A Capital City Anthology edited by Bernadette Cox and Mike Martin

(44. - 1287.) A Capital Mystery Anthology edited by Bernadette Cox and Mike Martin - The Crime Writers of Canada and the Capital Crime Writers have organized a volume of 21 short stories by Ottawa writers with all the stories set in Ottawa and area.

I have modest overall knowledge of Ottawa geography but familiarity with downtown and Parliament Hill.

Set in mid-winter, the Ottawa setting along the Rideau River has the dominant role in the opening story by Barbara Fradkin, Cold Shock.

The writing of “emerging author” A.E. Pittman is “influenced by his life experiences as a lawyer and a police officer”. He provides an interesting story on the break-in of a bookstore in The Sparks Street Sapper. Why would someone break into a bookstore? There were no rare valuable books in the store.

Café Amore by Adrienne Stevenson features two women, Deborah and Sophie, who have turned their “red-brick Victorian townhouse on Somerset” from an establishment where the customers could get extra services upstairs to a supper club. They hire a burly ex-cop from Vancouver as Head Waiter / Bouncer. Threatened by poison pen letters with exposure of their past the trio, in a clever marketing ploy, start naming their dishes with a sexy theme - “Sultry sausages … Flirtatious flaming figs … Ribald mushroom risotto … Lewd lamb chops … Cock-a-leekie”. In real life I have been in Mamma Teresa, an Italian restaurant on Somerset.

Brenda Chapman has an interesting story about a pregnant woman, her government lawyer husband and his brother just released from prison. There is a clever twist at the end I did not see coming.

I found The Roaring Lion by Gary Coffin the most intriguing story. It is set in the famed Chateau Laurier Hotel. Private detective Carver is examining the famed Churchill photo taken by Yousuf Karsh that was stolen from the hotel and recently recovered. Carver develops a fascinating story about the photo.

I found Ruby Urlocker’s story, Crazy About Him, moving, even haunting. Lucy, a young woman in the Schizophrenia Recovery Program at Ottawa’s Royal Hospital, is doing her best to cope with schizophrenia. The whole story is narrated by her sending the reader deep into her mind. Looking into her psyche is absorbing and deeply unsettling.  

In Not All Polar Bears are Created Equal by Elizabeth Hosang a clever criminal scheme involving mishapen animal figurines unravels through a late night alcohol fueled shopping excursion on the net and an alert dog from a police K9 unit. 

In classic Canadian crime fictional style guns play little role in the book and there are no double digit body counts.

As with most short story collections I found several very good and others average. Overall it is a strong collection of stories. 

I was impressed how each story is deeply connected to its physical setting in Ottawa.

The cover is brilliant and perfect for the book.

I was surprised that it was mainly the stories of the lesser known writers that appealed to me.

I would be glad to read another anthology from the Capital Crime Writers. I am sure there is much more creative mystery and mayhem to read about in Ottawa.