Bernadette Calonego's Blog: Eventful - Posts Tagged "bernadette-calonego"

Recently I read that book ads with the word "missing" in them are very successful. I have no way to verify this claim but what I know is that stories of missing persons fascinate and scare me. People go missing all the time. Many, many people. In the isolated region in Northern Newfoundland where I am spending the winter, five people have gone missing in the last thirty years. One case is probably a murder.
I have read several books about people who went missing in the wilderness because I am surrounded by the vast barren tundra. One thing strikes me over and over: It is easy to get disoriented and lost in the wilderness. One doesn`t even have to make a huge mistake. A wrong turn, then another one, and soon you cannot find your return path anymore. Most lost persons keep going, first with hope, then in panic, putting distance between their starting point and the trail they are on. Which makes it more difficult to locate them.
Bad weather especially works against you when you are out there in the harsh unknown. Or the heat. I read an incredible story from 2006 about a young couple who drove up a mountain in Southern California on a train, hiked a short distance to a view point with other tourists and to a waterfall and got lost. They spent three hot days and three cold nights in the wild. They had no food, no cell phones and no adequate clothing. Eventually they found the camp of a dead hiker who also got lost. With his matches they started a forest fire that would be seen from a helicopter. It worked: they were rescued. What an amazing story. But it could easily have ended with their deaths. Here is a link to the story: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12737512
My advice: Always tell somebody where you are going to.
If you like to read more about my life in a tiny village in Northern Newfoundland, you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter on my website www.bernadettecalonego.com/eng

Murderous Morning: A heart-stopping crime novel with a stunning end.

I walk a dog named Coco almost everyday, it is not my dog but belongs to a family in the remote fishing village in Northern Newfoundland where I am staying. Coco is shedding her winter fur right now: instead of looking like a lion she resembles more a seal (she is a labrador/husky mix). I wonder if there is an analogy with humans. Am I shedding something, too, now that it is April?
There are still ice floes in the bay and heaps of snow everywhere but luckily I don`t need any crampons and long johns anymore.
When one is shedding something, one must feel lighter, I suppose. I think I'm shedding books (smile). I'm in the process of publishing a German mystery novel and an English title: "Cries from the Cold". The latter is a crime thriller set on the wild coast of Labrador, with RCMP detective Calista Gates as the main character. It is the first book of a series, my first series, by the way. "Cries from the Cold" can be pre-ordered now on Amazon, the paperback will be out in approximately three weeks, the e-book on June 25.
You probably assume that I'm fascinated by cold regions, and you are right. I've never been a person who can stand searing heat. I would probably be a good candidate for a heat stroke in that kind of temperatures. I just spent my first entire winter in Northern Newfoundland but it turned out to be an exceptionally mild winter for this area. I've come to realize that the crucial thing is to dress appropriately. Even a face covering, if necessary.
I've just read the mesmerizing book "Ghost of Everest", about a search expedition in 1999 that found the body of famous climber George Mallory who died in 1924 on the highest mountain on earth. Mallory had none of the modern clothing that today's mountaineers have. Just silk underwear and layers of sweaters made of wool, jackets made of canvas, simple leather boots and a pilot hat for his head. It is hard to imagine how Mallory could venture like this into the Death Zone on Everest. But he did.
I like to be adventurous, too, but with a calculated risk. The heroine of my latest book "Cries from the Cold", Calista Gates, cannot afford that luxury. She is thrown into the brutal Labrador winter without any ropes or guard rails.
Would you like to find out how she was doing?
Three more weeks to go!

Our house in northern Newfoundland is small and rather dark. Luckily my fisherman built a room just for me onto the back of the house. A retreat which is bright and airy. It has huge windows on all sides which is not so practical in the strong Newfoundland winds but beauty and comfort come first.
I live now with a roommate in our house. Her name is Calista Gates and she is the detective in my new mystery thriller series. I spend many hours with her, think about her, write about her, put her in place, let her move around, ask her what she wants to do. A very interesting roommate with strong views and a big heart. But she doesn’t always want to be the good cop. She is quite headstrong and wants room to develop new character traits. I’m very fond of her, and so are many readers. Which makes me happy.
I hesitated a long time to write a series with a female detective although I really wanted to. But I knew that my heroine had to be really captivating, likable, irresistible. Only if I was able to create a really convincing strong lead, my series could take off. I took the plunge, and Calista Gates was born. Will she win the hearts of my readers? Now that the series is a success in Germany and the first English translation has been published (title: "Cries from the Cold"), I am happy to see that she conquers the imagination of people.
I am not like Calista, in case you wondered. But we share one experience: culture shock.
I thought it would be interesting to send a big-city detective to a God-forsaken fishing village in Labrador in the middle of a bone-chilling winter. I can relate to the challenges she faces because of my own experiences in Newfoundland.
The dynamics in these insular settlements are very interesting. People live in each other's pockets, however a lot of things are swept under the carpet. They can resurface when it is least expected, and not always in a good way.
So whenever Calista Gates misses Vancouver and her family there, I take her into my bright, airy room at the back of the house and cuddle her. After some loving care, she is ready to take on a new murder case and a another fight for justice. Don`t we just love her?
CRIES FROM THE COLD

One of my three brothers will not read my mystery thrillers because they would keep him awake at night. I totally accept this (I have two more brothers who make up for it, they read my mystery thrillers even before they are published). I can get scared, too. Recently I listened to a true crime podcast. In the night, I woke up and was afraid of the dark!
On the other hand, my translator said to me that I should have more dead people in my books (is three bodies not enough?). Translating my novels, he obviously acquired a taste for dark thrills. In my personal life, I`m not always ready for them. When I watch a movie and it gets too violent I close my eyes. I cannot bear it. How much gore and horror can you tolerate, dear reader?
When my mother wanted to tell me stories about ghosts knocking on windows and lost souls wandering through a house at night, I fled. As a child, my imagination was too vivid to enjoy these tales.
Being a crime writer doesn't mean I'm not frightened in the face of danger. But it is almost impossible to predict how we will react in the face of somebody or something threatening us. Maybe we stay calmer than we think. Or people who seem to be strong break down.
I relish in building up suspense and reinforcing the mystery in my books but I don't have fun describing a bloody scene, a mutilated body or torture. Like with romance, the most intensive things that can happen are in our imagination. Once it is described in detail, it can lose its impact.
Does this mean I won`t listen to another true crime podcast anymore? Of course not. The thrill is addictive.

If one, like me, lives close to the locations that appear in my crime novels, there is sometimes a strange overlap of reality and fiction.
If you have read my series, you know that my main character, Detective Sergeant Calista Gates, lives in St. Anthony, Newfoundland, in a house on a large, overgrown, former campsite. When I drove past it recently, the police were there and the ambulance drove past me. Later I learned that a woman had turned onto the main road from the entrance to the campsite and had overlooked an oncoming car.
She barely survived the collision. I saw a badly damaged pickup truck in the ditch. As soon as I recovered from the shock, I thought of Calista: I have to warn her to be careful when she turns from her property onto the road. Only after a few seconds did I remember that Calista doesn't live there in real life. That's how close you can be to the people you invent for a book.
Serious accidents always scare me. Recently, a fisherman's entire arm was ripped out when he operated a hydraulic winch for shrimp on a ship and the arm became entangled in a cable. The man was rescued by the Newfoundland Coast Guard, but the helicopter had to make a stopover in Gander so they could give the man blood transfusions. He almost bled to death during the transport. Life is dangerous, and not only in crime novels.
Bernadette Calonego