Quebec and Maritime Book Tour

After almost a week away at Bouchercon, I’m back home in Ottawa. It was a great conference and I really enjoyed the company of fellow crime writers, Barbara Fradkin, Vicki Delany and Mary Jane Maffini and meeting avid mystery fans like Kaye, Lance, Mary Allyn, Jan, Leslie and numerous others. But it’s wonderful to be back with my husband. Sadly it’ll only be for a short time.

On Sunday I’m off with Vicki on a 10 day book tour of the Maritimes with a few stops in Quebec on the way. The launch of a new book always brings with it a frantic couple of months of promotion. And as much as I do enjoy talking about my new book and meeting old fans and introducing my series to new ones, I will be quite glad when it is over and I can crawl back into my hole and hibernate.

Vicki and I have quite an exciting mix of events, from library readings, University panels to book store signings. Hopefully I’ll see some of you at one of these events. And please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself.

Quebec events

Montreal
Sun. Oct. 25, 12:00 pm to 2:00 – Chapters, Pointe-Claire - signing
Knowlton
Sun. Oct. 25, 7:00 pm to 9:00 – Brome Lake Bookstore - talk and signing
Lennoxville
Mon. Oct. 26, 1:00 pm – Bishop's University, Champlain College room 140– interview by Jim Napier
Mon. Oct. 26 - 2:30 pm - Bishop's University Bookstore - signing
Mon. Oct. 26, 7:00 pm – Bishop's University, Champlain College, room 355 - workshop

New Brunswick events

Fredericton
Wed. Oct. 28,12:00 pm to 4:00 – Fredericton Chapters – signin
Wed. Oct. 28, 7:00 pm to 9:00 - Westminister Books – talk and signing
Thurs. Oct. 29, 12:00 pm to 1:00 – Fredericton Public Library, main branch – talk
Moncton
Thurs. Oct. 29, 7:00 pm to 9:00 – Dieppe Chapters – book signing
Saint John
Tues. Nov. 3, 12:00pm – 1:30 – Saint John Public Library, West Branch – talk and signing

Nova Scotia events

Halifax
Fri. Oct. 30, 7:00 pm to 9:00 – Mount St. Vincent University – Mystery Writers Panel in the Faculty Lounge on 4th floor of Seton Academic Centre
Sat. Oct. 31, 12:00 pm to 2:00 – Bayers Lake Chapters – signing
Sat. Oct. 31, 3:00 pm to 5:00 – Coles, Halifax S.C. – signing
Sun. Nov. 1, 12:00 pm to 2:00 – Mic Mac Chapters – signing
Sun. Nov. 1, 3:00 pm to 5:00 – Indigospirit, Sunnyside Mall - signing

The Canadian Happening at Bouchercon

Well, Barbara, Mary Jane, Vicki and I made it to Indianapolis intact and still speaking to each other, even laughing together. Although I wasn’t sure if Jill, Vicki’s GPS, and I were still on speaking terms, since on several occasions I refused to follow her insistent instructions. When we didn’t take the highway to Detroit, whose multi-lane highways I definitely wanted to avoid, she kept insisting we turn back. Finally we had to turn her volume down, until she agreed that the route we were following along almost empty and much less nerve wracking roads would do just as well. But I will say that Jill came through in Indianapolis, when I accidentally took the express lane of the downtown highway and found ourselves sailing past our turn-off. Jill managed to get us on the right road and to our hotels. So Jill, you done good.

As you can see from the photo we had a great time with our O Canada panel yesterday, with Tony Bidulka in his Saskatchewan cowboy togs as the added attraction. I thought Vicki with her moose antlers was rather fetching myself and of course, Mary Jane set a new standard in Mountie attire with her frilly red blouse. And I bet you didn’t know Barbara was a closet seamstress. She made that excellent rendition of a Grenadier Guard’s hat. The less said about my hockey helmet, the better. I decided I would never make it in the NHL. I couldn’t wait to take off that tight, hot, barely-could-talk-in helmet.

We made our panel into a real Canadian happening serving genuine Canadian cuisine, such as Nanaimo bars, Cape Breton pork pies, moose droppings, chocolate covered Saskatoon berries and the like. And I must not forget the Smarties. Apparently they don't sell Smarties in the States. It was great fun and our audience loved it. They even raced out afterwards to buy our books. Sadly they were mostly phantom books, since Sleuth of Baker Street bookstore, who was bringing in all our Canadian published books, was turned back at the border. Fortunately Scene of the Crime had some books, but only our latest titles. And they quickly sold out. At one point Don thought he might even have a fight on his hands as 4 customers eyed the 2 remaining books.

