and foremost, crime fiction fans will be interested to note that this Canadian crime fiction author is now using a Canadian setting for his mysteries!
Canada can proudly boast a strong lineup of home-grown crime fiction authors including Barbara Fradkin, Robert Rotenberg, Giles Blunt, and Louise Penny, who was quoted in the past as saying that “it was excruciatingly difficult to find an agent or a publisher in Canada or elsewhere interested in a procedural with a Canadian setting” (please see http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/... for the text of the article). However, her success with the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec's Eastern Townships and the popularity of Blunt's John Cardinal series set in a thinly-disguised North Bay (population 64,000) are proof that Canadian settings need not be a deterrent to success in the crime fiction market.
The OPP provides policing services to more than 300 communities in Ontario, including rural Leeds County, where Sorrow Lake is set. Homicide investigators in the force's East Region--where Detective Inspector Ellie March, one of two lead characters in the series, is assigned--investigate major crimes in a land area of 35,000 sq. km. with a population of over 900,000 people. Stories in the series will be set not only in Leeds but in other parts of the region as well.
It's very interesting to compare the scope of this setting to, say, Iceland. Scandinavian crime fiction, still immensely popular in Canada and the US, includes bestselling, award-winning Icelandic novelists such as Yrsa Sigurdardóttir and Arnaldur Indridason. In fact, I have copies of their novels on the bookshelf in my bathroom. How do we explain the amazing success of Icelandic crime fiction, set in a country with a population of only 323,000 people (a third of eastern Ontario)? A question for another day, but further proof that crime fiction with underpopulated settings can be surprisingly successful.
I'm very anxious for you to have a chance to experience March and Walker in action as they investigate the brutal execution-style murder of a local used-car wholesaler in Sorrow Lake. As procedurals go, this one is well-researched, carefully told, and features intriguing, engaging characters you'll want to follow through each of their upcoming adventures.
Stay tuned for more!
March 2, 2015
Spring Reading
It's been a very long winter, but here are some crime fiction novels you can look forward to this spring:
The Killing Lessons by Saul Black - San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart must identify two killers to put an end to a killing spree. And this time, there is a survivor.
How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst - A woman institutionalized for the murder of her son suddenly discovers that he may still be alive.
No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary - Two children die, and Marnie Rome and her partner Noah Jake must determine whether their deaths are isolated incidents.
Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight - A murder mystery set in New Jersey and featuring freelance journalist Molly Anderson.
For the full list of anticipated winter/spring novels, please see http://www.afantasticallibrarian.com/....
The Killing Lessons by Saul Black - San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart must identify two killers to put an end to a killing spree. And this time, there is a survivor.
How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst - A woman institutionalized for the murder of her son suddenly discovers that he may still be alive.
No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary - Two children die, and Marnie Rome and her partner Noah Jake must determine whether their deaths are isolated incidents.
Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight - A murder mystery set in New Jersey and featuring freelance journalist Molly Anderson.
For the full list of anticipated winter/spring novels, please see http://www.afantasticallibrarian.com/....
Open Investigations
A blog that explores crime fiction writing and other topics of interest to both readers and authors.
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