Diary of a SARS Quarantine
In 2003, I was quarantined for SARS, and wrote a funny story about it. I’m thinking we could all use a laugh right now, so I am publishing my short memoir on this blog, raw and unedited. Day 1 The Phone Call Have had hectic day. With four children between the ages of 2 and…
River of Lies By R.M. Greenaway
The dead bodies are dropping fast and furious in this latest novel in the B.C. Blues Crime series by the talented R.M. Greenaway. If you are looking for dull moments, pick up another book. In the first few pages of River of Lies, a young woman is murdered in a parking lot on her way…
The Starr Sting Scale – Book Launch
What a great party last Thursday launching my new novel, The Starr Sting Scale, first in the Candace Starr crime series. Guest readers, Killer Cupcakes and an awesome crowd at the eBar in Guelph. Thanks to all for coming out on a cold winter night for a hot new read. A tough, deadly type who…
Searching for a Hitwoman
When I set out to write an article about famous hitwomen from history, I didn’t think I’d have such a hard time finding any. When I googled it, I ended up with a lot of grainy black and white photos of dour women who poisoned people they didn’t like. Legend has it that Lucrezia of…
I Choose You by Gayle Curtis
“Mental illness is sickness of the mind caused by the constant overwhelming battle one has with one’s essence, beliefs and purpose.” (I Choose You, p. 235) If this is the definition of mental illness, then the only sane person in the novel, I Choose You, is the serial killer (ironically the one responsible for this…
Last Request by Liz Mistry
Liz Mistry has a new fan. I was already a hard-core devotee of Tartan Noir via Denise Mina (interviewed here at She Kills Lit), but after reading Liz Mistry’s Last Request set in West Yorkshire, I have a whole new geographic subgenre to savour. I’m going to call it Tweed Noir, crime fiction guaranteed to…
The Starr Sting Scale – Official Book Trailer
It’s book trailer time! Hard to believe that the first book in the Candace Starr series is due out in only a few months. One of my favourite reviews so far calls it “Witty, irreverent, nasty, unrelenting dark crime fiction… At six foot three, Candace Starr is more woman than most men can handle.” I…
Darlington by Tripsy South
“Sometimes it was just best to shut the f*** up and let the wisdom flow over you.” – (p. 217) Such was the approach I attempted to take while reading Darlington. This novel is a sort of Kerouac-like stream of consciousness that follows a few months in the life of Tommy Darlington – a part-time…
Petra’s Ghost a Semi-finalist in Goodreads Choice Awards 2019
I must admit, I almost had a coronary today when I saw that my novel, Petra’s Ghost was voted into the semi-finalist nominee round for Horror in the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2019. There weren’t a lot of ladies on the original list of authors and I am so grateful to the readers who went…
Bunny by Mona Awad
It is tough to nail down the genre of Bunny, A Novel by Mona Awad. Is it noir? Horror? Crime fiction? Is it an acid flashback from that tab you dropped stupidly in college? Or maybe we will just call it Literary, the great catch-all for all exceptionally well-written works that often defy description. Whatever…