Links to All My Posts in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction Meme

The 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise has taken me to 26 very different mystery authors. My profiles, reviews of some of their books and some commentary follow. Please click on the title of the post to be taken to the post:
 
1.) "A" is for Rennie Airth;
 
2.) "B" is for Gail Bowen;
 
3.) Kaleidoscope by Gail Bowen;

4.)  "C" is for Robert Crais;

5.) "D" is for William Deverell;

6.) "E" is for Jill Edmondson:

7.) "F" is for Zoe Ferraris;

8.) "G" is for John Grisham - Part I;

9.) "G" is for John Grisham - Part II;

10.) "H" is for Robert Harris;

11.) "I" is for Greg Iles;

12.) "J" is for Stan Jones;

13.) "K" is for Joseph Kanon;

14.) "L" is for Paul Levine;

15.) "M" is for Seicho Matsumoto;

16.) "N" is for Stuart Neville;

17.) "O" is for Gregg Olsen;

18.) "P" is for Edward O. Phillips;

19.) "Q" is for Kwei Quartey;

20.) "R" is for Robert Rotenberg;

21.) "S" is for Josef Skvorecky;

22.) "T" is for Donald Serrell Thomas;

23.) "U" is for Arthur W. Upfield;

24.) "V" is for Michael Van Rooy;

25.) "W" is for L.R. Wright;

26.) "X" is for Qiu Xiaolong Again;

27.) A Loyal Character Dancer;

28.) "Y" is for Scott Young;

29.) Murder in a Cold Climate by Scott Young;

30.) Traditional Outdoor Journeys in Crime Fiction;

31.) "Z" is for Zubro;

32.) The Truth Can Get You Killed by Mark Richard Zubro; and,

33.) 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction Meme Roundup.

It is a good time to be reading crime fiction.

2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction Roundup

The 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction Roundup hosted by Kerrie Smith at her excellent blog, Mysteries in Paradise, has been fun. In last year’s meme I posted a combination of book reviews and author profiles. This year I resolved to put up 26 mystery author profiles of authors whose books I had read. I was successful.

Depending on which time zone of the world in which you read this post I put up my first post in the meme exactly six months ago, May 21, when I started with “A” is for Rennie Airth.

Over the course of the next 25 weeks I followed with profiles of a wide variety of authors. I chose to have the greatest concentration of profiles of Canadian authors. I had posts on seven Canadian authors:

            1.) “B” is for Gail Bowen;

            2.) “D” is for William Deverell;

            3.) “E” is for Jill Edmondson;

            4.) “P” is for Edward O. Phillips;

            5.) “V” is for Michael Van Rooy;

            6.) “W” is for L.R. Wright; and,

            7.) “Y” is for Scott Young.

In addition to the profile of Gail Bowen I was able to post a review of her newly published book, Kaleidsocope.

The saddest profile of the 26 involved Michael Van Rooy because he sadly died last year of a heart attack at 42. He was just establishing himself as a coming mystery author in Canada when he died.

My profile of L.R. Wright unexpectedly brought to me a very nice comment from her daughter, J. Wright. In that comment she spoke of her mother’s attitude towards the cancer that killed her when she was 61:

About her battle with cancer, she asked us to say that when she died, the cancer died with her. It was a draw.

Having completed seven Canadian profiles and, having a few from last year, I anticipate setting up a page in the near future of an alphabetical list of Canadian mystery writer profiles.

Moving outside Canada there I was introduced to a new pair of writers because I was short of existing authors in “Q” and “Z”. For “Q” I read a mystery of African, now American, writer Kwei Quartey. For the end of the alphabet I read a book by Chicago author, Mark Richard Zubro.

I profiled two authors I had also profiled in the 2011 meme – Qiu Xiaolong and Arthur Upfield. I found a new way to add to my profiles with each author. For Xiaolong I was able to have Q & A over his use of poetry in his mysteries. With Upfield I explored the origins of his character, Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte and found he had been less than candid in his official explanations.

It turned out that “N” for Stuart Neville has become the most popular post I have put up on the blog as it found its way into the top of some search engines. There have been thousands of page views of the profile.

Out of the 26 profiles my favourite is “Y” is for Scott Young. I had known Young as a sportswriter and a novelist of young adult hockey fiction but never knew he had written any mysteries among his 40 plus books. It was a good surprise to find he had written two mysteries set in the Canadian  Arctic. I enjoyed Murder in a Cold Climate and appreciated Young making his sleuth the first Inuk RCMP Inspector, Matthew “Matteesie” Kitogitak, and refreshingly normal in appearance.

