Letter to Gail Bowen on the Joanne Kilbourn series and Our Relationship

After reading The Solitary Friend I wrote to Gail Bowen. My letter is below. Last night she replied with a lovely note with the promise of a fuller response.

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Gail

When I read that The Solitary Friend will be the second last book in the Joanne Kilbourn series my mind took me back over the 30 years I have been reading the series. (A copy of my review follows this letter.)

After reflection I decided to write to you about the series and our relationship before the final book. Most often a retrospective is after the end of a series but it is my blog and I am writing my summing up after the second last book.

The first, Deadly Appearances, had the greatest impact upon me. It was the first mystery I had read that was set in Saskatchewan. I was captured by how you depicted our province and our people. As with every other Saskatchewan reader of that era - it does set some perspective on series longevity that I think of the book as from a different era - I instantly recognized that Andy Boychuk was inspired by our former Premier, Roy Romanow. 

The second, Murder at the Mendel, provided the most graphic image of the whole series in the painting by Joanne’s friend, Sally Love, which featured in the words of my review “100 portrayals of genitalia from the lovers of her life”. That painting always reminds me that your characters are real with sexual experiences important within their lives.

As the series went on I was caught up in the life of Joanne and her family. 

While I love Joanne my favourite character is Zack. After 50 years in the law how could I not most appreciate a distinguished Saskatchewan litigator. His enjoyment practising law is refreshing. I am weary of fictional lawyers unhappy in the profession.

I thought The Gifted was brilliant in exploring the immense artistic talent of Taylor at 14 while Joanne and Zack agonize over her relationship with the 19 year old Julian.

In Kaleidoscope I was introduced to the phrase “collateral good” referring to an unexpected good event from a bad situation.

Something has surprised me in every book. I would not have thought heritage poultry could be so interesting until I read What’s Left Behind.

Personally, Sharon and I often think of visiting you and Ted and sharing a meal at your home. The hospitality of the two of you was wonderful.

Because of your recommendation to Dave Carpenter I was asked to write a chapter in Volume Three of a Literary History of Saskatchewan on crime fiction in our province. I focused on five writers - yourself, Anthony Bidulka, Nelson Brunanski, Suzanne North and Alan Bradley.

In my analysis of Saskatchewan I noted several common characteristics. 

Of the different series all but Suzanne’s series make family an important part of the stories.

The sleuth of each series is an optimist.

Every sleuth respects the Rule of Law. There is not a vigilante among them.

Possibly most striking in the fictional crime world, none of the sleuths of the Saskatchewan five have ever killed anyone.

I will be sad when the last Joanne Kilbourn book is published. I have never felt the series was becoming stale or predictable. I had hopes that you would continue the series until you were 90 like P.D. James. I have enjoyed all of the books in the series.

This letter will be my 33rd post on my blog about your books and yourself. You join a few writers - Anthony Bidulka, Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, John Grisham and Jacqueline Winspear - with a comparable number of posts.

Maybe the best indicator of my regard for your books is that you have appeared 5 times on my annual Bill’s Best of Fiction which is more appearances than any other writer.

Anthony Bidulka came to the Melfort library last year. He responded to my introduction with his customary wit and deft comments, noting that some years before I had said he was Saskatchewan’s second best mystery writer after yourself. In my subsequent post to the evening at the library I said I was amending my assessment to say the two of you are Saskatchewan’s best crime fiction writers. I remain convinced that you and Anthony are the best.

