The following post has been reprinted with the kind permission of its author, Duncan Armstrong. Originally posted on March 21, 2015 by topoet, in Let’s talk, Photographs, reviews, writing. ·

There was Mayhem at the Jones Ave. Library thanks to Mesdames Rosemary Aubert, M. H. Callway, Rosemary McCracken and D. J. McIntosh. It was an opportunity for me to see these familiar faces as working authors, not as lunch dates, fellow work-shoppers or teachers. Besides discussing the challenges for women authors in today’s publishing world they each read from their recent work. Some were already familiar with the writers & asked questions that went beyond ‘where do you get your ideas from.’

the moon was obscured by clouds

Each of the Mesdames brought a very different aspect of ‘mystery’ writing to the event. During q&a the difference between a thriller & a mystery was discussed, also what a ‘cozy’ is – was almost defined. Lost Girl was mentioned several times & it appears to have brought many new readers to the mystery fold.

Rosemary Aubert, representing the mystery in mystery genre, read from her new book, Don’t Forget You Love Me, the long-awaited follow-up to her award-winning Ellis Portal mystery series. http://wp.me/p1RtxU-157. Set in Toronto, and spanning many decades, this series makes use of Toronto, its history and many neighbourhoods more effectively than many I’ve read.

he was egged on to do it

Rosemary McCracken was next with a sample of her popular Pat Tierney mysteries, which represent the domestic mystery with elements of thriller tossed in. If you thought investment counselling was all profit and loss, Pat Tierney will show you otherwise.

D. J. McIntosh gave us a taste of her upcoming novel, The Angel of Eden, to be published by Penguin in May. She specializes in antiquity mysteries – similar to Dan Brown (but better written). A complex weaving of the past and present make her books an educating and, at the same time, fun read.

the body in the wardrobe

Finally, facilitator M. H. Callway read from her newly published debut novel, Windigo Fire. http://wp.me/p1RtxU-Wi. Her novel is of the wild out-doors adventure mystery genre. Each of the readers were confident, practiced, and picked the right moments to represent their work – moments that had enough cliff-hanger to make you want to read their books, in M.H.’s case it was literally a cliffhanger.

It’s been sometime since I’ve been to a reading event of this type and was happy to see it attracted a full house of clearly interested & invested mystery readers. Proof, to me, that the physical book is not becoming an antiquity.