Writing the Open Range

And so it ends....

2011-06-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

... sailing off over the wine-dark sea, or at least taking the ferry from Victoria over the deep blue Strait of Georgia

Into the sunset... (or rather away from it since the ferry is actually going east).

...back to Alberta where the sky is wider and the land flatter but the authors and publishers as expert at their craft as any in the country.

With thanks to:

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts for funding support and encouragement to give away as many books by Alberta authors and from Alberta publishers as humanly possible;

Mystery Writers Ink for sponsoring the Writing the Open Range panel;

The following publishers who donated books:

University of Calgary Press
University of Alberta Press
Folklore Publishing
Lone Pine Publishing
Cormorant Books
Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
TouchWood Editions/Brindle & Glass Publishing

And authors Garry Ryan, Sharon Wildwind, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey, Susan Calder, and Anthony Bidulka who donated books and items to the prize basket and promoted the panel, and were all-round good ambassadors for Alberta's many fine writers.

We had a wonderful time at Bloody Words 2011. Thanks for allowing us to represent Alberta authors and publishers

Sincere Best Wishes from

Jayne Barnard & Anne Jayne

And yet more delighted conference-goers taking home Alberta books!

2011-06-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

And yet more delighted conference-goers taking home Alberta books!

The most horrifying author in Canada, Bloody Words 2011's Canadian Guest of Honour Michael Slade, is riding for a Deadly Fall.

Cheryl Freedman, ex-HQ of Crime Writers of Canada and nigh-permanent chair of Bloody Words (along with author Caro Soles), seized Marty Chan's Mystery of the Cyber Bully at the first opportunity.

Pam Barnsley, coordinator of Bloody Words' extremely impressive program book, carried off Gangs in Canada by Jeff Pearce, donated to the cause by Quagmire/Folklore Publishing.

Lovely Lauren, a devoted mystery reader from the dining room, couldn't wait for a Date with a Sheesha

After the Bloody Words Banquet, it was One Careless Moment

2011-06-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

Kate Derie, better known as Cluelass, and as editor of the Deadly Directory series, got a a warm smile when presented with a copy of One Careless Moment by Alberta author Dave Hugelschaffer, courtesy of Dave's publisher, Cormorant Books.

Later that evening, Jim Bottomley jumped on the same title, provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

And the following morning, there was no stopping Dave Olsen from Kamloops getting his fingers into the fire!

Cormorant donated additional copies which went to eager readers from Gibsons, Saskatoon and Victoria.

Saturday giveaways - sorry they're late!

2011-06-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

More books into the hands of eager readers before the June 4th Bloody Words banquet:

Janet Costello and Jessica Simon, respectively, chose Sharon Wildwind's Some Welcome Home, a novel about recently returned Vietnam war soldiers who get tangled up with a dead press officer, and Last Moments: Sentenced to Death in Canada by Dale Brawn, an examination of the more than 700 official executions in Canadian history.

Cathy Schultz of Kelowna is fascinated by Canadian history and was delighted to receive 'The Rumrunners' by Frank Anderson.

Retired chemist Gail Nickerson was curious about Joan Donaldson-Yarmey's second Elizabeth Oliver novel, The Only Shadow on the House.

Cathy Schultz got in a second time later on Saturday, collecting Sharon Wildwind's Some Welcome Home while her tablemate, Sue Holmes-McDonald from Nanaimo, dived eagerly into Linda Kupecek's debut mystery, "Deadly Dues".

Dying By Degrees - Eileen Coughlan

2011-06-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

Dying By Degrees

By Eileen Coughlan

Ravenstone

Emily Goodstriker and her friend Zac are working toward their masters degrees in psychology by conducting panic experiments on local street people... under the guidance of the brilliant but tyrannical Dr. Martin Mullarcant. After the annual graduate Christmas party, Emily's lab partner, Beth Wong, takes a dive out of a ten-story window. Emily is not convinced her friend committed suicide and takes it upon herself to find out what's really behind Beth's death. She continues Beth's work in Mullarcant's experiments but something is going drastically wrong.

Dying by Degrees was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 2001.

Copies of this title were handed out at Bloody Words 2011 with funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Illegally Dead - Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

2011-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Illegally Dead
Joan Donaldson-Yarmey
Sumach Press

This isn't the first time travel-writer Elizabeth Oliver finds herself smack in the middle of a murder investigation. Crime seems to follow her around as closely as her cockapoo companion Chevy.

