What's New in Canadian Crime Fiction

Anthony Bidulka

On a quiet September Sunday evening I took a look at what books have just been published or will be published by members of the Crime Writers of Canada as noted in the summer edition of Cool Canadian Crime and through a look around the worldwide web.

From June 1 of 2016 through May 31 of 2017 there were 43 books listed in CCC for release.

There were several books I am looking forward to reading from the new releases.

Later this month Anthony Bidulka is launching Set Free. The launch party will be Thursday, September 29 at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Saskatoon from 7:00 – 8:30. It is my regrets of the fall that I will not be able to go to the event. Sharon and I are flying to Calgary that weekend to visit our sons.

The book is a stand-alone thriller. Anthony provided me with some information earlier this year:

My new book, Set Free, will not have a Saskatchewan setting, with most of the action taking place in Boston and Morocco. This will be my first published work without an obvious Saskatchewan tie.

I plan to read it as soon as I can get a copy.

Currently I am reading A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny. It is the 12^th book in the Armand Gamache series. It sees Armand undertaking a new position and is off to a good start.

Armand has been placed in charge of the training academy for the Sûreté du Québec.

The book is #1 on the New York Times bestseller lists for hardcover fiction and combined ebooks/print fiction for the list being published in the New York Times Book Review on September 18. (They publish the list early online.) With such a launch it could be the best selling book in the series.

I am looking forward to reading Invisible Dead by Sam Wiebe which will be his second book. I greatly enjoyed his first, Last of the Independents. He has a new sleuth in Dave Wakefield.

I am not sure what to make of the promotional headline:

Dave Wakeland isn't the usual PI. A 29-year-old ex-cop, he makes a habit of bad ideas.

I hope he is not a dysfunctional sleuth.

In February of 2017 there will be published Tumbled Graves by Brenda Chapman. In the CCC it was described as a mystery involving “Stonechild and Gundersund” which puzzled me as the series had involved Kala Stonechild and Jacques Rouleau. Further searching revealed that Staff Sergeant Rouleau is dealing with a personal crisis and sends Stonechild and Paul Gundersund to investigate the crime. Glad to solve that mini-mystery.

It will be the second book I have read with the words Tumbled Graves in the title. A few years ago I read Over Tumbled Graves by Jess Walter.

I am anxiously awaiting Heart of the City, the next legal mystery by Robert Rotenberg, which is scheduled to be published next May. It has been too long since Stranglehold was published.

As always I find myself drawn to authors I already know when reading these lists. I find it hard to look forward to a new author on a list. I will read new authors but most often on recommendations or because of awards.

I find it a reflection of how many books are being published versus how many I can read when I noted that I have read only 10 of the 43 authors.

There is a lot of Canadian crime fiction being published.