As you are already crowned “The Queen of Canadian Crime Fiction” I have thought about a Saskatchewan title for you. Royals often have multiple honourary titles. “The Co-Greatest Writer of Saskatchewn Mysteries All Time” seemed too awkward. I thought “Saskatchewan’s Egalitarian Wordsmith” was pretentious. “Saskatchewan’s Most Honourable and Most Excellent Mystery Author” rolled on too long. “The Almighty Saskatchewan Crime Writer” struck me as blasphemous. “Saskatchewan’s Proletarian Mystery Master” was apt. I kind of liked “Saskatchewan’s Mistress of Mystery”. I thought “Saskatchewan’s Woman of Mystery” could work. “Her Eminence of Saskatchewan Crime” was interesting. I considered adapting the J.S. Wordsworth phrase for you - “Gail is committed to what we desire for ourselves, we wish for all”. None felt quite right. I decided upon a personal title - “Gail: A great writer and a great friend”.

Should you be able to respond to this letter I will post the reply.

All the best to you, Ted and your family.

Bill

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Bowen, Gail – 2011 Questions and Answers with Gail; 2011 Suggestions for Gail on losing court cases; The author's website is http://www.gailbowen.com/ - (2011) Deadly Appearances; (2013) Murder at the Mendel; The Wandering Soul Murders (Not reviewed); A Colder Kind of Death (Not reviewed); A Killing Spring (Not reviewed); Verdict in Blood (Not reviewed); (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2012) - "B" is for Gail Bowen; (2012) - Kaleidoscope and Q & A on Kaleidoscope; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A and Comparing with How the Light Gets In; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind and Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction; (2017) - The Winners' Circle; (2018) - Sleuth - Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries / Gail the Grand Master - Part I and Part II; (2018) - A Darkness of the Heart and Email Exchange on ADOH; (2020) - The Unlocking Season; (2021) - An Image in the Lake and The Fourth "F" is Forgiveness; (2023) - What's Past is Prologue and  and Law Matters in What's Past is Prologue; (2023) - The Legacy; (2025) - The Solitary Friend; Hardcover

The Solitary Friend by Gail Bowen

(43. - 1286.) The Solitary Friend by Gail Bowen - Joanne Kilbourn Shreve is doing her best to aid family and friends. It is hard to keep perspective about your own problems.

The series, now 23 books in length with one to come, has had characters from almost every profession. I do not recall a previous book featuring a major character from the “oldest profession”. 

Calista Wallace has worked for seven years with The Right Woman “a discreet escort service that served two generations of our city’s wealthy and sexually needy men”. The agency charges $750 per hour with a 2 hour minimum.

Joanne’s husband, Zack Shreve, had been a client of the Right Woman before he met Joanne.

After a session with Noah Wainberg, the widowed spouse of Zack’s partner, Delia Wainberg, Calista ceases being a sex worker. Noah and Calista are immediately in love.

There are challenges for the couple as Calista periodically meets up with former clients in Regina, a city of 250,000. 

Former Saskatchewan premier, Howard Dowhanuik, who is a decades long friend of Joanne, is a frustrated 83 year old man who has become publicly strident, even offensive.

What struck me the most in the book was the involvement of a new trio of teenage girls. Early in the series there had been Joanne’s daughter, Mieka, and her friends. Later it was Taylor, Joanne and Zack’s adopted daughter, and Gracie and Isobel who were the daughters of Zack’s law office partners. Now there are Lena and Madeleine, Joanne’s granddaughters, and Adrienne who is the daughter of Nova Langenegger, a producer at MediaNation.

The teenagers are bright and enthusiastic. They keep Joanne and Zack young at heart. I struggle to think of another writer of crime fiction who would have teenage girls hosting a toga party in the home of their sleuth.

Just when I think I can predict what will happen in Joanne’s family I am blindsided. In this book it is Taylor. Her life is altered in a way I would never have predicted.

Not everyone is doing well. Roger Millard, a sound engineer at MediaNation, is naturally reserved but he is drifting into trances. Normally Joanne can get the depressed and the discouraged to confide in her. Roger refuses.