Determined to focus entirely on her work this trip, she sets out to explore the length of Alberta's Crowsnest Highway to research a new travel article. But no sooner has she settled into travel-writing mode than she is flagged down at a roadside crime scene. Human bones have just been discovered in an old septic tank on a property slated to be used for a new hog barn development.

Resisting the temptation to get involved, she arrives at her B&B only to find that her hostess' mother Peggy used to own the septic tank property, and may know more about the situation than she's letting on.

Copies of this book were handed out courtesy of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Owl's Nest Books.

Fall from Grace - Wayne Arthurson

2011-06-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

WAYNE ARTHURSON, like his protagonist Leo Desroches, is the son of Cree and French Canadian parents. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a drummer in a rock band, and as a freelance journalist. He was born in and lives in Edmonton, Canada. Fall From Grace is his first novel.

This title was given to an interested reader at Bloody Words thanks to funding from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Hummingbird Dance - Garry Ryan

2011-06-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

A Hummingbird Dance begins with a disappearance connected to an unsolved murder. When Detectives Lane and Harper investigate the death of a sixteen-year-old First Nations man, they begin to unravel a series of killings. They must also deal with complex family issues while risking their lives to uncover the truth behind the killings.

More on this book and Garry Ryan

This book was given away to a mystery reader at Bloody Words thanks to funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Grizzly Lies - Eileen Coughlan

2011-06-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

Grizzly Lies - Eileen Coughlan
Sumach Press

Hellie MacConnell retreats from a troubled relationship in Toronto to the quiet town of Banff, Alberta where life is peaceful and nature abounds. But when her landlord turns up dead and her bear-loving neighbour Arthur Elliott disappears, Hellie finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation. Is Arthur a dangerous extremist who will do anything to protect 'his' grizzly bears? Is someone lurking in wait for Hellie, too? And what dark history is shared between Arthur and a visiting Texan hunter. A truly Canadian mystery set in spectacular Banff, Grizzly Lies charms with small-town legend and chills with dark secrets. As Hellie delves deeper into the mystery of her landlord's death, she learns to listen to stories of others, heal herself and let go of the past.

Copies of this book were given out courtesy of the author and of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Amuse Bouch - Anthony Bidulka

2011-06-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Amuse Bouch - Anthony Bidulka

2003 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel Finalist
2003 ReLit Award shortlist

A gay wedding gone bad. A missing groom. An unsullied reputation at risk. Enter Russell Quant, cute, gay and a rookie private detective. With a nose for good wine and bad lies, Quant is off to France on his first big case.

This book was given out thanks to the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Only Shadow on the House - Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

2011-06-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Only Shadow on the House
Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

In this fast-paced sequel to Illegally Dead, Edmonton travel writer Elizabeth Oliver is excited to get back on the open road to research a new article when, suddenly, an unexpected romance leads to a new murder mystery!
Though she is determined to stay focused on her writing, Elizabeth can't ignore the familiar goose bumps she feels when handsome wheelchair basketball coach Jared asks for her help to find out the truth about his mother's death.
Purchased through the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Some Welcome Home - Sharon Wildwind

2011-06-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

First book in the Elizabeth Pepperhawk/Avivah Rosen Viet Nam veteran mystery series.

Captain Elizabeth Pepperhawk survived Vietnam, but will she survive Fort Bragg? Whoever dressed a body in a World War II uniform, and put it in her bed at Normandy House, wants to shorten not only her military career, but her life.

Copies of this book were given away courtesy of the author and of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Mooning over 'The Moonstone'

2011-06-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Bony Pete contest coordinator Chris Bullock chose Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone as his Alberta book.

Now, as we all know, Wilie Collins was not an Albertan--but Broadview Press, which released this edition of The Moonstone and donated this copy to the Bloody Words promotion, is an Alberta publisher. Steve Farmer, the editor, is in the English Department at Arizona State.

The Broadview edition of The Moonstone got rave reviews for the commentary and supporting materials that Steve Farmer provided. The annotation of the text has been applauded, as has the inclusion of the full text of Collins' dramatic adaptation of the novel. A reader who wants to delve deeply into this novel will certainly find the commentary and the appendices to be enormously useful.

Broadview offers a number of classic mysteries, all with the commentaries and supporting materials that help the reader to full understand the novels in their own context. Other works in this series include Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles; and Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White.

Anne Jayne

And the Grizzly goes to....

2011-06-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

Joan Donaldson-Yarmey chose this novel by her fellow Sumach Press author, Eileen Coughlan.

