The Mesdames: Many readers know that you were a financial journalist, because Pat Tierney, the protagonist of your four mystery novels, and the financial crimes she comes up against were inspired by your work. But you’ve had many other thrilling adventures on the job. What’s one of your favorites?
Rosemary: I nearly got booted off a Royal Tour! In 1976, Queen Elizabeth II was visiting parts of eastern Canada during the Summer Olympics. Security was tight after the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
I was covering the Tour for the Montreal Star when another reporter and I showed up at what we thought was a cocktail party at Montreal’s Ritz Carleton Hotel. It turned out to be the Royal Suite where the Queen was freshening up before dinner! Officers from Scotland Yard and the RCMP were embarrassed that we had come so close to the Queen. We could have been terrorists.
The Mesdames: And today they might have shot you! What happened?
Rosemary: They escorted us down the back stairs and out into the alley. I was screaming, “Get your hands off me! I work for the Montreal Star!” The next day, I was advised to apologize to the head of Scotland Yard…or else. I refused and fortunately it blew over.
The Mesdames: You also met and interviewed a big movie star, right?
Rosemary:Yes, I once interviewed the late British actor Oliver Reed. The Montreal Star’s managing editor told me to ask Reed what he thought of Montreal women. So I did. “Well, I only arrived in Montreal last night,” Reed said, “but from what I see right in front of me, I’d say Montreal is a city of beautiful women.” And I’ve been telling that story ever since!
The Mesdames: And this interview inspired one of your recent stories.
Rosemary:Yes, I adapted Oliver Reed’s reply and included it in my story, “Hooked”, which appeared in the 2020 anthology, A Grave Diagnosis (Carrick Publishing). I haven’t used my Royal Tour adventure and perhaps I never will. Real life is often less believable than fiction!
The Mesdames: You also had an encounter with Elvis Presley.
Rosemary: Yes, I flew to Memphis in August 1977 with an airplane full of Elvis Presley fans to cover the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s funeral for the Montreal Star. On the 40th anniversary of his death in 2017, I sat down to write “Farewell to the King”, about a young woman with a secret who travels to Memphis with her friends to pay final respects to their idol. My story appeared in the Mesdames‘ fourth anthology,In the Key of 13, in 2019.
The Mesdames: You’ve also had a secret identity and worked undercover.
Rosemary: Yes, I was a restaurant reviewer for the Calgary Herald during the 1980s. I ate at the best restaurants in and around the city. Restaurateurs feared me. A great many loathed me. I drew on my experiences for “Dining Out”, a story about an ill-fated restaurant reviewer that appeared in the Malice Domestic anthology, Mystery Most Edible, in 2019.
The Mesdames: How do your readers see you when they meet you today?
Rosemary: The years I spent as a newspaper reporter and reviewer were the most exciting years of my life. These days I keep a low-profile as a middle-aged writer and teacher – and save my energy for my fiction.
The Mesdames have more exciting news popping up this September, including plans for a new anthology, more publications and recognition for members of our collective.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Anthology in 2022!
We’re delighted to announce that our fifth anthology, working title 13 Spirits, will be published in 2022 by Carrick Publishing. Our theme of spirits may include the paranormal, debunking of same, delusion, confusion or alcohol – wherever our weird and wonderful creative minds lead us. The world needs to have fun during these challenging times and the Mesdames intend to do just that – so you’ll have fun reading it, too!
Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing our cover reveal and news about our anthology authors. Hope to have the launch of 13 Spirits in the real world!
I read somewhere that
Checkout Lisa de Nikolitis‘ new website: ireadsomewherethat! It’s full of fresh, new must-read book reviews, buzzy snippets, advice and discussions about anything and everything to do with books
Melissa‘s story “My Two-legs” was just bought by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine; and she was one of the seven winners of Thrillerfest’s Best First Sentence Contest. And here’s her winning sentence: “My mom told me I could do whatever I wanted for the whole summer I was fourteen, so I decided to find the Red Rock serial killer.“
Madona Skaff
Madona Skaff‘s SF novel, Shifting Trust is launching September 15th.
