HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE MESDAMES!
The year is winding down but the Mesdames are still making news. Our very successful anthology, 13 Claws, remained a highlight in 2018, garnering four Arthur Ellis nominations!! What’s more, Mme Catherine Astolfo won this year’s Arthur Ellis Best Short Story Award for her terrifying tale, “The Outlier”, in 13 Claws!!!
We were blown away to be so honoured! And we owe everything to Carrick Publishing.
Building on our success, our fourth anthology, In the Key of Thirteen, is underway. And the second contest for new authors previously unpublished in crime fiction opened on October 15th with the deadline for submission, March 1, 2019. Check the page on this website for submission rules.
BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
Books make terrific holiday gifts, especially the latest books by the Mesdames of Mayhem!
Lisa De Nikolits’ latest literary thriller, Rotten Peaches (Inanna Publications) is a gripping epic filled with disturbing and unforgettable insights into the human condition. Love, lust, race and greed. How far will you go? Two women. Two men. One happy ending. It takes place in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa. Nature or nurture. South Africa, racism and old prejudices — these are hardly old topics but what happens when biological half-siblings meet with insidious intentions? Can their moral corruption be blamed on genetics — were they born rotten to begin with? And what happens when they meet up with more of their ilk? What further havoc can be wreaked with devastating familial consequences?
Rosemary McCracken’s popular Pat Tierney series of Safe Harbor, Black Water and Raven Lake is now in its second edition, with a gorgeous new cover for Safe Harbor.
Caro Soles has a new novel, People Like Us (Crossroad Press) that asks how well do you know your friends? At a cottage reunion of old university pals, a long-buried secret threatens to crack their perfect lives wide open. Tentacles from the past grasp each of them, until one buckles under the pressure and slides headlong into murder.
Rosemary Aubert has a new book of poetry, Strong, Certain and Alone: Poems in the Voice of Isaac Newton (Carrick Publishing). These poems, written as though in his own voice, show Sir Isaac Newton to be a person much more at ease in searching for answers to the mysteries of the universe than to the secrets of his own heart.
Melodie Campbell’s The B-Team: The Case of the Angry First Wife (Orca Book Publishers) is a spin-off comedy adventure of Melodie’s popular Goddaughter series. Del, Gina’s cousin, teams up with her elderly Aunt Kitty and scary friend, Ritz, to do wrong for all the right reasons. And sometimes it even works!
For fans of short crime fiction, The Dame Was Trouble (Coffin Hop Press Ltd) offers a collection of noir stories featuring dames, all by Canadian women crime writers. M. H. Callway’s story “The Seeker”and Melodie Campbell’s “Hook, Line and Sinker” are in the line-up with tales by leading authors Gail Bowen and Kelly Armstrong.
Sylvia Warsh’s story, “The Cabin in the Woods” appears in the 2018 Malice Domestic anthology, Mystery Most Geographical. Setting is the critical element in all the crime stories. Sylvia and Susan Daly are the only two Canadian authors in the collection, both Toronto Sisters in Crime!
Roz Place’s short story, “The Garden Door”, appears in The County Wave (Cressy Lakeside Books), an anthology of 21 Prince Edward County authors, with a wide range of styles and storylines that are thought-provoking and entertaining, with illustrations by local artists.
M. H. Callway’s suspense story, “The Cry” appears in the April issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine, a new Canadian mystery publication which showcases noir and hard-boiled short fiction.
Rosemary McCracken’s short story, “Black Bear Country”, is published in the July issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine.
Melodie Campbell’s new short story, “A Ship Called Pandora”, appears in the June issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine.
NEWS AND EVENTS!
On Thursday, Dec 6th, 6:30 pm the Mesdames will be out in force to celebrate with friends and fellow authors at the annual Sisters in Crime/CWC Holiday Party. This year the party will be held at 60 Collier St, Toronto. Tickets are available online through Toronto Sisters in Crime.
Caro Soles is delighted to share that she has signed a contract with Inanna Publications for her new novel, Dancing with the Chairs in the Music House. Publication date to be announced next year.
REMINDERS
The deadline for submissions to the Canadian Crime Writers’ 2018 Arthur Ellis Awards is coming up on December 15th! Find the submission rules and further information on the CWC website’s Arthur Ellis Awards page.
COMING UP ON DEAD TO WRITES
December 2: Interview with author Rosemary McCracken (Safe Harbor, Raven Lake, Black Water). Reading by Donna Carrick of story “Antonio” by Rosemary McCracken, from World Enough and Crime, Carrick Publishing, 2014.
December 9: Interview with author Marta Moran Bishop (Emotions, Dinky the Nurse Mare’s Foal, The Void.) Reading of short story “Belief” by Jane Petersen Burfield, from EFD1: Starship Goodwords, Carrick Publishing.
December 16: Interview with E.C. Frey (Entangled Moon). Reading by Donna Carrick of “Kitty Claws to the Rescue” by Rosemary Aubert, 13 Claws by the Mesdames of Mayhem, Carrick Publishing, 2017
December 23: Interview with author Marilyn Kay (“That Damn Cat”, “Journey into the Dark”). Reading by Donna Carrick of “That Damn Cat” by Marilyn Kay, from 13 Claws by the Mesdames of Mayhem, Carrick Publishing, 2017
December 30: Interview with author Joan O’Callaghan (Colours of Canada, Amazing Days). Reading by Donna Carrick of the short story “Thrice the Brinded Cat” by Joan O’Callaghan, from 13 O’Clock, by the Mesdames of Mayhem, Carrick Publishing, 2015
Mesdames of Mayhem 