Review of Grizzly Lies here

Copies of this title were provided to the Bloody Words promotional team by the author and with funding provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Lucky Elephant Restaurant - Garry Ryan

2011-06-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Lucky Elephant Restaurant
Garry Ryan
NeWest Press

Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail (Canadian Crime Books):
"Ryan’s forte is Calgary, and it shows in his precise descriptions and great images. Lane and Harper are fine characters who deserve a series."

Copies of this book were given away with funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Staying Human Through the Holocaust - Terez Mozes

2011-06-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Staying Human Through the Holocaust

Terez Mozes

Teréz Mózes was born in Romania in 1919 to a stable and loving family. Her idyllic life would eventually be shattered by the upheavals of the Second World War as the Nazis systematically undertook the destruction of the Jewish race. Starting with the insidious and menacing anti-Jewish laws, and continuing with resettlement into cramped ghettos and finally deportation to the death camps, Teréz and her sister Erzsi would be thrust into a harrowing journey that would forever alter the course of their lives.

This book donated by the University of Calgary Press

Prisoner of Cage Farm - Cecelia Frey

2011-06-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

The Prisoner of Cage Farm

by Cecelia Frey

The McFaddens are a well-to-do country family who occupy Thorncliffe Heights in rural Alberta. Across the road, the Cage Farm can barely keep its household together. Still, Lewis McFadden, war veteran and incurable romantic, is hopelessly infatuated with the beautiful and mysterious Isabel Cage. Enter Emiline Thomas who answers a newspaper ad to be Isabel's tutor at the Cage Farm. Coming from big-city Toronto, Emiline is soon exposed to the harsh and uncompromising effect of the prairie landscape on her ability to survive an isolating and lonely experience. In a time before electricity, paved roads, and reliable vehicles, the clash between Emiline's urban upbringing and the Cages' monotonous prairie existence is inevitable.

This book was donated by

The University of Calgary Press

Missing Pieces - Olga Verrall

2011-06-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

Missing Pieces: My Life as a Child Survivor of the Holocaust

Olga Verrall

This book donated for Bloody Words by the University of Calgary Press.

Mystery of the Frozen Brains - Marty Chan

2011-06-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

A Chinese boy growing up in a prairie town believes his family are aliens because they don't look like all the other people in town. He teams up with a school friend to expose his parents as outer space visitors and find their flying saucer. Instead, they find frozen brains in the freezer and believe they are the only two warriors against an impending alien invasion.

Book gift thanks to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Marty Chan is a nationally known dramatist, screenwriter, and author. His juvenile novel, The Mystery of the Frozen Brains, won the Edmonton Book Prize, and was also listed as one of the Best Books of 2004 for grades three to six by Resource Links magazine. The second book in the Chan Mystery Series, The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul, was short listed for the 2007 SYRCA Young Readers’ Choice Diamond Willow Award, the 2007 Golden Eagle Children’s Choice Book Award, and the 2007 Arthur Ellis Crime Writers of Canada Award in the Best Juvenile category. Marty Chan lives in Edmonton, Alberta

The Sign of Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

2011-06-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

The Sign of Four
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Edited by Shafquat Towheed

Arthur Conan Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story and an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan, a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father and solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year, it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery and human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of south London, and from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the ‘Indian Mutiny’ to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes’ own Baker Street.”

Donated by Broadview Press

Inkster brings home the Bony Pete short story award

2011-06-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

As previously reported by president Anne Jayne, Inkster Jayne Barnard won the short mystery story contest at Bloody Words 2011 in Victoria BC.

Runners-up were Melodie Campbell and Gloria Ferris, both of Ontario.

The prize is $100 and publication in Victoria's Monday Magazine this week, followed by publication on the Monday Mag website.

Here's a photo of Jayne receiving the traditional award statue, in its hand-crafted carrying case, from Grant McKenzie of Monday Magazine:

Books for Volunteers

2011-06-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

The Bloody Words conference is the result of months, indeed years, of hard work by the organizing committee and many volunteers.

Four volunteers who ran the registration desk in the main room of Bloody Words chose books by Alberta's authors and publishers.

Noreen Lerch took time out from her new Victoria B&B, Medana Cottage, to pitch in as a registration volunteer for Bloody Words. Noreen chose Joan Donaldson-Yarney's most recent mystery, The Only Shadow in the House (Sumach Press, 2010).

Joan Donaldson-Yarney was a travel writer before turning to mysteries. Her protagonist is Elizabeth Oliver, who is a travel writer specializing in he back roads, encountered her first murder in Illegally Dead, published in 2008. In The Only Shadow in the House, Elizabeth is asked to investigate what happened to someone who went missing years before.