My next post will provide links to all my posts for the meme.

Thanks again Kerrie for hosting this meme which has enriched my reading of mystery fiction.

The Truth Can Get You Killed (1997) by Mark Richard Zubro

45. – 677.) The Truth Can Get You Killed (1997) by Mark Richard Zubro – Paul Turner is a Chicago Police Detective in Area Ten who happens to be gay, widowed (from his wife’s death) and the father of two teenage sons (one in a wheelchair because of spina bifida).

On New Year’s Eve Paul is enjoying an evening out with his lover, Ben, at Au Naturel, a hot hot gay bar, featuring barely clad young male dancers. More interested in each other Paul and Ben return home shortly after midnight.

It is bitterly cold the next morning when Paul and his partner, Buck Fenwick, are assigned to investigate the murder of a middle aged man whose body has been found in the back alley adjacent to Au Naturel.

The victim is Federal Court of Appeal Judge Albert Meade, a staunchly conservative jurist, who has recently gained attention for a ruling favouring a local anti-gay ordinance.

Initially, Paul is concerned about being perceptions of bias. He is worried a conviction of the killer might be jeopardized because he, a gay man, is investigating the murder of a homophobic judge. It is an interesting twist on how L.A. detective, Mark Fuhrman, was pilloried as an untrustworthy police officer in the O.J. Simpson murder trial because of some racist comments unrelated to the case. Paul’s commander sees no reason to remove him from the case.

Considering the location of the body, Paul and Buck wonder if the deceased judge was a closeted gay man. As they go forward they are met by a gay wall of silence. There is a strong reluctance in the gay community to talk about any man who wants to stay in the closet, even after death.

Buck has some difficulty understanding why there are a significant number of gay men in the late 1990’s who remain in the closet.

Paul, who does not hide his orientation but does not make it overtly public, does his best to explain there are many gay men afraid of the consequences of being out in their families, at work and in the community.

When sources place the judge in Au Naturel on New Year’s Eve the gaydar of the detectives is tingling. As they move forward they find perception and reality are not always the same.

The fears of gay men wanting sexual relationships but afraid to be open are explored throughout the book. Members of the gay community who are totally out are not always understanding of those still in the closet. The book explores a challenging gay issue without becoming a polemic. In my last post, a profile of Zubro, there are comments from Zubro on introducing gay issues into his mysteries.

Paul and Buck have a deft, sometimes witty relationship.

Paul becomes the first gay detective I have read parenting a pair of boys on his own.

Reading the Russell Quant series by Anthony Bidulka a decade later is to see a far more open gay detective though the issues of the closet remain very real as explored in Flight of Aquavit.

It is a good book. I appreciated the author telling his story in 211 pages. I regret to say I would not have read this book if I was not looking to read “Z” author so I could profile the author in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme. I am going back to the library to read another Paul Turner mystery.

 

This will be my last post in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. Six months have gone swiftly by. Thank you to Kerrie for setting up the meme. Next week I will have posts about my author profiles for the meme.

“Z” is for Mark Richard Zubro

The end of the alphabet has been reached this week in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise. I am concluding 26 weeks of author profiles with “Z” is for Mark Richard Zubro.

The American author was a Grade 8 English teacher at Summit Hill Jr. High in Frankfort, Illinois. He has been president of the teachers union.

He lives in the Chicago suburb of Mokena.

At the kareenacolcroft website there is an interview between Zubro and his character Tom Mason from the Tom and Scott series. In the mysteries Tom is a high school teacher and Scott a professional baseball player. In the interview Zubro and Tom discuss Zubro’s mysteries delving into gay issues.

Tom: But isn’t the mystery genre limiting? How can those kinds of books be socio-political?

Zubro: A writer is only limited by his or her imagination. I set out to do some very specific things with my characters. I knew I was going to have happy, loving gay people as protagonists. Talk about socio-political! There is a significant portion of the population who are angry simply because gay people exist. Then if we dare to present ourselves as happy, we might as well have announced the wend of western civilization and/or the destruction of the planet. Writing anything with gay characters is socio-political simply because it exists. Remember, the first book in the series, A Simple Suburban Murder, came out in 1989, when you could the number of happy, openly gay characters in print and on screen on one hand.

