It was totally serendipitous! My friend of many years, Jane Coryell, mentioned that she was designing the set for the Village Players in Waterdown, Ontario. Knowing my love of mysteries, Jane told me the play, Murder by the Book by Mat Kelly, is about a group of women who write mysteries.

“Hello,” I said, with rather more force than absolutely necessary, “That’s the Mesdames!” We looked at each other and before long, a wonderful collaboration was born.

Put together a group of creative and murderously-minded women writers, all with their own secrets , two very pragmatic police officers, a couple of other suspicious characters and what you get? Why a murder of course. The police are intent on finding the murderer while the writing group sees this as an opportunity to learn something about police procedures. Why do the police want a rutabaga to help solve the murder?

Rutabaga? There’s only one way to find out how the rutabaga figures into it and that’s to see the production.

Murder by the Book by Mat Kelly, presented by the Village Players

Memorial Hall
317 Dundas Street East, Waterdown, ON.

There is a small parking lot near the hall, and more across the street.
Tickets cost $20 for adults; $18 for seniors and students. They go on sale October 20. To order tickets, call the box office at 905-690-7889.

Nov. 15 – 8pm (Opening Night)
Nov. 16 – 8pm
Nov. 17 – 2pm
Nov. 22 – 8pm
Nov. 23 – 8 pm
Nov. 24 – 2pm
Nov. 29 – 8 pm
Nov. 30 – 8pm (closing night)

And – wait for it – the Mesdames of Mayhem will be on hand at the theatre with books to sell. Of course, Thirteen, our wonderful new anthology will be featured along with several other titles published by our own intrepid group of criminally-minded women. This is a wonderful opportunity to do some timely Christmas shopping for those mystery fans on your list!