Last but far from least - Toronto - part 1

The day after Montreal I hopped into my Jeep and drove the long boring 416/401 drive to the whirlwind of crime writing happenings in Toronto. About the only thing you can say for this multi lane route, is it is fast. Fortunately I have a sister living in Pickering who kindly offered me a free bed and family company for a couple of days, before I moved into the downtown Toronto hotel for the Bloody Words conference.

The Toronto events started off with a book signing on the evening of my arrival, June 8, at the Chapters at Kennedy Commons. Although I discovered that Wednesday nights are not exactly spilling over with customers, I did meet some new fans and even signed a book or two. I love book signings. I love meeting new people and talking to them. And I particuarly like it when a person shyly confesses they too like to write, which invariably leads to a discussion on writing and their dreams of becoming published. I had a couple of such conversations that night. I wish them both good luck.

The following night was for me the big event of the week, the annual Arthur Ellis Awards dinner and my first attendence at one. I'd come especially because two of my friends were up for awards, Mel Bradshaw for best first novel and Barbara Fradkin for best novel, both of whom happen to also be fellow RendezVous Press authors. You can imagine the tension felt at our publisher's table where we all sat in hopeful expectation and the joyous exhaltation expelled when Barbara's name was announced. A well deserved moment to savour. 'Fifth Son', her fourth in the Inspector Green series, is a fascinating mystery about the effect a single tumultuous event had on a once happy family.

And while we commisserated with Mel we were nonetheless proud of his nomination for the award for his wonderful historical novel 'Death in the Age of Steam'. Perhaps this is also the moment for me to confess that I was a teensy, weensy bit disappointed, no, scratch that out, quite disappointed when 'Death's Golden Whisper' wasn't nominated for the same award. So, muchos accolades to Mel. And of course, many congratulations to Jon Evans for winning the AE Award for Best First Novel for his book, 'Hard Places', a book, which I've since read and found very deserving of the award.