Joanne’s life has had great heartaches and great joys. She speaks of a favourite meal she had when she was 14. She spent her childhood and teen years boarding at Bishop Lambeth in Toronto. Unable to go on a school organized Christmas skiing trip because of a broken arm she was alone with staff at the school. (I thought of the movie The Holdovers.) For Christmas dinner:

“The food that students in residence were served was good enough, nutritious but plain. So I was expecting an ordinary dish like shepherd’s pie, when Mrs. Olerenshaw, the cook, brought me a plate filled with prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and all the trimmings of a British Christmas dinner - I was dazzled. It was the best meal I’d ever had, and as I ate it, I read and watched the snow, and that’s when I said, ‘So this is what it’s like to be happy’”.

As with many of the books in the series the cottages at Lawyer’s Bay in the Qu’Appelle Valley play an important role. They are a refuge and a retreat. 

The Point Store at the lake is the community gathering place. It provides butter tarts and a spot for coffee and all the foods needed at a resort.

I find violence startling in Gail’s books because it happens infrequently and suddenly. There are not the multiplying body counts of many authors. Joanne is definitely not personally physically fighting anyone. I think the sparing use of violence reflects real life. Few people encounter violence regularly. 

The impact of the violence on Joanne is intense. She does not brush it aside. She grieves hard. At the same time she is a Christian and has hope in her life. She moves ahead for the sake of herself and those around her.

The Solitary Friend is a great book. I was enveloped in Joanne’s world yet again in a comfortable and compelling and challenging plot. I look forward to the final book in the series. 

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Bowen, Gail – 2011 Questions and Answers with Gail; 2011 Suggestions for Gail on losing court cases; The author's website is http://www.gailbowen.com/ - (2011) Deadly Appearances; (2013) Murder at the Mendel; The Wandering Soul Murders (Not reviewed); A Colder Kind of Death (Not reviewed); A Killing Spring (Not reviewed); Verdict in Blood (Not reviewed); (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2012) - "B" is for Gail Bowen; (2012) - Kaleidoscope and Q & A on Kaleidoscope; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A and Comparing with How the Light Gets In; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind and Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction; (2017) - The Winners' Circle; (2018) - Sleuth - Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries / Gail the Grand Master - Part I and Part II; (2018) - A Darkness of the Heart and Email Exchange on ADOH; (2020) - The Unlocking Season; (2021) - An Image in the Lake and The Fourth "F" is Forgiveness; (2023) - What's Past is Prologue and  and Law Matters in What's Past is Prologue; (2023) - The Legacy; Hardcover

Her Majesty The Queen Investigates - A Three Dog Problem by S.J. Bennett

(42. - 1285.) Her Majesty The Queen Investigates - A Three Dog Problem by S.J. Bennett - Sir Simon Holcroft, the Queen’s Private Secretary, finds a Palace housekeeper, Mrs. Cynthia Harris, dead beside the pool in Buckingham Palace.

The staff at Buckingham Palace are trained, more accurately drilled, not to bother “the Boss”, Queen Elizabeth, with issues related to the staff. When a “spate of poison pen stuff” is directed to women working at the Palace she is not advised. As Sir Simon formally advises Captain Rosemary Oshodi, informally known as “Rozie”, who is the Queen’s Assistant Private Secretary, “our job is to come up with solutions”. The “poison pen stuff” is “undermining the ‘happy ship’ “ that is the Palace and its staff.

An exception on bothering the Boss is made for the death of Mrs. Harris.

When the normally unshakeable Sir Simon is rattled the Queen orders him home:

“… You’ll be useless to me here.” She said it sharply, not to be unkind but because she knew he wouldn’t leave unless she made him, and he was in no fit state to work.

Rozie is a wonderful character. She served in the British Army in Afghanistan. She is tall, strong and intelligent. Her mother, Grace, is unhappy Rozie is single.

Detective Chief Inspector, David Strong, is assigned to investigate the posion pen letters. The working hypothesis on Mrs. Harris is that she died by accident.

Master Mike Green of Buckingham Palace is dismayed by the police being involved. 

The Queen has a keen mind. She is thinking constantly about matters great and small. She makes suggestions and requests. It is best to carry them out forthwith. 