Joan explored every corner of Alberta while writing books in the "Back Roads" series, and that knowledge shows in her mysteries.

(Noreen's B&B operation is new, but Medana Cottage at 162 Medana, near the Inner Harbour, is not: it is a heritage house. Given Noreen's interest in mysteries, guests can no doubt find lots of mysteries to read within its walls, but whether there are mysteries to solve only Noreen will know. Her website is at medana-grove.com.)

Jenny Watson chose Eileen Coughlan's Grizzy Lies, which is set in Banff. Eileen's first novel, Dying by Degress, was set in Calgary, at a fictional university. In that novel, Eileen explored many corners of Calgary for her setting, and featured characters who were equally diverse, from university professors to people who are homeless.

In Grizzly Lies, Eileen brings that same interest in the diversity of a community to Banff and its surrounding wildnerness. There is indeed a grizzly in the story.

Grizzly Lies was published by Sumach Press in 2006.

Andree Chenier chose Wayne Arthurson's debut mystery, Fall from Grace. Wayne's protagonist is Leo Desroches, who is a journalist of French and Cree ancestry Leo has his challenges in life, as he is separated from his children and trying to get back into journalism after some professional bumps in the road. Leo is sent to cover the story of the death of a young woman, whose body is found in a rural area near Edmonton.

Wayne Arthurson is much like his protagonist, at least with respect to his journalistic profession and his ancestry.

Fall from Grace was published this spring by Tom Doherty.

Judy Hudson chose Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectivces, edited by Justin Gustanis and published by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing in Alberta.

This is an anthology of fourteen tales of cases that require investigation that goes beyond the usual methods of deduction--far, far, beyond. The authors and their detectives include:
* Danny Hendrickson - from Laura Anne Gilman’s Cosa Nostradamus series.
* Kate Connor - from Julie Kenner’s Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series.
* John Taylor - from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series.
* Jill Kismet - from Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series.
* Jessi Hardin - from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series.
* Quincey Morris - from Justin Gustainis’ Morris/Chastain Investigations series.
* Marla Mason - from T. A. Pratt’s Marla Mason series.
* Tony Foster - from Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Shadows series.
* Dawn Madison - from Chris Marie Green’s Vampire Babylon series.
* Pete Caldecott - from Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.
* Tony Giodone - from C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s Tales of the Sazi series.
* Jezebel - from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth series.
* Piers Knight - from C. J. Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight series.
* Cassiel - from Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series.
Readers who love both mysteries and science fiction/fantasy do not have choose between the two!

Anne Jayne

Runaway Devil - Robert Remington & Sherri Zickefoose

2011-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Runaway Devil

Robert Remington & Sherri Zickefoose

McLelland & Stewart

Mark and Debra seemed to have it all - a lovely home in the prairie town of Medicine Hat, fulfilling careers, a supportive marriage, and two beautiful children: eight-year-old Jacob and twelve-year-old J.R. But on April 23, 2006, Mark and Debra's bodies were discovered in their basement, covered in savage stab wounds. Upstairs, Jacob lay dead in his bed, his toys spattered with blood. In 'Runaway Devil', journalists ______ reveal what really happened: the unlikely young love between J.R. and twenty-three-year-old drop-out Jeremy Steinke. the teenage rebellion, the goth subculture, a troubling world of adolescent drifters, and a small community torn apart by an unthinkable crime. This is the horrifying story of how an innocent schoolgirl became Canada's youngest multiple killer.

Derrick Carew chose a non-fiction account of the murders of three members of a family in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The book was purchased thanks to the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia - Lynda Mannik

2011-06-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia: Representation, Rodeo, and the RCMP at the Royal Easter Show, 1939

In 1939, a troupe of eight rodeo riders, accompanied by an RCMP officer, travelled to Sydney, Australia to compete in the Royal Easter Show. The men were expected to compete in various rodeo events, as well as to sell handicrafts at the fair's "Indian village," where they also camped. International competition in rodeo was very rare at the time, and the team proved to be a popular draw for Australian audiences. This little-known moment in Canadian history is explored in Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia. Author Lynda Mannik uniquely incorporates five different perspectives of the event: that of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales; the Canadian government; the eight First Nations men who participated; the RCMP officer who travelled with the team; and the Australian public.

This book is donated to the Bloody Words project by the University of Calgary Press.

Canadian Spies and Spies in Canada - Peter Boer

2011-06-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Author Peter Boer exposes some of Canada's best-hidden security threats.

