2018 has been a busy… and very interesting… year. Among the early highlights was a trip to Toronto in the spring for the Red Maple Awards, a wonderful Readers’ Choice Book Awards program run by members of the Ontario Library Association. Students from all over Ontario vote for their favourite books in several categories. My teen novel, And Then the Sky Exploded, was a Red Maple nominee (targeting the grades six to none) which meant I was in Toronto for the awards gala at Toronto’s Harbourfront area and did a number of presentations in schools in and around the GTA. (and special thanks to long-time friend and brilliant hockey mind, Steve Lansky, for serving as the best tour guide on the planet for my first-ever visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Red Maple trip was actually my second time in southern Ontario in just a few months. I had been in Toronto earlier for the Bouchercon Crime Writing Conference and met crime writers and readers from all over the globe in my first association with an International Association of that magnitude. I served on a couple of panels, chaired another and thoroughly enjoyed the week and learned so much from my fellow writers of crime fiction.
I wrapped up my tenure on the board of the Crime Writers of Canada during 2018. One of my final duties as a board member was to organize an evening in Calgary during which we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the founding of the CWC. The event was very special for me personally in that I got to interview one of my literary heroes—the amazing William Deverell from British Columbia—loads of laughs, some delightful Deverell stories and a terrific turnout at Owls Nest for what was such a fun night. And speaking or writers I admire, I was honoured to represent the CWC in presenting Gail Bowen with the Crime Writers Canada Grand Master Award to commemorate her life-time achievements in crime-writing, most notably the brilliant Joanne Kilbourn series. Barb and I spent a wonderful afternoon in Gail’s home in Regina with Gail and her husband Ted. It truly was one of the highlights of the year.
And, on a more personal note, the May launch of Last Song Sung, the third book in the Cullen and Cobb mysteries was special indeed. The launch was held at Parm Restaurant on 1st Street West in Calgary, just south of downtown. The basement of the building where we had the launch was once the home of The Depression, Calgary’s first coffee-house and the venue in which Joanie Mitchell, The Irish Rovers and others launched their careers. It is also the locale for the opening scene in Last Song Sung, as a young folksinger is kidnapped in the alley behind the club during a break between sets in 1965. Years later, actually a half century later, the granddaughter of the folksinger, who was never heard from again, hires Cullen and Cobb to find out what happened to the grandmother she never met.
And now as 2018 winds down, the countdown begins to the advent of Book Four of Cullen and Cobb—None So Deadly. It will arrive in May and you’ll want to stay tuned as we are planning a number of exciting events between now and the release date. Prizes, surprises and announcements that you won’t want to miss. Who knew murder could be this much fun?? In the meantime I wish you and those close to you the very best of the holiday season and a spectacular 2019.