Shifting Trust
Shifting Trust is set 25 years into the future. It’s the story of ex-RCMP officer Tyler Demir who’s happy working internal security for a nano-tech company. Until one of their scientists is kidnapped from a science conference in England. Once again lives depend on his every decision.
Madona is bringing out another book, A Handful of Earths, also launching on September 15th. This speculative fiction novel has a bittersweet story behind it. The author has passed away and Madona is fulfilling their dream by publishing the book.
Belanger Books has a three-volume collection of Sherlock Holmes stories in which Kevin Thornton has stories in the first and the third volumes. After the East Wind Blows, Part 1, came out in July with stories about Holmes, skullduggery, deception, betrayal – and Winston Churchill.
Kevin Thornton
Blair Keetch‘s story “Killing4Sale” is in the anthology Asinine Assassins which is now available on Amazon.
His short story “300 Miles to Murder” is featured in the August newsletter by the Dark & Stormy Bookclub.
“Uncharted Waters, the fourth novel in the Pat Tierney mystery series, is Rosemary McCracken’s best book. The plot twists and turns and twists some more. I couldn’t stop reading it,” says reviewer Sharon A. Crawford.
Crawford wraps up her review praising the book’s “multi-dimensional story which will keep readers charging from page to page. My only concern or question is: when will the next Pat Tierney mystery be published?”
Jayne Barnard, Caro Soles, Melissa Yi and Madeleine Harris Callway are all participating in the When Words Collide virtual multi-genre conference from August 13 to 15th. Attendance at the conference is free but you must register through EventBrite and have Zoom on your computer. The conference is held on Zoom. Here is the registration link: www.whenwordscollide.org/Registration/
There are lots of opportunities for both established and emerging writers including Master Classes, Manuscript Pitches, Live Action Screenwriting and Submission Feedback.
Check out the Mmes‘ sessions schedule!
Friday, August 13, 2 p.m. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Writing Groups and How to Run Them: M. H. Callway
Cross-Genre Writing: Caro Soles
Friday, August 13, 4 p.m. MDT/ 6 p.m. EDT The Heroine’s Journey Continues: J. E. Barnard
Saturday, August 14, 2.pm. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Twisted….: J. E. Barnard
Saturday, August 14, 2.pm. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Short Stories as Stepping Stones: M. H. Callway
Saturday, August 14, 5 p.m. MDT/ 7 p.m. EDT Love of the Land — The Importance of Place in Fiction:J. E. Barnard
Sunday, August 15, 11 a.m. MDT/ 1 p.m. EDT Crime Fiction in 2021: Trends and Evolution: M. H. Callway
Sunday, August 15, 4 p.m. MDT/ 6 p.m. EDT Mystery: Big Crimes, Small Towns: J. E. Barnard and M. H. Callway
Melissa Yuan-Innes‘s (Melissa Yi) story “The Bao Queen” appears in Food of My People, a fabulous mix of speculative stories about food and the authors have included delicious and/or fantastical recipes related to the stories and to their diverse backgrounds. The anthology Food of My People is available for preorder.
Melissa Yuan-Innes(Melissa Yi) was a winner in the International Thriller Writers’ Best First Sentence contest. Her sentence was chosen by Allison Brennan! Check it out at https://thrillerfest.com/best-first-sentence-contest/
EVENTS
Craft Bites Preliminary Play Reading
The Playwrights’ Guild of Canada selectedMelissafor Craft Bites, a preliminary play reading, on Monday, August 30th, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. ET.
The Playwrights’ Guild of Canada members have been paired up to share their work and discuss the craft of playwriting with one another.
Jayne Barnard, Caro Soles, Melissa Yi and Madeleine Harris Callway are all participating in the When Words Collide virtual multi-genre conference from August 13 to 15th. Attendance at the conference is free but you must register through EventBrite and have Zoom on your computer. The conference is held on Zoom. Here is the registration link: www.whenwordscollide.org/Registration/
There are lots of opportunities for both established and emerging writers including Master Classes, Manuscript Pitches, Live Action Screenwriting and Submission Feedback.
Check out the Mmes‘ sessions schedule!
