Canada Writes Crime

On Sirens of Suspense blog, I'm the featured author this week and give a taste of my other passion, curling! If you are living in the U.S. and post a comment, you could win a copy of Butterfly Kills.

The Arthur Ellis awards dinner is this Thursday in Toronto so Ted and I will be heading down  and picking up our daughter Julia and a friend Dawn Rayner for the evening's events, which begin with a cocktail party at Dundurn. My first publisher, Sylvia McConnell is receiving the Derrick Murdoch at the AE dinner for her contributions to Canadian publishing and the first get together is in her honour. So well deserved for a wonderful person, whom I consider a mentor in this industry. Here is a quote from the announcement:

"In 1998, Sylvia McConnell began RendezVous Crime, a publishing house with the mandate to publish crime novels written by Canadians set in Canada. Over the next thirteen years she published 80 works of crime fiction, many of which were nominated for or won prestigious awards. For her belief in the value of Canadians telling Canadian stories, for her encouragement of new Canadian authors, and for her recognition of talent with staying power, we are proud to present Sylvia McConnell with the Derrick Murdoch award for 2015."

And since Cold Mourning is shortlisted for best crime novel in 2014, I thought you might like to meet the other four finalists and get some new great reading ideas!  Here is a list of their names and books, but you can also check out the other authors and categories on the Crime Writers of Canada site. I've added links to their websites or book if I couldn't find a site. Summer reading!

Barbara Fradkin, None so Blind, Dundurn Press
C.C. Humphreys, Plague, Doubleday Canada
Maureen Jennings, No Known Grave, McClelland & Stewart
Alen Mattich, Killing Pilgrim, House of Anansi

I haven't made my word count on the latest manuscript for May and will be buckling down today. I hope to get enough done that I can spend tomorrow morning going to the Parkdale Market for plants to complete my garden and planters. We had a frost scare last night so I brought in as many of the plants as I could last evening and Ted covered up the rest with sheets. At least it didn't snow.