Book given courtesy of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Policing the Wild Northwest - Zhiqiu Lin

2011-06-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Policing the Wild North-West:

A Sociological Study of the Provincial Police in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905-32

Zhiqiu Lin investigates the complex relationship between the role of policing, the political sphere, and social progress. This book attempts to analyze the effects on provincial police in Alberta and Saskatchewan of various social phenomena ranging from political radicals and vagrants, to prohibition bootleggers and black market profiteers. These factors placed enormous demands on the development of policing and had a significant impact on three specific and interrelated areas: first, the professionalization of police organizations within society, as evidenced by changes in policing technology, varying political agendas, and perhaps most importantly, within the police organizations themselves; second, the shifting of focus away from the "dangerous classes" and social agitators towards investigative procedures required for solving serious crime; and finally, the impact of policing on the rates of crime as influenced by the role of police officers as agents of social change and the value of social service in strengthening community and reducing the motivation towards criminal activity.

This book donated by the University of Calgary Press

Last Moments: Sentenced to Death in Canada – Dale Brawn

2011-06-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Last Moments: Sentenced to Death in Canada – Dale Brawn

Before capital punishment was abolished in 1962, more than 700 men and women were executed by hanging in Canada. Last Moments shines a light into a dark corner of a long and painful part of Canadian history that threatens to re-emerge. Here are dramatic stories of the characters whose final moments and last words were tragic, unpredictable, poignant, eccentric and often bizarre.

Donated by Quagmire Press

Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives

2011-06-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives
Edited by Justin Gustainis

“Got vampires? Ghosts? Monsters? We can help! Those Who Fight Montsters: Tales of Occult Detectives, is your one-stop shop for Urban Fantasy’s finest anthology of the supernatural. 14 sleuths are gathered together for the first time in all-original tales of unusual cases that require services that go far beyond mere deducton!”

Donated By Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

Book Trailer

Gangs in Canada – Jeff Pearce

2011-06-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

Gangs in Canada – Jeff Pearce

In “Gangs in Canada,” Jeff Pearce draws a portrait of a crime wave spreading across the country and infecting our youth. He shows how police, ex-gang members and organizations are reclaiming our young people and showing them ways out of a violent, doomed lifestyle. This is the most gripping, up-to-date chronicle of what is happening on our streets. … “Gangs in Canada” goes beyond the headlines and news clips. It picks up the discussion over causes, history, and media influences, and shakes out fresh new perspectives on strategies for intervention.

Donated to Writing the Open Range by Quagmire Press/Folklore Publishing

Mystery of the Cyber Bully - Marty Chan

2011-06-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

How do you find a bully who lurks on the internet and lashes out at helpless victims? Intrepid kid detectives Marty, Remi and Trina must answer that question if they’re to stop a cyber bully targeting their classmates.

Book gift thanks to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

2011-06-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins
Edited by Steve Farmer

Intrigue, investigations, thievery, drugs, and murder all make an appearance in Wilkie Collins’ classic whodunit, The Moonstone. (it) . Published in serial form in 1868, it was inspired in part by a spectacular murder case widely reported in the early 1860’s. Collins’ story revolves around a diamond stolen from a Hindu holy place. On her 18th birthday, Rachel Verinder receives the diamond, but by the following morning the stone has been stolen again. As the story unravels through multiple eye-witness accounts, the elderly Sergeant Cuff – with a face “sharp as a hatchet” – looks for the culprit.”

(The play appears as an appendix to that edition)

Donated by Broadview Press

Give Your Other Vote to the Sister - Debbie Marshall

2011-06-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Give Your Other Vote to the Sister:

A Woman's Journey into the Great War

by Debbie Marshall

Give Your Other Vote to the Sister tells the story of Roberta MacAdams, the first woman elected to the Alberta legislature. In fact, she was one of the first two women elected to a legislature anywhere in the British empire. Her triumph was extraordinary for many reasons. Not only did she run while serving as a nursing sister overseas during the Great War, but over 90 per cent of her electors were men Alberta soldiers stationed in England and in the muddy trenches of the Western Front.

This book was donated for the project by the University of Calgary Press.

The Rumrunners - Frank W. Anderson

2011-06-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

The thirsty days of Prohibition in Alberta began at midnight on June 30, 1916, but many had been drinking so hard that the booze had long ago run out. Suddenly, the rumrunner was king, and backyard stills popped up everywhere. Even though the government introduced new laws and set up a new police force, liquor was still being made, sold and consumed by those who could outwit the law.

Book donated by Folklore Publishing.