Tonight we’re all going out to dinner to a restaurant Tony found and reserved months ago. It promises to be quite the meal.

And I must not forget that our Criminal Romp through Canada basket has been upgraded from the silent auction to the live auction. So it will be fun to see how much this basket of Canadian books will go for.

Bouchercon, here we come!

Well the car load of Canadian Crime Writers took off at the crack of dawn yesterday. Well not quite. That was the initial hope since we had a long 9 hour drive to Port Huron, MI. But beauty sleep took precedence so it was more like 9:00 when Mary Jane Maffini, Barbara Fradkin and I crammed suitcases, various bags filled with our samples of quintessentially Canadian cuisine, our magnificent hats reflective of our proud Canadian heritage (these words I stole from Vicki), computers and the like into the back of my Jeep.

And of course I must not forget Barbara’s two dogs and their paraphernalia that we also had to fit into the car. Fortunately, as sweet as Kaylee and Keefer are, their journey with us lasted as far as the kennel, but that was only after we had to return to someone’s house, I won’t say who, to pick-up a forgotten passport. Thankfully we discovered it missing right at the beginning of our trip and not when we reached the border 9 hours later.

Rather than driving along the boring, very boring four lane 401 to Belleville to pick up Vicki Delany, we drove the much more interesting hwy 7 that wends it way through the lakes and forests of Ontario. The changing colours were magnificent. But we did this not without a few stops at various Tim Horton’s and gas stations, so we ended up being a bit late picking up Vicki, where she was patiently awaiting our arrival.

Finally at about 2:00, after of course our groaning stomachs had been sufficiently satisfied, they were feeling a might empty by that time, we were finally on our way. Next stop would be the border at Sarnia, but first we had to survive the sixteen lanes of 401 traffic to get through Toronto. Like most big cities you dare to enter it at your peril. And I’m afraid I chickened out and spent my hard earned royalties on the toll road that skirts the north of the city, a much saner drive, certainly better on your nerves, but not particularly interesting nor was the rest of the drive to Sarnia.

But that’s not to say it was boring inside the car. Do you really think four crime writers spending nine hours together would be boring? I’d suggested everyone might want to consider bringing some music along to pass away the hours. Mary Jane’s immediate retort was ‘Would we stop talking long enough to listen to some music?’ And, yup, we didn’t play a single song, didn’t even turn on the radio. We didn’t need to. We hatched more plots, came up with all sorts of devious questions and antics for our O Canada panel on Thursday at 4:30 and generally had a great time.

And we were still talking by the time we made it to Port Huron, our stop for the night, at around 8:30.

This morning, I was too tired last night to do the update, the journey continues to Indianapolis.

Bouchercon here we come!

A week from now, Vicki Delany, Barbara Fradkin, Mary Jane Maffini and I will be loading up my car and heading south of the border to Indianapolis for Bouchercon 2009. The fifteen hour drive promises to be quite the adventure. No doubt we will be hatching many a murderous plot to while away the long hours. Killing off drivers who cut us off, waitresses that refuse to smile or truck drivers that rumble up and nudge the back bumper, all harmless fun from our writers’ imaginations. But we will be oh so kind to the nice men and women in blue that control the gate at the border.

And of course we will be fine tuning our ‘O Canada’ panel on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 4:30 pm, which in addition to us will also include another Canadian writer, Anthony Bidulka. We’ve added a sub-title to it. “A Criminal Romp Through Canada’ to tie in with the theme of our silent auction item, a basket of Canadian crime. Although our settings don’t quite go from sea to sea, they do include almost half of Canada’s provinces and territories, from Quebec, Ontario, Saskachewan, British Columbia, Yukon and Nunavut. So you don’t have to hop a plane to these far flung places, just come to our panel and if you are intrigued, finish the journey with one of our books.

To add to the theme, we’ll be decked out in stereotypical Canadian head gear, including the de rigeur hockey helmet, a moose hat complete with antlers and I must not forget the Grenadier Guards hat. This one I’m dying to see, since it’s handmade by no less than Barbara’s skilled fingers. And we’ll give you a sample of Canadian cuisine, including moose droppings, Saskatoon berries and Nanaimo bars. It promises to be a great time.

I hope to see you there. And by the way that's our mascot, Bucky. He'll be there too.