Cottage country celebrity!

Intrepid reporter Chad Ingram of The Minden Times has a lovely article on Black Water and myself in this week’s issue, which came out today.

The snowmobile that Chad Ingram mentions in his article in The Minden Times.

He notes that in Black Water,  “McCracken uses the beauty of the Glencoe Highlands – inspired by the Haliburton Highlands – to contrast the dark, violent elements of the story…the setting is composed of different elements of the Highlands. The fictional town of Braeloch (its name taken from the road in Algonquin Highlands), while located on a lake, is based on Minden, where McCracken does her shopping and gets her hair cut while living at her Saskatchewan Lake cottage. The Catholic church in the book is based on St. Patrick’s in Kinmount and the parts of the book where characters are snowmobiling on a chain of frozen lakes was inspired by the long kayak trips McCracken takes near her cottage.”

Read the entire article here.

The Minden Times is a great little newspaper.  It keeps me up to date on what’s going on in the beautiful Haliburton Highlands when I’m bogged down with work in Toronto. And the coverage it’s given Safe Harbor and now Black Water…well, that’s the icing on the cake!

#ChadIngram #HaliburtonHighlands #BlackWater #MindenTimes #cottagecountry

Villains you love to hate

Diane joins me on Moving Target today from her home in Trinity, Texas, to tell us about Cynthia, one of the villains in the new book. Like all good fiction writers, Diane knows that an antagonist needs to be a memorable character – second only in importance to the hero or heroine. Think of Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter’s nemesis in the Harry Potter books. And Hans Gruber, the really bad guy played by Alan Rickman in the movie Die Hard.

Over to you, Diane.

Authors spend most of their time crafting delightful heroes and

Meet Cynthia. She’s Steven’s ex-wife and shows up at Kayla and Steven’s wedding on the arm of his old chum, Phillip. Cynthia looks like she stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine, sporting styled platinum hair, a perfect figure, an expensive tailored jacket and a tight skirt. She struts up the gangway in five-inch designer heels. She’s not what Kayla envisioned as Steven’s ex. Bright green eyes riveted on Steven, she looks like a predator. Flashing a large diamond ring, she thrusts a manicured hand towards Steven like a queen expecting her subject to bow. 

If entertaining wedding guests while guarding six “million-dollar” paintings wasn’t enough stress, Steven and Kayla must dodge this slinky bombshell. Steven wonders what devious plan Cynthia has in mind, but Kayla is convinced she wants to ensnare Steven. 

As the ship makes its way through icy waters, truth lies hidden from plain view, much like the treacherous underwater portion of a dangerous iceberg. Greed, jealousy and envy are all potent motives for murder. Will Cynthia be a villain you love to hate?

Diane provides us with a snapshot of Murder for Glacier Blue:

Painted in 1907, Glacier Blue is an oil painting that has recently been appraised at £2 million. Reginald C. Pierpont, the artist who created the stunning masterpiece, studied with the Impressionists in Europe and the bold visionaries who were painting in the Americas. The sole heir to a family fortune, Reggie used his vast holdings and leisure time to experiment with new techniques and daring artistic ideas. Although Glacier Blue failed to turn heads during his lifetime, Reggie’s special painting technique triggers larcenous schemes among modern crooks.

Genuine Fakes, an auction company that sells “authorized copies” of famous paintings, has scheduled six charity auctions of fakes on a cruise to Alaska. Million-dollar originals will be displayed next to the Genuine Fakes at each auction—six opportunities for international thieves to steal a valuable piece of art. Emily Schultz, president of Constellation Cruise Line, needs her crack security team in place to guard the paintings. 

After an early auction, one of the reproductions is stolen from the buyer’s cabin, prompting a discreet search for the missing canvas. The stakes rise when a crew member finds a body next to the missing reproduction, and the investigation suddenly takes a deadly turn. As they learn more about the Glacier Blue original, the investigators realize this is no ordinary work of art. The painting’s secret has already triggered one murder, and it becomes easier to kill again.   

