Edmonton authors take home awards, new book from TRC commissioner and Stonehouse releases their lineup
Article content
Writing a murder mystery is a balancing act, dropping enough hints throughout the book to keep readers interested and guessing without giving away the ending at the halfway point.
Jonathan Whitelaw worries he’s made things too obvious, that readers will solve his newest mystery before they get to the big reveal. His latest murder mystery, The Concert Hall Killer, will be released by HarperCollins Canada on June 18.
Advertisement 2
Article content
In the third of Whitelaw’s Bingo Hall Detectives series, Jason Brazel and his mother-in-law Amita Khatri again find themselves at the centre of an investigation into some very suspicious deaths. Brazel, an out-of-work journalist, and Khatri, a retiree with a nose for gossip, track down leads in the murder of the director and one of the leads in a famous crime drama being filmed in their hometown of Penrith, all while trying to stay out of jail and out of danger.
“I worry that I have given too much away too soon. My worry is never that I have made it too complicated,” says Whitelaw in an interview from his Grande Prairie home. “I think when readers pick up cozy crime books, they expect not just a whodunnit, but lots of humour, and a dedication to the humour and where it’s set.”
Because his protagonists are amateur sleuths, not hardened detectives, Whitelaw refers to his series as cozy crime. It’s a mystery with a fair share of comedy and heart.
He returns to the setting he knows all too familiar, Northern England, specifically a small village called Penrith. It’s a known entity for the Glasgow native who frequented the area when he was younger, halfway between London and his own hometown. Whitelaw now lives in Grande Prairie in 2022, where she’s a doctor.
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
“I would like to do more writing this side of the Atlantic,” says Whitelaw about settings for potential new books. “Location is very very important to all mystery books. I think you have to treat it with respect because this series in particular you always have to bear in mind you don’t want to remove it too far from where it is.”
But he admits that to keep his writing fresh, to avoid unwanted repetition, a new location could go a long way to shaking things up. One way would be to “have them come to Alberta.”
It’s not a confirmation that the Bingo Hall Detectives will be coming across the pond, but a direction Whitelaw’s heading in. He’s currently working on another book about a ‘90s Canadian action star pairing up with a British influencer. Whitelaw is also working on a choose-your-own-adventure murder mystery puzzle book.
To learn more about Whitelaw’s newest book, visit Harper Collins’ website.
Memoirs of the TRC
One of the commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is shedding light on her experience in both a new book and a speaker event next week.
North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, released June 11 by Anansi Press, is the memoir of Marie Wilson outlining her time as she crisscrossed the country to bear witness to the experience of the residential school system. She also discusses reconciliation in Canada and how it can be a gift and not seen as an obligation.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Wilson is a former journalist and spent decades living in the north, working for CBC and serving as the broadcaster’s regional director. She currently lives in Yellowknife.
Wilson will be speaking about her book and her experience with the TRC at the Edmonton Public Library’s Forward Thinking Speaker Series, June 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event at the Citadel Theatre start at $15, and can be purchased from the EPL website.
Edmonton authors win at provincial awards
There was good representation from Edmonton at last weekend’s Alberta Literary Awards, with numerous city authors taking home prizes.
Jessica Johns (https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/local-arts/bookmarks-a-dream-world-from-local-cree-author-jessica-johns) was recognized for her book, Bad Cree, taking home the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction. It’s one of a series of accolades for the book, which was one of the finalists for this year’s CBC Reads and was named MacEwan’s 2023/24 Book of the Year.
Science fiction and fantasy writer Premee Mohammed (https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/books/book-marks-epl-writer-in-residence-premee-mohamed-with-an-avalanche-of-releases) was the winner in the Short Story Collection category for her book No One Will Come Back for Us. Mohamed is the writer in residence at the Edmonton Public Library.
Advertisement 5
Article content
Astrid Blodgett was awarded the Howard O’Hagan Short Story Award for “How to Read Water.” Jennifer Bowering-Delisle was recognized in the Memoir category for Micrographia; her book also won The City of Edmonton Robert Kroetsch Book Prize.
The awards were handed out by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta at a gala event, June 8. Check out the full list of winners.
Stonehouse releases 2024 books
Stonehouse Publishing, based out of Edmonton, released their annual round of books earlier this month.
Four books in all were released by the local publisher earlier this month. Hekate’s Daughter, written by former Edmontonian Mirjam Dikken, follows Kathy Van dear Laan as she struggles with the newfound ability to understand how people feel and uncover their dark secrets. Secret’s in the Water by Alice Fitzpatrick involves suspicious deaths and family secrets, while Anthony Bidulka’s novel From Sweetgrass Bridge posits the disappearance of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ first Indigenous quarterback.
The final novel in the season launch is Sunset Lake Resort, by Joanne Jackson. Ruby’s father passes away, leaves her none of his expected fortune and her husband of 35 years moves out. Ruby moves to a remote, dilapidated beach resort left to her by her late father rather than the family estate, determined to learn why he left it to her.
Advertisement 6
Article content
For more information, check out stonehousepublishing.ca
A Croatian story
Edmonton author Jasmina Odor uses her own family history in Croatia to enrich her latest novel.
The Harvesters, the newest novel from Jasmina Odor, follows Mira and her nephew Bernard as they make a stopover in Paris. They are both dealing with their own heartbreak and loss on their stopover to Croatia, which Mira had left during the Yugoslav wars. But the Paris of their dreams clashes with one-star hotels, trinket sellers and the realities of the City of Light.
Odor was born in Croatia and her family’s experience informed the book; she currently teaches writing at Concordia University of Edmonton. The Harvesters was published by Freehand Books out of Calgary and was released May 1.
To find out more about the book, visit the Freehand Books website.
Article content