"W" is for L.R. Wright

For the letter “W” in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I am profiling Canadian author L.R. Wright.

While long aware of Wright I had not read any of her books until earlier this year when I looked up her first book, The Suspect, for the 5^th Canadian Book Challenge. I wished I had started reading her 20 years ago.

I was surprised to learn Wright is a fellow native of Saskatchewan. She was born in Saskatoon in 1939. She grew up in Saskatoon and Abbotsford, British Columbia but actually finished high school in Germany where her father was teaching at a Canadian military base.

As an adult she was a journalist with the Calgary Herald newspaper reaching Assistant City Editor. She left the paper to start writing novels full time.

Writing fiction required her to choose her writing name. The L.R. stands for Laurali Rose but, from even before birth, she was known as Bunny. Her first publisher thought it was not suitable for a writer, especially of crime fiction, and suggested the initials. I disagree. I think Bunny would have been very distinctive but publishers are not noted for originality.

In a 2000 interview in January Magazine she offered numerous insights on her writing.

With regard to her setting and the origins of The Suspect

Why did you choose to set the books on the Sunshine Coast?

Because the first one -- I didn't know it was going to be a mystery, let alone the first one in a series. I'd had an idea. I was having a conversation with some friends and we were talking about the old people in our lives and the things they were up to. And somebody had left their husband and moved in with someone else and they were in their 70s and we said: You think they'd know better. And somebody said: I guess what we're capable of as young people we're capable of when we're old. I'll bet they're just as capable of murder, even. I immediately had this vision of a little old man whacking another little old man over the head. And I thought: I must write this book.

So I started to write it, but I knew I needed a town that was so small because I knew that the person was not a criminal. You know, that this was a crime of passion. They had to live in a town that was so small that these two people couldn't avoid each other. And the only town I knew that was that small was Sechelt. So that's why I set it there. And then when it turned into a mystery and I wanted to do more, I could have moved him [Karl Alberg] to another detachment, but I guess I had really enjoyed that: creating a fictional town, even though it's a real one.

On her writing schedule she said:

You're writing all the time. Do you have a word goal a day? Or...?

I sort of try for five pages which is 1250 words a day. Something like that. And sometimes I get more. I really do it more in scenes. I'll have a scene in my head to write. And then I'll do that. And if it leads to another one immediately, I'll go on.

Unfortunately L.R., as with last week’s author, Michael Van Rooy, died too young. She was 61 when she lost a 6 year battle with breast cancer.

I greatly enjoyed The Suspect. It will be one of my favourite books in 2012. From the opening page we know the killer but that knowledge does not detract from the book.

As I said in my review she captured me when George Wilcox reflected on his murder of his neighbour Carlyle Burke:

“Gradually, as he sat thinking, it occurred to George that to give himself up was pointless. Even stupid. When they caught up with him, fine. He’d go to trial and prison without complaining, with dignity, even, if he could manage it. But to spend any more time locked up than was absolutely necessary – it made no sense.”

It has been a long time since I was as ambivalent about whether I wanted the murderer caught.

It was no surprise when I read The Suspect had won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1986

Recently I read the second in the series Sleep While I Sing. I enjoyed the book and will be posting a review.