Friday, August 13, 2 p.m. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Writing Groups and How to Run Them: M. H. Callway
Cross-Genre Writing: Caro Soles
Friday, August 13, 4 p.m. MDT/ 6 p.m. EDT The Heroine’s Journey Continues: J. E. Barnard
Saturday, August 14, 2.pm. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Twisted….: J. E. Barnard
Saturday, August 14, 2.pm. MDT/ 4 p.m. EDT Short Stories as Stepping Stones: M. H. Callway
Saturday, August 14, 5 p.m. MDT/ 7 p.m. EDT Love of the Land — The Importance of Place in Fiction:J. E. Barnard
Sunday, August 15, 11 a.m. MDT/ 1 p.m. EDT Crime Fiction in 2021: Trends and Evolution: M. H. Callway
Sunday, August 15, 4 p.m. MDT/ 6 p.m. EDT Mystery: Big Crimes, Small Towns: J. E. Barnard and M. H. Callway
Keep an eye out for Lisa de Nikolitis‘ newest website/venture I Read Somewhere That. The pilot episode will launch in September with a fab debate, reviews of hot new books and lots of buzzy book gossip! Then the site will go live monthly in 2022. Lisa will feature books by Inanna Publications, Breakwater Books Ltd., Dundurn Press and Wolsak and Wynn Publishers and have lots of great guest opinions from some of her favourite authors and, as promised, lots of info about the publishing industry!
Melissa Yuan-Innes’s story My Two Legs will be published in The Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. My Two Legs was longlisted for the Staunch Prize. “Running since 2018, this unique prize is welcomed by readers all over the world, many of whom had given up on thrillers because of the increasingly graphic violence towards women in the genre. We’re proud to create a little elbow-room for all the clever, exciting and engaging stories out there – published or unpublished – by authors who have found something a bit more original to write about!”
Summertime and the Mesdames are still rocking it with film, books, events and more recognition! We’ve also had time for reflection on what it means to be Canadian and who we are as writers. Some of us have baked in record-high temperatures and we’ve seen the terrible consequences of climate change to fellow Canadians and those in the Pacific Northwest.
Yet with the pandemic on the wane, thanks to our Public Health and to vaccinations, we look forward to a summer of new hopes and more accomplishments to come.
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2021
Documentary Month 1st – 31st July 2021
Our fab film maker, Cat Mills and her producer, Felicity Justrabo, get our mega congrats. Our film, The Mesdames of Mayhem, is being screened at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
Caro Soles‘s, latest book, The Colony Dancers, the fifth in the Merculian series is now available on Amazon!
All Merculian is excited about the visiting Colony Dancers. The children’s group is so cute in their old-fashioned outfits and few stop to question how they acquired their brilliant technique so young, or why they are all so carefully guarded. Meanwhile, Investigator Marlo is tantalized by the strong resemblance of one of the young dancers to a child who was kidnapped long ago.
How far will the guardians go to keep the secrets of the Colony Dancers?
EVENTS
Melissa Yi will be speaking at Toronto Sisters in Crime via Zoom on Thursday, July 15th, 7 p.m. Melissa will be appearing as both an emergency room physician and an award-winning author to teach us how to make sure medical details in your manuscript are true to life. Plus a Q&A about common medical mistakes in crime fiction!
On Saturday, July 3rd,M. H. Callway was delighted to be one of the authors in Moonlight and Misadventure interviewed by author and podcaster Joanna VanderVlugt. AUTHOR | JCVArtStudio. The Moonlight and Misdadventure podcast included a terrific interactive panel with authors Elizabeth Elwood, Susan Jane Wright, Karen Abrahamson, Susan Daly and Judy Penz Sheluk, who edited and published the anthology.
Terrific news! Cat Mills and Felicity Justrabo just let us know that the documentary they made of the Mesdames of Mayhem will be part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. In Australia!!
M. H. Callway’s darkly humorous tale, “The Moon God of Broadmoor”, is one of the stories by 20+ amazing writers.
The book has a 4.7 star rating on Goodreads. Read American writer/editor Kevin Tipple’s review on his blog, Kevin’s Corner. See his review. And Canadian writer/reviewer, Vanessa Westermann’s take on Moonlight and Misadventure.
