My Writerly Weekend

My early June writerly weekend began with a fabulous reading by Anthony Bidulka from his newly released murder mystery, Livingsky, at Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop on Church Street. Tony was in town promoting his new book at Glad Day's Queer Noir at the Bar event. I was fortunate to get a copy of the novel before the store ran out. Author of the long-running Russell Quant series, Tony is a hot ticket these days after winning Crime Writers of Canada's Best Novel Award last month for Going to Beautiful. He writes traditional mysteries in untraditional ways, featuring under-represented settings (such as his home province, Saskatchewan) and characters.

Ed and Rosemary with Tony Bidulka (foreground) at Glad Day Bookshop.

Spent a lovely Sunday selling my books and reading from my work-in-progress at the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival at Harbourfront Centre. I also managed to catch a talk by prolific British novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz on ghostwriting three James Bond novels. A number of other writers, including Jeffery Deaver and Kingsley Amis, have been assigned by Ian Fleming's estate to pen 007 novels since the author's 1964 passing, but Horowitz is the first to be given Fleming's unpublished material to work with. Not surprisingly, Horowitz is a big Bond fan. "Having original, unpublished material was been an inspiration. How could I refuse?"

At Crime Writers of Canada's book tent at MOTIVE.

It's Word on the Street time of year!

This coming Saturday and Sunday, May 27-28, Word on the Street returns to Toronto. Author Caro Soles will be hosting her fellow Mesdames of Mayhem at her table. You can find us at Queen's Park Crescent, Booth 22A, not far from the Queen's Park subway station.

I'll be there on Sunday May 28 only--from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The schedule for the other participating Mesdames and Monsieur is listed on the poster above.

There will be outdoor authors' and publishers' book sale tables, and readings on stage. Check out the entire program at the WOTS website.

See you there!

The way we were: Our table in 2022, Rosemary on the left, Blair Keetch in the middle, Caro Soles on the right.

NOIR, an evening on the Dark Side

Delighted to announce that I will be reading at Noir at the Bar Toronto on Thursday April 27. Along with five fellow crime writers: Andrew Daley, Madeleine Harris-Callway, D.J. McIntosh, Howard Shrier and Katherine Walker.

The bar in question? The Duke of Kent Pub, 2315 Yonge Street. Show time is 7 p.m.

So what is noir all about? Well, in noir—or dark—fiction and film, the main characters want better things for themselves, but they keep making the wrong choices. Just like in real life, come to think of it.

I've only recently considered myself a noir writer. In my Pat Tierney mysteries, light generally triumphs over darkness, and good wins out…for most of the characters.

But then I came up with a story titled “In from the Cold,” which was included in Crime Writers of Canada’s 2022 Cold Canadian Crime collection. Its protagonist, Helen, doesn’t set out to be bad, but her lust for a better life drives her to make a few terrible choices.

And I now realize that I enjoy lurking on the Dark Side.

Rob Brunet began hosting Toronto N@B events about 10 years ago, and he now co-hosts with writer Hope Thompson. The April event will be their first of 2023.

See you in three weeks at the Duke of Kent!