Last of the Red-Hot Spenders.. er, Lenders... er, Books Given Away Friday

2011-06-05T02:29:00.000-07:00

A historian with a drive to reveal the hidden histories of heroic Canadian women,

Merna Forster snatched at 'Deadly Canadian Women' as soon as she saw it.

Colleen Tompkins collected the intriguing historical tale, Give Your Vote to the Sister, about a WW1 nursing sister who got herself elected to the legislature.

Michael MacPherson was driven to pick up Driven to Kill

...only to get scooped by Carmen almost immediately!

The Mounties March West marched into the personal library of June Klassen.

Last book of Friday night was Joan Donaldson-Yarmey's Illegally Dead, which became bedtime reading for Joanne (whose last name is indecipherable in my notebook, sorry)

Date with a Sheesha - Anthony Bidulka

2011-06-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

Date with a Sheesha:

A Russell Quant Mystery (2010)

ISBN: 978-1-897178-90-4

Neil Gupta travelled to the Middle East to buy carpets. Instead, in a dim corner of an exotic spice market, his lifeless body is found wrapped up in one.

From the glitzy, flamboyant, mega-high rises of Dubai, to the frankincense fields of Oman and scorching sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, PI Russell Quant is on one heckuva magical carpet ride; one that skids to a deadly halt on the frozen surface of a Saskatchewan pond.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Russell prepares to face the killing heat, choking sand storms, and pungent, dead-black nights of Arabia. Attempting to find out why Neil Gupta was killed, Quant embarks upon a perilous journey that pits him against a deceitful Bedouin sheikh, shifty souk merchants, a snooty museum curator, quirky antique carpet enthusiasts, and an underground club for “fabulous men”.

As Russell’s spicy foreign adventure heats up, he learns valuable lessons about love, life, and learning to seize the moment…before it all disappears like smoke from a genie’s lamp. On the verge of solving his sizzling mystery, Russell finds himself making the biggest personal decision of his life, and discovering that sometimes, bitter endings pave the way for new beginnings.

www.anthonybidulka.com

One Careless Moment - Dave Hugelschaffer

2011-06-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

One Careless Moment - Dave Hugelschaffer

A Porter Cassel Mystery

When a small fire starts to creep through the underbrush deep within a Montana forest valley, Porter Cassel is brought in to organize the firefighters charged with containing it. The fire moves quickly from bad to worse, rapidly scaling the forest canopy and killing one of Cassel’s men. Removed from command, Cassel takes the fire investigation into his own hands, discovering that the fire was not just a random flare-up, but the work of an arsonist.

Dave Hugelschaffer lives in Edson, Alberta. His publisher, Cormorant Books, graciously donated copies of this book for us to hand out to interested mystery readers at the Bloody Words Canadian Crime Writers Convention in Victoria, BC.

Deadly Dues - Linda Kupecek

2011-06-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Deadly Dues (TouchWood Editions, 2010)
The first in a series of lighthearted Lulu Malone mysteries

Linda Kupecek
Linda Kupecek is the author of the bestselling Rebel Women: Achievements Beyond the Ordinary, The Rebel Cook: Entertaining Advice for the Clueless, and Fiction and Folly for the Festive Season. She was a columnist with The Hollywood Reporter for ten years, and her writing has been published in numerous magazines including City Palate, TV Guide and Country Collectibles. After graduating from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama, Linda began her professional career as an actor, appearing in regional theatre, and in classic films such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the Robert Altman revisionist western, in which she had a supporting role, appearing onscreen with Julie Christie and Warren Beatty. She has survived children’s tours, regional theatre, costumes falling off onstage, big budget films, low budget films, low budget fees, and is still here to write about it. Born in Calgary, Alberta she has lived in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Linda now lives in Calgary. Deadly Dues is the first mystery in the Lulu Malone Mystery series.

Linda says: I love being able to write from the prairies. Calgary, in particular, has a special combination of rural history, and glossy buildings. Ranchers, oil, feminists, philanthropists and cultural resources like the Glenbow – all in one handy location for inspiration! Although I have set my Lulu Malone mysteries in an unnamed city, I have used the geography of Calgary as a basis, combining real and fictional street names as Lulu roars around the city, looking for her missing sheepdog, Horatio (and a murderer or two).