The topics include the decision on whether to come out and the challenges of coming out. In a shift from my usual approach I will include some comments of Zubro on these topics which are featured in his book, The Truth Can Get You Killed, which features Chicago gay detective, Paul Turner. I will post a review of the book on Tuesday.  

Tom: How many team sport athletes are out at the professional level? And the ones who came out after their playing days are over don’t count.

Zubro: People make arguments about dangers to their careers. I’m out in my life. I’m afraid I become far more judgmental about their decisions than I have a right to be.

Tom: Something as mundane as coming out can be such a plot point?

Zubro: What planet are you on? Sure, coming out is reasonably easy for you. You’re a saint about the whole thing. In the real world it is never that simple. Coming out, as you well know, is a life-long process. Unfortunately, even in this day and age it can be an issue.

The Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books provided some information on the retired Zubro and summarizes who is at risk in his books:

 

He retired from teaching in 2006 and now spends his time reading, writing, napping, and eating chocolate

 

One of the keys in Zubro’s mysteries is you do not want to be a person who is racist, sexist, homophobic, or a school administrator. If you are any oh those, it is likely you are the corpse, or t the least, it can be fairly well guaranteed that bad things will happen to you by the end. And if in Zubro’s books you happen to be a Republican and/or against workers’ rights, it would be far better if you did not make a habit of broadcasting this. If you did you’re quite likely to be a suspect, or worse.

Murder in a Cold Climate by Scott Young (1988)

Murder in a Cold Climate by Scott Young (1988) – Matthew “Matteesie” Kitogitak is the most unique sleuth I have encountered in years. He is from the last generation in the North to have spent their early years living off the land. During his lifetime he has gone through the dramatic transformation of northern life to a contemporary lifestyle. Joining the RCMP when indigenous northerners were limited to being “special” constables he has reached the rank of Inspector, the only Inuk RCMP Inspector of the late 1980’s. In appearance he is far from a handsome chiselled hunk. He is 5’6” with a developing pot belly. He is unhappily married to Lois in Ottawa. Though committed to the marriage he has a long continuing intimate relationship with Maxine in Inuvik.

Lastly, he has a mischievous, witty, slyly humourous, bantering personality illustrated by his nickname, Matteesie. (In my reviews of Stan Jones books set in northwest Alaska I discuss the same playful indigenous communication.)

 

The book is set in the harsh northern winter. Young evokes the Canadian approach to winter. Only in Canada and other far northern countries is the following conversation credible. I have heard it throughout my life:

As we walked our breath made little frosty clouds that blew between us as we walked. There wasn’t much to say.

“Minus thirty-five, according to the radio,” I said.

“Yeah, but not a bad morning. No wind.”

Matteesie is getting ready to leave Inuvik for an Arctic Institute Conference in Leningrad in the U.S.S.R. when he is directed by the RCMP Commissioner to investigate a plane that has gone missing in the area of Fort Norman. The son of Canada’s Finance Minister happened to be the pilot. Adding to the mix his passengers are suspected drug dealers.

On Matteesie’s flight to Fort Norman a stretcher is loaded on the plane. A Northwest Territories Metis leader, Morton Cavendish, has had a stroke and is being airlifted for treatment in Edmonton.

As Matteesie prepares to leave the plane by the rear exit a man walks up the exit steps, moves up to the unconscious man and fires 3 shots into Cavendish’s head. The shooter, before Matteesie can reach him, rushes out of the plane and jumps on an idling snowmobile and disappears into the bush next to the runway.

Frustrated and mad at both being unable to prevent the murder and pursue the killer Matteesie is determined to find the murderer.

Cavendish’s son, William, has disappeared and Matteesie starts searching for him in Fort Norman. While few are willing to talk Matteesie eventually gets some information from George “No Legs” Manicoche, a trapper who had his legs amputated, He had gotten drunk and passed out in the snow and his legs were badly frozen.

While Matteesie uses modern transportation most of the time he and No Legs join a white teacher, Edie McDonald, on a dogsled search into the wilderness that harkens back to an earlier era of the North. I will discuss their trip in my next post on Thursday.

Matteesie knows the resolution of the case will be found in the bush. He is glad to spend time outdoors. His status as an Inspector and then working with the Federal Government has kept him indoors. Riding a snowmobile he reflects:

As I bumped along, a feeling of peace gradually came over me. Much of my life, both before I signed on as a special and after, I’d spent time out in the bush or the tundra with snow machines or dog teams. On long trips I might have an objective many days away but the important thing was always just to get through the next few hours before night and food and sleep. On such a trip the mind roams free. I hadn’t felt this good for a long time, leaving behind conferences, memos, reports, the trying to convince others this policy was good and that bad, being polite with deputy ministers and deferential with the political ministers who came and went like migrating geese.

