Killing It With Style!

Looking forward to moderating Crime Writers of Canada’s Killing It With Style panel on Tuesday Dec. 12. I’ll be joined by four fellow crime fiction writers at Toronto Reference Library, who will share their insights on crafting their criminous tales:

• Jass Aujla is the author of Next of Twin, which was released this year. Jass’s protagonist, Riah Arora, is a con artist who makes her living robbing marks. When she finds the identical twin sister she was separated from at birth, she plans one last, lucrative con.

• T. Lawrence Davis's first crime novel, The Pale Horse, features an amateur sleuth who strives to clear a friend's name in a murder investigation, while his wife, the detective leading the police investigation, tries to build a case against her. The Pale Horse was a finalist in Crime Writers of Canada’s Best Crime First Novel competition this year.

• Madeleine Harris-Callway is a veteran crime writer who frequently walks on the dark side. She’s the author of numerous works of short crime fiction, many of them noir tales. Three of the stories in her new collection, Snake Oil and Other Tales, were finalists for CWC’s awards of excellence.

• Kris Purdy’s debut crime novel Paradise Pending was released this year. When its protagonist Jo Gasperi is invited to speak at a conference in Spain, she and her partner Dani look forward to a much-needed vacation abroad. But when Jo is taken to a hospital with chest pains, their dream vacation turns into a nightmare.

Hoping to see a great turnout of crime fiction fans and writers on Dec. 12! Toronto Reference Library is at 789 Yonge Street, a short walk from the Bloor-Yonge subway station. Our show begins at 6:30 p.m.

My 3 favourite reads of the year!

A few weeks ago, Ben Fox, a book lover with a mission to help authors meet more readers, asked me to post my three favourite reads of the year on his website, www.shepherd.com. Given that were still 12 weeks of good reading left in 2023 at the time, I came up with three books by three outstanding Canadian crime fiction writers: the late Peter Robinson, Maureen Jennings and Anthony Bidulka. All released this year.

Check out what I said about Standing in the Shadows, Cold Snap and Livingsky in my Shepherd post, which was published today.

Thank you, Ben, for all your efforts in bringing books to the attention of readers around the world!

'One of Us'

Photo, left to right: Johnny Eck, as the Half-Boy, and Angelo Rossitto.

It’s the end of October, deep into the witching season, a time of the year when my husband Ed watches horror films. Last night, he put on Freaks, the 1932 MGM horror drama directed by Tod Browning.

Intended to capitalize on the success of the talking monster movies being released by other studios, Freaks takes audiences into the world of circus sideshows peopled by dwarfs, Siamese twins, half-boys, bearded ladies, skeleton men and pinheads.

Freaks is a horror film, not because of its focus on carnival freak shows, but because of the disturbing story it tells about how disabled people are seen and treated. The intolerance and bigotry of the tale’s able-bodied characters is the real shocker. When conniving trapeze artist Cleo (Olga Baclanova) learns that circus midget Hans (Harry Earles) has come into an inheritance, she marries him, planning to kill him and inherit his fortune. Hans’ friends band together, and carry out a brutal revenge that leaves Cleo knowing what it means to be “one of us.”

As the story unfolds, the differences between the disabled and able-bodied members of the circus troupe blur. The disabled characters have formed a strong community, and are leading productive lives. It’s the so-called “normal” people who have the serious problems.

When the film was shot in Los Angeles in 1931, some MGM employees felt uncomfortable in the presence of the actors portraying the “freaks.” The disabled performers were barred from eating at the studio canteen and relegated to a special tent.

Freaks’ cast includes Angelo Rossitto, one of Hollywood’s busiest “small” actors who first appeared in silent movies with Lon Chaney and John Barrymore; Harry Earles, a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz; and Johnny Eck as the troupe’s Half-Boy. Eck was born with a birth defect that left him with underdeveloped legs and he walked on his hands. He performed in vaudeville in the 1920s and 1930s with his twin brother, Robert.

Columnist Louella Parsons gave Freaks her stamp of approval, but many critics considered it an exploitation of performers with physical disabilities. It was banned for three decades soon after its release, until it was revived by the counterculture in the 1960s as a cult classic.

Freaks is now seen as a compassionate film that embraces diversity.