At the same time, Queen Elizabeth has a wry sense of humour. While sitting for a sculptor working on a bronze bust of her there is a crew filming the sitting:

There really should be someone recording the filming, the Queen mused, just to round the whole thing off. Or someone to write about the recording of the filming of the sketching … ad infinitum. She was used to being watched and used, by now, to being such a source of fascination that her watchers were watched too.

The Queen, keenly attuned to the Palace, senses all is not well with the ‘happy ship” for more reasons than the wicked communications. 

The investigation sets the Queen to thinking:

For years, it had been the Queen’s habit to take a few dogs for a walk in the grounds if she had a big problem to consider.

The death of Mrs. Harris and the poisoned pen communications are a three dog (Willow, Candy and Vulcan) problem.

If the death of Mrs. Harris was not accidental, what could be the motive? That she was nosy and sharp to other staff seems an inadequate reason.

Inspector Armstrong is derisively given the nickname “Bogroll” (.... loo paper ‘soft, strong and very long’) by the staff.

The Queen directs the investigation with suggestions and remarks. Staff know her “if you would be so kind” requests are direct orders. Like Nero Wolfe she is unlikely to directly interview anyone.

Rozie, always eager to go above and beyond, goes beyond the Queen’s directions. Initiative can be dangerous.

Information comes in slowly. Who is feared more than H.M.?

I had not thought about Remembrance Day from the Queen’s perspective. In addition to laying the most important wreath in the realm she has grieved with the survivors of the fallen for 64 years at the time of the book. She is also a veteran of WW II.

I found myself absorbed in life at the Palace and the mystery plot. Bennett has skilfully conceived a book which very plausibly features a mystery set at Buckingham Palace involving the Royal Family. The mystery was intricate and subtle but never obscure. Queen Elizabeth is presented as a bright astute woman. I am going to have to read more in the series.

The Black Loch by Peter May

(41. - 1284.) The Black Loch by Peter May - May returns to the Isle of Lewis which he brilliantly explored in the Lewis trilogy a decade ago. 

Detective Sergeant George Gunn is called to investigate the death of a lov
ely young teenager, Caitlin Black, who has fallen to her death from a clifftop along the rocky shore. She was pregnant. She had gained fame for videos she and a friend made about “exploring the coastline of the islands from the sea”.

Gunn is resisting retirement despite the entreaties of his wife. He is slowing physically.

Fin McLeod has left his position in security for a large estate on the island and is working in Glasgow on a computer seeking out the sites of child pornographers for criminal prosecution.

Fin, now past 50, is also aging with “his once-blond curls thinning now and turning quietly silver”.

Fin and his wife, Marsaili, return to Lewis when their son, Fionnlagh, has been charged with murdering Caitlin. 

They are shattered. They cannot believe their son is a murderer though his relationship with Caitlin was scandalous.

Detective Chief Inspector, Douglas Mclaren, is leading the investigation. Gunn describes him as a “clever bastard”.

Marsaili says Fin has a duty to prove Fionnlagh is innocent. He recalls his grandfather’s words:

You bring someone into this world, Fin, you have to be there for them. No matter what.

Caitlin was the daughter of Fin and Marsaili’s high school classmates, Niall and Ailsa (Maclean) Black. 

Fin’s thoughts turn to his late teens when he joined Niall and other boys in a disastrous illegal venture. A pact of silence was made, uneasily on Fin’s part. It has haunted them for over 30 years.

Family responsibility is not limited to your own children. He reflects on his Aunt who raised him from a young boy through his teens after the death of his parents. While single and ill-equipped to be a parent she took on his care.

Fin meets with Aisla and Niall who are long separated. It is hard for them to disassociate the sins of the son from the parents. The conversations are credibly hard.

Fin wonders “whether it was worse to lose your daughter or have your son accused of her murder”. I know my answer.