If you are ready to leave the city and head into the wilderness of northern Canada search out a copy of Murder in a Cold Climate. It is worth the effort. While Young may have spent most of his life writing about sports he has crafted a good mystery. The characters are true northerners. The geography and weather of the North play an important role as they do in real life. The North is integral to the plot. I expect readers will long remember Matteesie. I longed to join Matteesie on a northern journey. (Nov. 6/12)

“Y” is for Scott Young

As we reach the 25^th letter of The Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise I am staying in Canada. I am profiling Canadian author, Scott Young, for “Y”.

Scott spent the first half of his 87 years known as one of Canada’s sportswriters with forays into fiction and non-fiction books. He spent the last half of his life being identified as the father of singer / songwriter, Neil Young. Scott ended up writing a book about their relationship called Neil and Me.

His youngest child, Astrid Young, is also multi-talented. She is a singer, songwriter, writer and painter.

 

Scott was born in Manitoba in 1918 and grew up in several communities in Western Canada including Prince Albert, Saskatchewan which is about 100 km from Melfort.

While he quit school at 16 Scott was a writer early in his life submitting stories that were usually rejected. At 18 he found employment at The Winnipeg Free Press and was soon a sportswriter. An editor telling him that he would never be worth more than $25 a week to the paper prompted him to move to Toronto.

He covered most major sporting events in Canada for Toronto newspapers and was also a broadcaster on the Saturday night telecasts of Hockey Night in Canada. He was fired from the broadcasts because he ran afoul of the Toronto Maple Leafs owner who threatened the sponsor if Scott stayed on the broadcasts.

He was a man of strong principles. He quit The Globe and Mail because of the paper using anonymous comments. He abhorred unattributed comments.

Through and after his journalistic career he was writing books. Overall he wrote 45 books.

Almost 50 years ago, when I was a boy on the farm at Meskanaw I devoured his Young Adult hockey trilogy – Scrubs on Skates¸ Boy on Defence and A Boy at the Leafs’ Camp. The books followed the path of a young boy’s progression from learning to play hockey to reaching the NHL. Scott put vividly to words the dreams of every young Canadian boy of my generation.

Of his impressive total of books there were two mysteries – Murder in a Cold Climate and  The Shaman’s Knife. I will be posting my review of Murder in a Cold Climate on Tuesday.

Young placed his mysteries in the Canadian Arctic in the Northwest Territories. Young loved going North and the books resulted from his travels to northern Canada.

I expect he is the only mystery writer who is a member of two Sports Halls of Fame. In Wikipedia it states:

In 1988, Young received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and was also inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

In the blog Neil Young News there is a quote from Canadian writer, Kevin Chong, writing in The Globe and Mail about what Neil learned from his father:

“The most vivid way to get an idea across was to lay oneself bare in the knowledge that others would identify with the bareness, the sometimes painful truth."

A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong

A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong – In the second Chief Inspector Chen Cao mystery the Inspector starts his connections with America.

The book opens with the start of an investigation into the death by axe of a man whose body is found in the Bund Park in Shanghai. Before he can proceed Chen is abruptly summoned by Party Secretary Li and assigned to find Wen, the wife of an important witness in an American prosecution of the leader of a major human smuggling ring. She has disappeared from her home in Fujian. The Communist Chinese government of the early 1990’s, in a rare display of co-operation with the United States, has undertaken to find her and ensure she travels to America.

Chen is directed to work with U.S. Marshall, Catherine Rohn, in finding Wen and keeping her safe until she can fly out of China.

Chen would prefer to investigate the apparent triad murder in the Park but accepts it is his duty to undertake the new assignment. Beyond his swiftly rising status within the police his English language skills make him a logical liaison for Rohn. She has also gained the assignment partly because of her language proficiency. She speaks Chinese fluently.

While ostensibly given wide authority to conduct the investigation, Chen is further directed to keep Rohn occupied in Shanghai. Clearly the Party does not want Rohn roaming Shanghai seeking information on her own.

Needing to know why Wen has disappeared Chen dispatches his colleague and friend, Yu, to Fujian. Chen has concerns over the efforts of the local police.

