Happy New Year, Dear Readers!

The Mesdames of Mayhem had a truly remarkable year in 2019 to share with you, including the incredibly moving CBC Short Doc on the Mesdames by the brilliantly talented Cat Mills and her CBC team, and the launch of our 4th anthology, In the Key of 13.

In 2020, we’re looking forward to meeting many more of you at our upcoming events and workshops, as well as through your comments on this blog and social media.

January is starting off a busy decade for us with new books, public events and readings, conferences and teaching emerging new crime writers!

 

Books, Books, Books!

The e-Pub edition of our fabulous new anthology, In the Key of 13, will be available by Jan. 24.

This means , dear readers, that you can buy it through most e-Pub retailers:  iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and so on. You can already access the Kindle edition here.

Links will be posted as soon as they go live.

And another thrilling piece of news, our antho is now available in the Toronto Public Library. Check out our listing here

 

 

Big congratulations to Melodie Campbell, Our Queen of Comedy on her new book, The Italian Cure, to be published by Orca on January 29th.

This a romantic comedy, light and fun, and almost a travelogue to Italy, perfect to cozy up with on a chilly evening.

 

Here’s the preview: Charlie’s world comes crashing down when her fiancé leaves her for another woman. Then Aunt Della wins a trip for two to Rome. Can Italy mend her broken heart? But with adventure comes mishaps, and Charlie’s trip seems to be full of them! In between the chaos and hijinks of this supposed vacation, will Charlie take another chance at love?

Readings and Events!

Sisters in Crime Reading

On Thursday, January 16th, 7 pm, several Mesdames join their sister crime writers at Northern District Library, 40 Orchardview Blvd., Toronto. This is an annual reading night hosted by Toronto Sisters in Crime. Admission is free for members, $5 for non-members.

Come out and hear the work of M. H. Callway, Lisa De Nikolits, Rosemary McCracken and Caro Soles. Books will also be available for sale.

 

 

 

 

 

Ontario Library Association Superconference

This annual event draws librarians from all over Ontario to Toronto for several days of seminars, panels and exhibits.  To learn more:   https://www.olasuperconference.ca/

On Thursday, January 30th, at 1:30 pm, Lisa De Nikolits will be signing complimentary copies of her latest thriller, The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution at the Ontario Book Publishers’ Pavilion, Table One.

This is a great opportunity to connect with librarians and other eager book lovers.

 

And on Friday, January 31st, 1 pm, the Crime Writers of Canada host their annual lunchtime presentation to librarians of thrilling new crime books for 2020. M. H. Callway will be presenting In the Key of 13 on behalf of the Mmes and Melodie Campbell will be promoting The Italian Cure!

 

Social Media!

It often surprises readers and interviewers that we Mesdames originally got together in 2013 to deal with a new beast:  social media.  Some of us were “power users”, others complete technophobes. We decided to pool our expertise to help out our friends.

Seven years later, how the publishing industry has transformed! Social Media, like blogs, podcasts and YouTube videos, are critical to reaching readers and so will be our focus for the new year. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement next month!

Blog Tour

One of our Social Media Masters is Lisa De Nikolits who not only runs at least two blogs but documented her author experiences on YouTube in Writer For a Year!

This month, Lisa joined Silver Dagger Book Tours and has been working an almost daily blog tour to promote The Occult Persuasion. Check out Lisa’s full schedule here:

Dead to Writes

EXCITING NEWS!

Dead to Writes, Donna Carrick’s podcast featuring primarily Canadian crime writers will resume in 2020.

Check back here for the upcoming schedule.

Rumour has it that quite a few of the authors in our new anthology, In the Key of 13, may be joining Donna on her show!

 

Learn from the Mesdames!

One of Mesdames’ goals is to nurture and encourage emerging crime writers.  For this reason, several of us teach.  Readers and aspiring writers, here are some terrific opportunities to learn from the best!

Melodie Campbell is back at Sheridan College, Trafalgar Road, Oakville Campus, teaching Crafting a Novel 1. The course starts this Saturday, Jan. 18, 10 am-1 pm, for 14 weeks.

Join award-winning author Melodie for this popular novel-writing bootcamp. Learn about Plot, Characterization, Dialogue,Viewpoint and more; what do we mean by ‘Show Not Tell’; and what makes up the different genres of popular fiction. In addition, learn the specifics of the Business of Writing, including e-publishing.

 

Sylvia Warsh teaches creative writing to seniors at the Bernard Betel Centre for Creative Living, 1003 Steeles Avenue W. Fridays 10:30 – 12:30, January 10 to March 20. Participants have the opportunity to read their work aloud and be critiqued by their peers and instructor in a supportive and friendly environment.

 

Save the Date!

A friendly reminder from Cheryl Freedman:

For those of you who’ve already broken your New Year’s resolutions, here’s one that’s easy – and fun – to keep. Resolve to come to the 2020 Bloody Words Mini-con/Bony Blithe Award Gala on Friday, May 22, 2020.

We’re back at the High Park Club in Toronto. Space is limited, so register now. We have panels on a wide range of topics, a book dealer, lunch, the BB award dinner, and lots of opportunity to schmooze with old and new criminous friends.

Note to authors: The sooner you register, the more likely you are to be on a panel plus, if you’re published by a traditional publisher, the easier it will be for our book dealer to get your books.