In his efforts to prove his son innocent Fin seeks out conversations with all who knew Caitlin. If not his son, who had a motive to hurt and kill the beautiful Caitlin? Fin has no difficulty confronting those he believes are not being truthful to him.

Salmon farming is now a big business in Lewis. There are 1.2 million salmon in the 12 cages of the farm Niall’s company owns. They have cages “all over Scotland”. Is there a connection to the industrial salmon farming operation of Niall? Evidence is being assembled about the profound environmental issues of the operation. 

Fin is a hard man. The flinty Calvinism of his youth in the Crobost Free Church is still present in him in his middle age. While he has rejected the Church there is still an Old Testament attitude about him. He decries the current pastor, a childhood friend, as self-righteous but Fin is just as judgmental. 

Forgiveness is rare in the Hebrides. The admonition of Jesus to forgive is not a common part of Lewis life.

The investigation does drive Fin to be reflective about his mortality. He is nearer the grave than birth. He finds himself depressed as he reviews his life. Regrets are hard to overcome for the uncompromising.

Relationships ache through The Black Loch. Most have suffered great losses. Marsaili recalls being told by her first mother-in-law:

No one should expect to be happy, Marsaili.

None of the characters, young and old, are happy.

The Black Loch is fine Celtic noir but grim. I did wish there was at least a touch of joy in the Hebrides.

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May, Peter - (2003) - Snakehead; (2014) - The Blackhouse; (2014) - The Lewis Man; (2015) - The Chessmen; Bookmark Inspiration for the Outer Hebrides; (2020) - Firemaker; (2020) - The Fourth Sacrifice

Finding Flora (Part II) by Elinor Florence

In my last post I put the first part of a letter to Elinor Florence on excellent book, Finding Flora. Today is the rest of the letter and Elinor's response. I appreciate her reply. A link to the first post is below.)

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I appreciated that Flora and her neighbours, Miss Edgar and Wren, were literate women reading newspapers and books.

Their literary interests and Flora being a woman homesteader led me to think of the Traills, the founding family of Meskanaw where I grew up. The father, William Traill, had been a Hudson Bay trader until he retired and homesteaded in the late 1890’s. When it was time for a post office the other settlers decided to name the community Traill in his honor. Because there was already Traill, British Columbia, they chose Maskunow for the name but the post office administration changed the spelling to Meskanaw. The settlers chose not to challenge the revised spelling. Meskanaw means trail in Cree.

William had a large family with several daughters. Annie, Mary and Hattie never married. I was told Annie studied agriculture at Guelph. Mary became a nurse.

After William died in 1917 and his wife, Harriet, died in 1920 the unmarried daughters, collectively known as the “Aunts”, took over the farm. 

As set out in the family story in Meskanaw’s history book, Meskanaw: Its Story and Its People (Book 1) Aunt Annie “who had always done a man’s work with her father, was the farmer”. She farmed their three quarters of land with the aid of a hired man. (One of the quarters was in Aunt Mary’s name.)

Aunt Hattie took care of the house until her death in 1930. 

The Aunts, with a widowed Aunt Barbara who returned to the farm after her husband’s death, carried on with the farm for over 30 years. 

Aunt Mary tended to the medical needs of the community and surrounding area.

As far as I know the Aunts farming experiences were different from Flora. Unlike the grave prejudice experienced by Flora, the Aunts were loved and respected in our community.

My father, Hans, spoke fondly of the Aunts. They lived just over a mile from him. Flora’s story of successfully shooting a partridge reminded me of a story he told me involving Aunt Annie in the 1930’s.

She called him on the phone and asked him to be ready to come if she called him without asking questions. He agreed. A few days later the call came. When he arrived he found Aunt Annie had shot a deer and was asking for his help dressing the animal. About a week later she told him she had found another dead deer. She had killed two deer with one shot.

As with Flora the Aunts had a Boer War connection. Their brother, Willie, served in the war and several of his comrades returned with him to homestead at Meskanaw.