Wen is a resident of Fujian because of the consequences of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. As a teenager she was sent to the countryside to work with the peasants and be re-educated. There is a striking poem within the book about her when she was a beautiful teenager departing from the Shanghai train station. In the poem she is performing the only acceptable dance of the era, a loyal character dance. The poem's author remembers:

    .... Her hair streamed
    into the dark eye of the sun.
    A leap, her skirt
    like a blossom, and the heart
    jumped out of her hand, fluttering
   like a flushed pheasant. A slip -
   I rushed to its rescue, when she
   caught it - a finishing touch
   to her performance. The people
   roared. I froze. She took my hand,
   waving, our fingers branching
   into each other, as if my blunder
   were a much rehearsed act, as if
   the curtain fell on the world
   in a peice of white paper
   to set off the red heart, in which
   I was the boy, she, the girl.

Life was harsh for Wen in the country. Various circumstances, including marriage, keep her in Fujian after the end of the Revolution. After two decades her beauty has faded and she endures from day to day.

As Chen expected Yu soon finds the Fujian police have made but perfunctory efforts to find Wen. Yu determines she received a phone call in the village from her husband in America warning her to flee. The pregnant Wen leaves the village.

Both Chen and Rohn have concerns about the security of their police organizations.

Chen, while recognizing there are international consequences if Wen is not found, must tread delicately. Triads are involved. Their influence has penetrated throughout the restaurants and clubs of Shanghai and is reaching into official China.

Chen uses past connections and establishes new links to gain information. Rohn occasionally provides unexpected insights. (They have an unusual relationship by Western fiction standards. They do not sleep together immediately after meeting.)

At the same time Chen quietly looks for information related to the Park murder.

The mystery is an insightful journey through a booming Chinese economy filled with new capitalists but also full of traditions. Chen and Rohn face dangers, sometimes more subtle than in the West, as they move forward.

Chen often quotes Chinese sayings and poetry. They add imagery uncommon in crime literature. Considering the transitory nature of our lives, he quotes a poet:

     Life is like the footprint left by a solitary crane in the snow,
     visible only for one moment, and then gone.

Xiaolong’s talents as a poet as well as a writer of a prose infuse the book with rhythmic grace. I look forward to reading the next in the series. (Oct. 22/12) 

****

This will be my second post for the letter "X" in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise.

"X" is for Qiu Xiaolong Again

For “X” in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise I am returning to Qiu Xiaolong. Instead of trying to add to my previous profile I wrote to him about one of the best parts of his mysteries, the inclusion of poetry. They add a dimension found in few mysteries. His sleuth, Chief Inspector Chen Cao, is both an accomplished police officer and a superb poet. Some of the inspector’s poetry is part of the series.

My email to Qiu with my questions and his answers in bold, for which I am most appreciative are:

Qiu

I am a book blogger from Saskatchewan in Canada. At my blog, Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan, I focus on mysteries. For the past 23 weeks I have been participating in the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her Mysteries in Paradise blog. Each week I have posted a profile of a different author whose surname began with the letter of the week. For next week I am putting up a profile of yourself for the letter “X”. Last year I had also posted a profile of yourself.

I have read 3 of the books in the Chief Inspector Chen Cao series and enjoyed them.

For this year’s profile I was hoping I might include answers from you to a few questions.

The questions are:

1.) Beyond Inspector Chen Cao I am aware of a couple of further mystery series where poetry was a significant part of the books. They are the mysteries of P.D. James featuring Adam Dagleish and the Canadian series of Louise Penny mainly set in the fictional village of Three Pines which has a resident poet, Ruth Lardo. I know you are a poet but wondered if any existing mystery sleuth or prominent character in a mystery series helped inspire you to make the Inspector a poet?

A: Adam Dagleish is known by others as a published poet, but he does not write poems in the books of P.D. James. So you may say while initially inspired by him, I made one step further by having him write poems in the midst of investigations. In the tradition of classical Chinese novels (not necessarily mysteries), however, it's common for characters to write poems in the development of the stories. For me, that may have been another source of influence.

2.) I find it rare to know someone in North America who can quote poetry. Is the Inspector an exception in China or is it common for people to quote poetry?

A: It' used to be very common in China, but not so nowadays. Still, you may still quite often find people quoting poetry. For example, the current Premier Wen is known for his passion for poetry quoting in speeches or press conferences. Quoting poems out of the context could be difficult for the interpreter to translate, and for the journalists to grasp, so people sometimes ask the Premier about the possible quotes beforehand, and discuss about them afterward.