Books provided by TouchWood Editions and
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Driven to Kill - J. Peter Rothe

2011-06-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

Driven to Kill – Vehicles as Weapons
J. Peter Rothe
University of Alberta Press

In Driven to Kill, J. Peter Rothe unflinchingly examines the use of vehicles in cases of assault, abduction, rape, gang warfare, terrorism, suicide, and murder. How can a car be such an enabling force for the gamut of society’s most heinous crimes? Rothe offers a trove of unprecedented research for sociologists, criminologists, policy makers, police, as well as public health, injury prevention, and traffic safety professionals, but his accessible style speaks to our fascination with car culture and true crime stories.

Deadly Fall - Susan Calder

2011-06-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

Paula Savard’s life has stalled. Her lukewarm love life, job as an insurance adjuster and grownup children are more frustrating than exciting. However, she gets more than she asked for when her once best friend, Callie, is murdered while jogging to Paula’s inner-city Calgary home. Paula’s suspicions zero in on Callie’s new husband, Sam.

Book gifts thanks to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Deadly Canadian Women – Patricia MacQuarrie

2011-06-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Deadly Canadian Women – Patricia MacQuarrie.

Canadian women are not immune from violent behavior. Some have done the unthinkable and murdered their spouses, their lovers, their children or complete strangers. They come from across Canada and across social backgrounds, and many of their cases have changed the Canadian criminal justice system.

Donated by Quagmire Press

Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada – Gord Steinke

2011-06-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada
By Gord Steinke

Folklore Publishing

During the 1920s, Prohibition laws in the US led to lucrative deals between business-savvy Canadians and their mobster connections south of the 49th parallel. The ensuing crime sprees filled with tommy guns and barrels of bootleg whisky have become part of the rich folklore of the Roaring Twenties. In this rollicking collection, noted journalist and broadcaster Gord Steinke uncovers the ruses and schemes used by Canadian rumrunners to sneak their booze past the long arm of the law.

More Alberta Prime Crime gets into the hands of Bloody Words readers

2011-06-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

Dave Bennett found the University of Calgary Press's donation, "Canadian Indian Cowboys in Australia" too fascinating to resist.

Author and activist Stephen Legault pounced on "Policing the Wild Northwest", another University of Calgary Press donation.

BC historical mystery author Sharon Rowse was delighted to get her hands on 'Mobsters & Rumrunners of Canada', a donation from Folklore Publishing.

The Mounties March West – Tony Hollihan

2011-06-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Mounties March West
by Tony Hollihan
Folklore Publishing

Everyone knows that the Mounties always get their man. But how did this fabled force, recognized the world over for its heroism and resourcefulness, actually come to be? Join author Tony Hollihan as he follows the North-West Mounted Police from its inception through its historic march across the inhospitable prairies. … The march wasn’t always pretty but it never failed to be Canadian.

This book was provided with funding support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Alberta Author Sharon Wildwind - panelist

2011-06-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

Panelist Sharon Wildwind lives in Calgary and has published four novels in the Elizabeth Pepperhawk / Avivah Rosen series about returning Vietnam veterans, as well as a non-fiction account of her experiences as a nurse in Vietnam. She has finished the fifth book in the Vietnam series and is at work on a series set in Alberta.

More about Sharon and her books here

Alberta Author Susan Calder - panelist

2011-06-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

Alberta Author Susan Calder, long known for her short stories, is now promoting her debut mystery novel, Deadly Fall, set in Calgary.

Susan isn't a born Westerner. She grew up in Montreal. She says, "Like many before and after me, I came to Calgary for opportunity. Go west young man, or woman. So I did."

More about Susan here

Author Joan Donaldson-Yarmey - panelist

2011-06-04T01:01:00.000-07:00

Panelist Joan Donaldson-Yarmey is well known for her travel books and articles but here she\s wearing her crime-novelist hat, ready to tell all about her two travel-writer mysteries set in Alberta: Illegally Dead and The Only Shadow on the House. Although she was raised in Edmonton, she now lives in BC (where she has more to cheer about during hockey season?)

For more on Joan's life and writing

Alberta Author Garry Ryan - panelist

2011-06-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Panelist Garry Ryan is author of four published novels in the Detective Lane series set in Calgary. His fifth novel, Malabarista, comes out in September 2011.

Writing Crime on the prairies

"Every time I leave Calgary, one of the many things I look forward to upon returning is the sight of the Rocky Mountains on that western horizon. The there is the wide-open sky looking east to the horizon. It’s that combination of the sheer massiveness of the mountains on one side and that view to infinity on the other. It just seems to make almost anything possible. Perhaps that’s why the imagination feels so powerful in this part of the world."