Emily has given Kayla and Steven a free cruise to Alaska as a wedding present, but she begs them to work for a few days on this voyage. They’d hoped for a relaxing cruise up the Inside Passage of Alaska, filled with glaciers, wildlife, stunning scenery, and a dream wedding on Glacier Bay, but art heists and murder might alter their plans. When Steven’s ex-wife, Cynthia, shows up on the arm of Steven’s school chum, Kayla experiences hate at first sight. The young couple must entertain their future in-laws while trying to outsmart murderous outlaws. What will Kayla and Steven’s special day be like on Glacier Bay?

Thank you, Diane!

You can purchase the Murder for Glacier Blue e-book on Amazon. Amazon Prime members can borrow it for free. Print copies will be offered by many online retailers, and Diane is planning a contest on Goodreads to award free print copies. Visit Diane’s QuickSilver Novels website to learn more about other novels and send her an e-mail to sign up for notices about new books.

And on her Goodreads page.

Follow Diane on Twitter @DianeRapp

(To the left, is a photo of one of the friends Diane made on her recent Alaska cruise.)

#DianeRapp #MurderforGlacierBlue #mystery

Great new review of BLACK WATER!

Investment Executive, Canada’s trade newspaper for the investment industry (read by people like Pat Tierney), reviewed BLACK WATER today — just in time for the August long weekend. Grant McIntyre says, “Rosemary McCracken keeps the pot boiling with sparkling dialogue, suspenseful confrontations and lots of action.”

Here’s the entire review:

Summer reading: A gripping made-for-advisors thriller

If you’re looking for an entertaining summer read that doesn’t stray too far from familiar territory, look no further than Black Water, the new mystery thriller by Rosemary McCracken.

Black Water’s main character, Pat Tierney is a Bay Street financial advisor with a knack for wading into criminal conspiracies — and solving them. Tierney was the heroine of McCracken’s first novel, Safe Harbor, published a year ago to critical acclaim.

In this instalment, Tierney, a middle-aged single mother of three, is tasked with overseeing the opening of her dealer’s new branch in the fictitious town of Braeloch, in cottage country north of Toronto. Around the same time, Tierney’s gay daughter’s partner, Jamie, becomes a person of interest in the suspicious death of a local Braeloch resident. To make matters worse, Jamie has gone missing.

So, Tierney has her work cut out for her: manage the branch opening, find her daughter’s missing partner and, while she’s at it, solve a murder — all while trying to manage child care and a healthy menu for her family.

Complicating Tierney’s life further are a past case of embezzlement of client funds and a local marijuana grow-op, which is attracting the attention of some menacing bikers.

McCracken has packed a lot into a little over 200 pages. The story’s multiple plots interlock like a well-crafted puzzle. And a densely populated dramatis personae is bristling with memorable characters: a spunky, progressive-minded nun who makes condoms available at a youth meeting; a successful female bank economist who’s in a May/December relationship with a young artist; and an enthusiastic junior advisor nicknamed “Soupy,” who plays in a band and drives a Porsche he can hardly afford — to name just a few.

As a bonus, McCracken’s attention to detail has given Black Water a soundtrack, of sorts. No CD inserted into a car stereo goes unidentified, and each selection corresponds with the story in its own way. This book’s playlist would include works by Vivaldi, the Tragically Hip and k.d. lang. And, if you include covers performed by Soupy’s garage band: Bob Marley and the Wailers and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

But all this colour would mean nothing without a compelling story. McCracken keeps the pot boiling with sparkling dialogue, suspenseful confrontations and lots of action: a nerve-racking snowmobile stunt, frightening gunplay and an innovative way to make use of a frozen leg of lamb.

A former staffer with Investment Executive and an occasional contributor, McCracken has crafted a story that will resonate with financial advisors and general readers alike. McCracken writes about what she knows. And that includes the financial advisory business, but also the picturesque lakes, rocky terrain, unpredictable early-spring weather and sometimes quirky characters of Central Ontario. And she knows human nature: McCracken’s protagonist is driven by a mother’s protective love and a professional’s moral conviction. Good qualities for a solver of crimes and a financial advisor.