Earlier in June, Madeleine was a guest on Art Taylor’s blog, The First Two Pages, where she revealed the craft behind the opening pages of “Moon God” – and the challenge of moving from bureaucratese to creating crime fiction! Read the blogpost on “Moon God“.
On Thursday, June 24th, 7pm,Madeleine will be reading from “The Moon God of Broadmoor”. She joins authors David Rotenberg and Robert Rotenberg at Toronto’s virtual Noir at the Bar, hosted by Rob Brunet and Hope Thompson.https://www.facebook.com/noiratthebartoronto
June is a super-busy month for the Mesdames with lots of book news and events. We look forward to taking a break over the summer holidays to catch up on reading – and writing!
FUN FACTS ABOUT… MME LISA DE NIKOLITS
Lisa de Nikolits
The Mesdames of Mayhem: How do your readers see you when they meet you today?
Lisa: People invariably say “Lisa, you’re such a sweet person, how on earth do you write such dark and bizarre books?” To which I have no answer!
Mesdames: What fun fact about you would blow them away?
Lisa: When I was young, I was an equine life coach a.k.a. a horse whisperer! I was an excellent animal trainer and I still am! I am very good with dogs and cats, too.
Mesdames: Have you used your animal training techniques in your writing?
Lisa: It’s helped me handle the difficult characters in my books. I know how to coax and cajole them and then crack the whip of tough love at an optimal moment!
Mesdames: Which book or story really needed your tough love?
All of them! I’ve published ten novels and written two more. I am currently working on the sequel to The Rage Room and I’m using all of those skills as we speak!
Kevin Thornton is keeping busy. Not only has he rejoined the board for Crime Writers of Canada, he’s also kept busy on the Awards, Marketing and Membership Committees, the Writers Guild of Alberta and the Board of the local arts council here in Fort McMurray.
And that’s not all. He’s had a short story published in the latest MX Sherlock Holmes Short Story Collection, and has three more due by the end of June for their next volumes. He’s also got a story in the upcoming anthology Asinine Assassins, as well as Rich Ryan’s collection Sherlock Holmes, A Year of Mystery 1882, for the August story.
Jayne Barnard is thrilled to announce the re-release of her award-winning Maddie Hatter Adventures. Twice finalists for the Aurora Award & named 2018 Alberta Book of the Year, these family-friendly novels follow a heroine as inquisitive as Eloise Bridgerton, as daring as Miss Scarlet, and as sharp a sleuth as Lady Holmes herself.
In Deadly Diamond this amateur detective hunts a legendary gemstone, trails a cunning con-woman from Egypt to Europe & beyond, and goes undercover against a penny-pinching airship heiress who never lets a good grudge die. Available June 1 from Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B095MBTD9Y
Book 2: Gilded Gauge is coming up for preorder any day now, and we’ll be launching a cover vote for Book 3 in early June.
Tyler Demir left the RCMP after an undercover operation he was in charge of turned deadly. Refusing to make life and death decisions anymore, he now works as assistant head of security for a military funded Canadian nano-tech company. But when one of their scientists is kidnapped, the military send Tyler to England to retrieve him.
Not sure who to trust, Tyler uses contacts from his undercover days to get the scientist to safety. At every step, he sees the rescue crumble around him and again he has blood on his hands.
How the hell did he manage to go from a stress-free job, where lives didn’t depend on his split-second decisions, to this?
Blair Keetch‘s short story ‘Killings 4 Sale’ appears with Kevin Thornton‘s story, “One Good Thing” in the upcoming anthology ‘Asinine Assassins’ by Smart Rhino Publishing to be released in late 2021.
Join Madeleine on Thursday, June 24th, at Noir at the Bar on Zoom where she will be reading. More details later in June.
Madeleine is also participating in a virtual Ride to Conquer Cancer. Due to the lockdown, the Ride was moved from June 12 & 13th to August 28-29th
Melissa Yi’s story, “The Three Little Prigs”, a new take on the fairy tale, will appear in Burly Tales, edited by Lamda Literary Award winner Steve Berman Featured Products (lethepressbooks.com)
A Message from Cheryl Freedman and Bonny Blithe
Cheryl Freedman
Bony Blithe
Bony Blithe, our winsome, fun-loving skeletal lass, has several announcements to make today, but let’s start with the most important and happiest one: the winner of the 2021 Bloody Words Light Mystery Award, a literary award for books that make us smile.