Aunt Mary, Aunt Annie and Aunt Barbara left Meskanaw in the early 1950’s as they reached their senior years. Aunt Annie died in Victoria in 1977 at 88. Aunt Mary died in 1984. She was 101. Aunt Barbara died in Melfort at 98 in 1990.

The only other woman farmer I know of was in the area of Melfort. Frances McAusland was left in charge of the farm when her husband, William Crawford McAusland, took off for the Klondike. 

She successfully farmed for 7 years and also operated businesses in Melfort. I was told she was not excited when William Crawford, after no communications for 7 years, abruptly returned to the farm from the North.

The Aunts came from a famed literary family. Their grandmother was Catharine Parr Traill, the Ontario writer who wrote 24 books, most about settling in the wilds of Ontario in the early 1830’s. She had been a Strickland before marrying and had four sisters who were authors in England. Her best known book is Backwoods of Canada.

The Aunts’ father and their uncle, Walter, wrote long letters home to their mother. A collection of the Aunts’ father’s letters were published as the Fur Trade Letters of Willie Traill - 1864-1893. Two books, In Rupert’s Land and Dawn Across Canada, were assembled by Mae Atwood, using Walter’s letters. The Traill’s form part of the great literary heritage of Meskanaw. I can tell you more another time.

I am not aware of anyone publishing letters the Aunts would have written.

It took indomninable will for Flora to be a homesteader. I was swept into her life desperately wanting her to succeed against the formidable foes and odds she faced. I had known some of the challenges for women wanting to farm in the early 1900’s but not the depth of social and legal prejudice until reading Finding Flora.

It has been some time since I read late into the night, compelled to finish a book. I completed Finding Flora after midnight sitting in our stateroom aboard the Marina, an Oceania cruise ship, sailing north from Athens towards Croatia.

I appreciated Flora’s love of the land of Western Canada. The beauty of spring on the prairies after the harshness of winter has to be lived to be understood. 

I felt in the book your connection to the land of your youth near North Battleford. I own the quarter Grandfather Carl homesteaded and plan to own it the rest of my days and hope our sons will want to own it for their lifetimes.

I wish you would consider making Flora’s life into a saga of multiple books. I think there are abundant storylines you could follow for her life and beyond. In the early 1970’s I loved the sagas of R.F. Delderfield, an English writer, who wrote several series that spanned lives and sometimes generations.

I described Anthony Bidulka’s book, Going to Beautiful, a mystery set in rural Saskatchewan as his masterpiece. I consider Finding Flora your masterpiece. As Anthony captured the experience of life in rural Saskatchewan during my lifetime you have brought alive the experiences of homesteading, especially for a woman, in Western Canada.

I will be putting this letter into two posts for my blog. If you would like to comment on my letter and are willing to have your reply published I will also post it on my blog.

All the best.

Bill

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Elinor's reply:

Readers connect with Flora in different ways. Some feel inspired by the story about strong women surviving insurmountable odds. Some love the descriptions of the prairie landscape. Some admire the sense of community, neighbours coming together to help each other in times of trouble. Others appreciate the educational aspect, information about our country’s history that took place only two generations ago, and now largely forgotten.

But there is one group of readers who connect with the book in a way that is almost visceral — those descended from homesteaders. I have heard from many people who were deeply stirred by the story of what their ancestors experienced. You, Bill, are among them. Thank you for sharing the story of your own grandfather, who in many ways represents the homesteader experience.

The first settlers in Western Canada survived incredible hardships (and I use the word incredible literally, as their challenges are almost impossible to comprehend). They planted their roots deep into the prairie soil and laid the foundation for the Western Canada that we know and love so much today. I wanted to honour those people, and I’m grateful that you think I have done so. Elinor

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Finding Flora (Part I)

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Florence, Elinor - (2019) - Bird's Eye View and The Women of Meskanaw Who Went to War