3.) Most of the poetry quoted is from distant times in China’s history. The books refer to the upheavals in Chinese life, including the arts, from the Cultural Revolution. Was there poetry written in that difficult time that may find its way into the series?

A: That's a good question. But for years after 1949, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, poems as well as other literary works were supposed to serve politics, in the interests of the Communist Party. So most of the poems written during that period were more like rhymed political slogans. A very small number of them are of course different, so they may still find their into the series.

4.) In your books I occasionally feel there is a rhythm to the words that reminds me of poetry. Do you attempt to have a rhythm to your words in prose?

A: It's possible. But most of the time subconscious, I think. Recently, there's a photography and poetry entitled DISAPPEARING SHANGHAI, (with pictures by Howard French, poems by me), and the poems are written from Inspector Chen's persona and perspective.

5.) Your books have rich complex plots with readers required to consider layers of meaning in the actions and words of the characters. Poetry has subtlety in image and meaning. Do you think being poet has aided you to write better mysteries?

A: Personally. I think so. Inspector Chen being a poet also helps him approach the investigation with an alternative perspective, not merely in terms of whodunit.

Thank you for considering my questions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

Bill Selnes

Thank you very much for your mail. I appreciate your interests in my books.

****

I will be adding another post to the meme this week as my next post will be a review of Qiu Xiaolong’s book, A Loyal Character Dancer.

 

"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.

“V” is for Michael Van Rooy

The end of the 2012 Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise is near with the letter “V” this week. I have chosen to profile Canadian writer, Michael Van Rooy for “V”.

Van Rooy  was a Winnipeg, Manitoba writer who sadly died last year at 42 of a heart attack. He had been gaining fame for his series of books featuring Monty Haaviko who had become Sam Parker in an effort to escape his criminal past.

It was a subject with which Van Rooy was on personal terms. Morley Walker explained in the Books section of The Winnipeg Free Press in a column in 2010: 

     

After graduating from Sisler High School, he studied history at the University of Manitoba and moonlighted as a blackjack dealer in one of the province's early casinos. 

 

This put him in the vicinity of some disreputable characters. At age 21 he was found guilty of two charges of armed robbery.

"I didn't do it," he insists, despite some caginess about this chapter in his life. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He spent nearly two years as a guest of the criminal justice system, doing time in Stony Mountain and Rockwood Institution before receiving parole.

But the experience, which he recommends to no one, haunted him for more than a decade after and obviously informs his writing even now.

"Who will hire you?" he says. "You can't be bonded. Nobody trusts you."

At six-foot-six and 290 pounds, he worked as a bouncer and a bartender, then a bar manager and restaurant manager. In the early 2000s he managed the McNally Robinson Booksellers' Prairie Ink Cafés. And he wrote novels on the side.

Van Rooy spent a great deal of time in organizations devoted to writing. The obituary in The Winnipeg Free Press stated:

He served as audience development co-ordinator and publicist for the Thin Air Winnipeg writers festival, he was a board member for the Manitoba Writers' Guild and Prairie Fire magazine and an administrator with the Winnipeg Writers' Collective and the Canadian Mennonite University writing school.

The year before his death he was designated "arts ambassador" for literature for the 2010 Cultural Capital program of the City of Winnipeg.

His writing skills had been recognized in 2009 when he won the John Hirsch Award as the Most Promising Writer in Manitoba.

Following his death the Manitoba Books Award organization established the Michael van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction. Genres covered by the Award include horror, mystery, thriller and graphic novels.

The photo above from The Winnipeg Free Press accompanied an article featuring some of his favourite things:

       If your house were on fire, heaven forbid, what's the one

       item contained within that you would try to take with

       you? (People and pets not included.)

      My laptop. (I'm a writer... I gotta be honest here!) 

      What's the oldest thing you own?

      A 40,000-year-old mammoth tusk.

      Describe your most beloved piece of furniture.

 

      My most beloved piece of furniture is a treadle Singer

      sewing machine that currently holds up the television

      with the Xbox on the treadle. It's godawful heavy but I

      treasure it for the memories of bringing it to and from the

      cabin, balanced precariously in an open boat.

I read and reviewed the first book in the series, An Ordinary Decent Criminal. In it Haaviko / Parker struggles to escape the stereotype society has of an ex-con. In particular, his treatment by the police is striking and frightening. It is a powerful book. I said in my review:

It is hard boiled fiction with a character seeking to change in a world that refuses to believe he has changed.