Drumroll, please…and congratulations to our 2021 winner:
Iona Whishaw, A Match Made for Murder (Touchwood Editions)
In this 7th book in the Lane Winslow Mystery series, it’s November 1947 and newlyweds Lane Winslow and police inspector Fred Darling can’t escape murder, even on their honeymoon in sunny Tucson, AZ, some 2600 km away from their home in Nelson, BC.
Want to see what critics say about Iona’s book? Check out the jolly winner video produced by Caro Soles at www.bonyblithe.com.
The Bony Blithe is an annual Canadian award celebrating traditional, feel-good mysteries. Now in its 10th year, the award includes everything from laugh-out-loud to gentle humour to good old-fashioned stories with little violence or gore – in short, books that are fun to read.
Party, Party, Party
We’re still planning to have an event to celebrate our 2020 and 2021 Bony Blithe Award winners as well as Bony Blithe’s 10th birthday, but we still don’t know when. We’re hoping for this October/November or alternately sometime in spring 2022. It all depends on what Ontario Public Health rules about group gatherings. Considering that many of us are at “that certain age” and the rest of us would like to get there, we will be limiting attendance to people who have been fully vaccinated. Stay tuned for more information on our FB page or www.bonyblithe.com.
End of an Era
Bony Blithe is retiring. We’ve had a great run over the past 10 years, but now it’s time for our bony lass to rest her weary bones. We’d like to thank all the publishers and authors who’ve made the Bony Blithe Light mystery award the huge success it has been and who’ve given us so many delightful books to make us smile.
While we will no longer have an annual award and mini-con, we still want to pay homage to our wonderful Canuck light mystery authors, so watch for Bare Bones, the new and exciting Bony Blithe Light Mystery newsletter, coming soon.
LOOKING AHEAD
When Words Collide August 13-15, 2021
The multi-genre conference, When Words Collide, is being held on Zoom from August 12-15th
o Panelists will include several Mesdames. Confirmed so far: Jayne Barnard and M. H. Callway.
o Registration is free, no cap on numbers but attendees must register beforehand
o This popular conference is an excellent way for authors to learn new writing tools and marketing strategies and to explore other genres. Lots of social events and readings, too.
Madona Skaff is delighted to announce that the cover reveal for her new SF novel,Shifting Trust, will be this Saturday, May 29th at 7 p.m. (EST). Just a side note: the cover art was created by her very talented daughter! There’ll be readings as well as the world premiere of the exciting book trailer! Oh, and there’ll be door prizes!
Here’s the link for the Facebook event. Don’t forget to also register on Eventbrite.
In “Days Without Name”,Sylvia Maultash Warsh offers us a glimpse into her classic yet subtle understanding of the human condition. This exceptional tale, set in the heart of the Mayan jungle, was featured in A Grave Diagnosis (Carrick Publishing, 2020) and is a finalist for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Best Short Story Award.
It’s easy to see why the judges were drawn to “Days Without Name.” Sylvia‘s readers will recognize her lyrical insight:
“Lou opened her mouth but nothing came out. Here it was, the paradox of the human heart. Love and malice in the same breath.”
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, “Days Without Name”, A Grave Diagnosis
Her stories have been featured in six of our Carrick Publishing anthologies produced since 2012, including: A Grave Diagnosis, Starship Goodwords, the Mesdames of Mayhem series, Thirteen, 13 O’Clock, 13 Claws and In theKey of 13. Her story “The Emerald Skull” (Thirteen, Carrick Publishing 2013) was nominated for the CWC Best Short Story Award in 2014.
Sylvia is the author of the Dr. Rebecca Temple series. To Die in Spring, Find Me Again and Season of Iron were all winners or finalists for prominent Awards. Project Bookmark Canada chose The Queen of Unforgetting, an historical novel, for a plaque installation in Little Lake Park in Midland, Ontario. Her novella, Best Girl, came out in 2012.
Donna Carrick
Carrick Publishing is the publisher of A Grave Diagnosis, as well as the Mesdames of Mayhem series of anthologies.
Mesdames of Mayhem 