The fun begins

RED ICE FOR A SHROUD, the next Meg Harris mystery, is out! The official launch was last week in Ottawa, although I have been doing book signings since Oct. 12. Barbara Fradkin and I joined forces to have a double impact on Ottawa's crime reading scene. Lots of people. Lots of signed books. I hope some of you managed to make it.

And boy have I been busy the last while - Which is all to say my apologies for not keeping my blog up to date. As you well know, a big failing of mine.

And now with the release of Red Ice, I find myself in the middle of a world wind book tour. Check my website for the hectic schedule. I, together with Barbara Fradkin and Rick Blechta have just finished the 3rd weekend of driving around Ontario and Quebec signing in various Chapters and independent booksellers. And is it tiring. But I am getting to see parts of Ontario not visited before and I do meet a lot of awfully nice people, people who liked to read mystery novels and others who want to give them as gifts.

But I tell you, it is a bit disheartening, when so few people are able to name more than one or two Canadian mystery writers, if any, particularly when there are over 200 hundred of us. And the big box booksellers don't help. Seldom do they put out Canadian written crime novels on their promotional tables, which seemed to be mostly filled with big names from big name south of the border publishers.

But, hey, that's why Barbara, Rick and I are doing this tour. To spread the word that we Canadians write just as good mysteries as the English and the Americans.

The reviews for RED ICE FOR A SHROUD are starting to come in. Margaret Cannon kicked them off with her wonderful review in the Oct. 28 Globe and Mail Book section. And Mike Gillespie of the Ottawa Citizen included Red Ice in his list of 13 of the fall's best crime fiction.

I still have another couple of weekends of signings in Ottawa, Barrie, Burlington and Toronto and will be doing more in Ottawa. So hope to see you at one of these. And if you're unable to get to any of these signings, you can always order a signed copy from Prime Crime Book Store in Ottawa.