Upcoming Events

The busy spring season is about to begin. On Thursday, April 22, I'll be participating in Capital Crime Wave, Ottawa's Arthur Ellis short list event. I, along with Brenda Chapman, Linda Wiken and Brian McKillop will be grilled by Ottawa lawyer, Kate Jaimet. It promises to be great fun. And of course we will all be anxiously awaiting the short list for this year's Arthur Ellis nominees. It starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.

Then a week later, I head off to Washington, D.C., well actually Arlington, Va., for Malice Domestic, which runs from Apr. 29-May 1. It will be my third visit to a conference I always enjoy. The conference also gives me a chance to meet up with old friends I haven't seen since our diplomatic days in Washington in the 1980's. I'm quite looking forward to it.

On Monday, May 3rd,  I will join a host of other mystery writers at Festival of Mystery held every year by Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pa.  I attended a couple of years ago and couldn't believe the rush of avid mystery readers intent on snatching up the latest books. It was a very busy couple of hours.

At the end of May, I will be in Toronto for Canada's own Bloody Words Conference.  I've been attending since that hot, steamy weekend, when the event began with great fanfare in the illustrious halls of the Arts and Letters Club in 1999. So this year there will be much celebration. And even though the venue quickly shifted to the air conditioned comfort of hotels, it has kept its uniquely Canadian format. It takes place from May 28-30 at the downtown Hilton Hotel. Don't miss this opportunity to mingle with Canada's popular crime writers.  Sign up now.

I hope to see you at one of these events.

Niagara Library Event

I'm off to the Niagara region next week to do a reading at the Fonthill Public Library on Tues. Feb. 23rd at 7:00 pm. If you live in the area I'd love to see you. If you have friends living there, please let them know. The address of the library is 43 Pelham Town Sq. Fonthill.

I've finally arrived

I've finally taken the plunge and joined Facebook. I was dragging my heels over concerns about privacy and intrusion on my precious writing time. I'm afraid I'm one of those that loves to play with technical toys and I'd put Facebook in that category and knew once I was on it, it would be game over for my writing. And yes, it is eking into my writing time, but I am having great fun meeting all sorts of fascinating people. So drop by and say hi. I'd love to meet you. And if you're a fan of my Meg Harris series, please let me know on R.J. Harlick's Meg Harris Mysteries page.

A surprise winter visitor

While I would never call myself an avid bird watcher, I love watching the birds flit in and out of the many feeders I have erected both at my home in Ottawa and log cabin in Quebec.  They are a splash of colour on a dull winter day or a burst of cheer in a silent forest.  I’ve positioned my various feeders so that when I’m in need of a momentary respite from my writing I can look out the window and watch the day’s activity.

Needless to say the majority of visitors are northern birds, like the Black Cap Chickadee, Red and White Breasted Nuthatches, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers and of course the various northern finches, like Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbecks. After more than twenty years gazing at my feeders I pretty well know what to expect.

So last week when I took a break from writing the next Meg Harris mystery and glanced out my window at a bird pecking away at the suet feeder, I first thought it was a nuthatch. And then I realized the colour was too brown, the body too round plus it had an upraised tail. I knew this was a bird I had never seen before. So I hastily grabbed my bird book and soon identified it as a Carolina Wren, a bird, whose range is usually several hundred kilometers south of Ottawa.

Interestingly enough, I’ve since learned that sightings of this southern bird are happening more frequently in the Ottawa area. The experts view this as a northern expansion of their range. And of course, this begs the question. Is this small bird a harbinger of global warming?

Happy Holidays

From our snow locked cabin deep within the Quebec woods, 

Jim and I would like to wish you 

a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year.

A harsh and brutal land

One of the reasons why Arctic Blue Death is set in Canada’s far north is because I’ve always wanted to go there. So when I was deciding the plot and setting for the 4^th Meg Harris mystery, I thought what better way to see it than to have Meg go there. That way I get to go too.

A couple of years ago, during the longest days of the year, I hopped on a plane and flew to Iqaluit, where I spent several intriguing days and then onto Pangnirtung for a couple of more. Although I was a little more than seven days on Baffin Island, I came away with more than enough material, impressions and plot ideas to keep Meg busy.

It’s a harsh and brutal land and it took me awhile to appreciate its underlying beauty. As Meg keeps telling herself, I had to put aside my southern sensibilities and see beyond the dirt and barren rock to what the land had to offer. And for me, that was the people. I met some very kind and wonderful people both in Iqaluit and Pangnirtung that helped give me some insight of what it is like to live in one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet.

On the longest day of the year I was in Pangnirtung where the sun doesn’t set, but runs just below the mountain ridge on the southern shore for an hour or so before popping back up again.   No one seemed to sleep, including me. In fact at any hour of the ‘white night’ people, including kids, would be seen out walking or playing.

When I’d flown to Iqaluit, I’d had a vague idea for a plot. I knew it would be about Meg’s father, who’d died while traveling in the Arctic when she was a child, but I wasn’t sure how he had died. I just knew that something related to his death would prompt her to go to Baffin Island. While I was being shown the Iqaluit RCMP detachment by a young constable, she happened to mention one of her cold case files. It had to do with a plane that had gone missing over 20 years ago and was never seen again. The minute she said the words “missing plane” the light bulb went on. I knew I could do a lot with a missing plane and I have in Arctic Blue Death.

To learn more about my research trip to Baffin read the November 2009 issue of Mystery Scene Magazine in which I talk about my trip and how it influenced the shaping of Arctic Blue Death.

I also took many photos, some of which I include below. But I’ve also set up an album, so click here to access the album.

View Across the Pangnirtung Fjord at midnight on

the longest day of the year

Reviews

Arctic Blue Death reviews are starting to trickle in. I say trickle because I get impatient. After spending many hours, weeks, days and months intimately involved in my book, I am never sure how it will be received once it is finally revealed to that big broad world beyond my computer screen. I wait with bated breath and fingers crossed hoping that someone will like it.

I was very pleased to discover Margaret Cannon’s terrific review in the October 31st issue of the Globe & Mail. She starts off with “The fourth book in the excellent Meg Harris series by Ottawa author R.J. Harlick is the best.” and finishes with “Harlick has a great plot here and she takes it and runs.”

And I don’t need to say that I would also love to hear from you. If you enjoyed reading Arctic Blue Death or any of my other books please don’t hesitate to let me know via my email address rj@rjharlick.ca. And if you so feel inclined let others know by posting reviews on the various online sites, such as Amazon and Chapters. And if you didn’t like it, tell me why so that I can take your comments into consideration during the writing of my next book.