Garry

More about Garry and his novels here

Anthony Bidulka - Panel Moderator

2011-06-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

Anthony Bidulka’s mystery series tells the story of a half-Ukrainian, half-Irish, Saskatchewan, gay, ex-farm boy, ex-cop, world-travelling, wine-swilling, wise-cracking, Canadian prairie, private detective living a big life in a small city.

The Russell Quant series is a multi award nominee including for the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award and Saskatchewan Book Award. The second book in the series, Flight of Aquavit, was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery.

Anthony Bidulka has enjoyed time well-spent and misspent in the worlds of academia, accounting, footwear, food services, and farming. In 1999, Anthony Bidulka, BA, BEd, BComm, CA, left a decade-long career as a chartered accountant to pursue writing.

Anthony has toured extensively throughout Canada and the US. A great believer in community involvement, he has sat on the boards of the International Association of Crime Writers, Crime Writers of Canada, Saskatchewan Writers Guild, Persephone Theatre, and is a co-founder of Camp fYrefly-Saskatchewan (a life skills camp for LGBT youth). Anthony has been the banquet MC for Canada’s premiere mystery conference, Bloody Words, and in June 2011, will be the MC for Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Awards.

The Russell Quant books: Amuse Bouche (2003), Flight of Aquavit (2004), Tapas on the Ramblas (2005), Stain of the Berry (2006), Sundowner Ubuntu (2007), Aloha, Candy Hearts (2009), Date With a Sheesha (2010). The eighth Russell Quant book, tentatively titled Dos Equis, is due to be released spring 2012.

Please visit www.anthonybidulka.com.

AFA post-entree giveaways at the Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet

2011-06-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

More books by Alberta crime writers landed in eager readers' hands courtesy of funds provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts:

Award-winning mystery author Barbara Fradkin chose Illegally Dead by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey.

Truly Canadian crime writer RJ (Robin) Harlick was intrigued by Eileen Coughlan's Dying by Degrees.

Prime Prairie Crime at the Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet

2011-06-03T01:21:00.000-07:00

Anne and Jayne kicked off their evening's entertainment by handing out books by Alberta crime writers to table-mates and passers-by.

BC-based mystery author Phyllis Smallman picked Amuse Bouche, the first book in the Russell Quant series by panel moderator Anthony Bidulka.

Joanne Drewry chose Sharon Wildwind's Some Welcome Home, the first in the Elizabeth Pepperhawk / Avivah Rosen series, because she will be visiting Vietnam soon.

Insanely busy banquet coordinator Deryn Collier collected Deadly Fall by Susan Calder.

All books provided with generous support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet

2011-06-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet

Best Crime Short Story: Mary Jane Maffini for 'So Much in Common' published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Best Crime Non-Fiction: Stevie Cameron for 'On the Farm', published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book: Alice Kuipers for 'The Worst Thing She Ever Did' from Harper Collins

Best Unpublished First Novel: John Jeneroux for "Better Off Dead"

Best French Crime Book: Jacques Cote for 'Dans le quartier des agites' (he was a 4-time finalist and now has a third statue for his collection)

Best First Crime Novel: Avner Mandelman for 'The Debba' from Random House Canada

Best Crime Novel: Louise Penny for 'Bury Your Dead'

Resurrecting Dr. Moss - Paul C. Appleton

2011-06-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Resurrecting Dr. Moss: The Life and Letters of a Royal Navy Surgeon, Edward Lawton Moss MD, RN, 1843-1880

This book donated by the University of Calgary Press.

Welcome to Writing the Open Range!

2011-06-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

This blog chronicles Alberta crime books and crime writers at Bloody Words, Canada’s national conference on mystery fiction.

Your blog hosts are Jayne and Anne, better known from Mystery Writers Ink in Calgary. Along with descriptions of panels we attend and mystery icons we meet in the elevator or the autograph line, we’ll feature books by Alberta writers and writers who set their mysteries in Alberta, along with crime novels and non-fiction published by Alberta publishers.

Many books will be given away to unsuspecting conference-goers. Some of the titles were donated by the authors and/or publishers, and many others were purchased with generous support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Mystery Writers Ink, a Calgary-based mystery writers group, sponsors the 'Writing the Open Range' Panel at 6:30 Friday evening, showcasing Alberta crime writers Garry Ryan, Sharon Wildwind and Susan Calder along with ex-Alberta writer Joan Donaldson-Yarmey. The amazing Anthony Bidulka, author of the Russell Quant mysteries, moderates.

For more news on the panel and the Ink authors, see the group's blog at Mystery Writers Ink

A tip of the cowboy hat to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, whose support makes possible our promotion of Alberta books and publishers here at Bloody Words.

Jayne and Anne