Page 233

I was happy to discover that I am not the only mystery writer in the Windsor-Essex area. The other week I visited a new bookstore in Amherstburg, Ontario run by writer John Schlarbaum. Page 233 is a house converted to a bookstore at 233 Dalhousie Street across from a waterfront park.
Co-owned by local authors John Schlarbaum and Kevin Jarvis, along with Kevin’s wife Jessica, they offer a variety of book genres from best sellers to new releases and such topics as romance, fiction, biography, business, mystery, fantasy as well as children’s books.
Page 233 is an inviting, homey bookstore with a wide variety of books including John Schlarbaum’s own Barry Jones’ Cold Dinner and the recently published When Angels Fail to Fly, both feature the private investigator Steve Cassidy.
In Barry Jones’ Cold Dinner, Cassidy is hired by Global Insurance to take a fresh look ata cold case, where Cassidy must try to uncover new clues to Jones’ disappearance. However, with the court date looming, there is precious little time to complete his investigation. Steve Cassidy, a disgraced ex-cop with a broken soul, had his work cut out for him. He knew this time around, he had one final shot at redemption, and could blame no one but himself if he failed to solve his first big case.

In When Angels Fail to Fly mysterious events happen to Steve Cassidy’s loved ones, the police, the press and even his friends begin to question his every move. To complicate his life further, a cryptic telephone call begins a new investigation into the bizarre death of a woman keeping a secret. With his life in shambles and warrants being issued in his name, a road trip may hold the key to maintaining his sanity. Regrettably, trouble has a way of finding Steve Cassidy.

Bloody Words

The Bloody Words mystery writer's conference was May 28-30, and was held at the Hilton in Toronto this year.
Bloody Words is Canada's oldest and largest gathering of mystery readers and authors.
Founded in 1999, the conference has become the late Spring event for people who enjoy genre conventions.
Whether you're a Mystery Reader or Writer, published or unpublished, whether you're into humorous mysteries or the darkest of psychological noir, you'll always have lots to see and do at Canada's biggest annual mystery event.

There were panels covering everything from first novels to the latest in forensics, The Mystery Café with a dozen authors from across Canada and beyond reading from and discussing their books, and workshops to help hone your writing skills. Friday night was the 10th anniversary party and Saturday evening was The Hammett Awards.

This would be my first time attending Bloody Words. The Bloody Words conference began Friday evening. There was a very nice reception with finger foods and I got a chance to meet some great and interesting people. Later, there were some authors who spoke in different rooms, some good, some not-so-good.

About 9:30 Saturday morning I had this ‘speed dating’ thing where I and another author sat at a table with about six people and we had about three and a half minutes to pitch our books to them. The woman I was teamed up with was an older woman from the east coast who wrote a book called ‘The Revenge of the Lobster Lover’, and she brought this big rubber lobster with a little magnifying glass to the table. She said it was her muse. I told everyone else that I had brought no crustaceans. She had no time filling her time. I spoke for about a minute. I sometimes find it hard to talk about my work. After six minutes we moved to another table and did the same thing to another group of people. My pitch got better as I went. It was fun.

After I attended some panels and listened to more authors read and talk about their work, I sat on a historical panel with four women. I was almost late for the panel. They had to come and find me. It was a good panel and I had fun. Everyone was given a chance to comment on all the questions. I passed on a question, but only once. Like the speed-dating this was an opportunity to make an impression on the good-size group in the room. The panel was about an hour but it went by very quickly.

It was a great weekend with lots to do and see. Next year Bloody Words will be held in Victoria, B.C. I am not certain I can make that one, but it would be fantastic!

Thank you!
Recently I was fortunate to be featured in not one but two local magazines. Everyone out there knows how important promotion is to not only writers and artists but anyone who is trying to put their name or work out there where people can see it. Some of us cannot rely on word-of-mouth, so we need all the exposure we can get.
I would like to personally thank Dick Hildebrand for his flattering article in the May edition of Windsor Life Magazine. The first time I spoke with Dick was by telephone and we talked for over an hour (which is quite a bit for those who know me). He’s got this great radio announcer’s voice and was very friendly. I think I learned as much about Dick and his career as he did about mine. A week later Dick came by the house (unannounced) and the picture he took for the article was from my backyard.
I would also like to thank Marlene Markham-Gay for the article she did on me for the May edition of Biz X Magazine. I never did get to meet Marlene as the entire exchange of information was by email.
I would hope the many people would have access to such accommodating people as I’ve encountered lately. It is always nice to feel appreciated in one’s hometown.
Please check out these magazines online. The article in Windsor Life Magazine is on pages 87 & 88, while the article in Biz X Magazine is on page 48.
http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?m=1034&l=1
http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/Windsor-Life/windsor_life_may_june/2010043001/

The Latest

Things have been busy since I have neglected this blog. I don't know why I stopped. I guess I am just not the blogging type, but I thought it was best to get back.

I just created a new website; http://stephengaspar.webstarts.com/index.html
Check it out if you get the chance.

I also updated a very sad-looking facebook page.

Just to let you know, next month two local magazines – Biz X Magazine and Windsor Life Magazine – will be carrying a story about me and To Know Evil. I am anxious to see how they turn out. I hope they can generate a few sales.

Also next month I will be attending Bloody Words in Toronto. It is an annual mystery conference and will be held at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Toronto.
Bloody Words is Canada's oldest and largest gathering of mystery readers and authors. Founded in 1999, the conference has become the late Spring event for people who enjoy genre conventions.Whether you're a Mystery Reader or Writer, published or unpublished, whether you're into humorous mysteries or the darkest of psychological noir, you'll always have lots to see and do at Canada's biggest annual mystery event. It will be attended by a number of great mystery writers such as Giles Blunt, Linwood Barclay, and this years international guest of honour, Deon Meyer.

The Road to Bouchercon (and back again)

The 40th Annual World Mystery Convention, Bouchercon, held in Indianspolis in the middle of October was my first. The Bouchercon (named after mystery writer Anthony Boucher) allows mystery writers and mystery readers to come together for five days.
The six hour drive with my wife and her sister from Windsor to Indianapolis was pleasant and peacefully uneventful. The trees in Michigan and Indiana were glowing with intense reds and orange.
The three of us stayed at the very comfortable Westin near the Hyatt, and we found the people of Indianapolis very friendly and helpful.
This year’s Bouchercon boasted of literally hundreds of mystery writers and almost as many fans. It reminded me of Wordsworth’s great verse:
Writers, writers everywhere,
And all of them did speak.
Writers, writers everywhere,
And I could use a drink.
All joking aside, attending Bouchercon was an incredible experience, with such authors as, Louise Penny, William Kent Kruger, Sean Chercover, and this year’s guest of honour Michael Connelly. To have that much talent and experience in one place was both inspiring and daunting.
There were enough panels to satisfy every subgenre; supernatural mysteries, detective stories past and present, southern writers, Irish writers, Canadian writers, series and stand-alone mysteries, and a veritable plethora of others.
One of the things I found interesting (and comforting) was to hear the tragically humourous tales of authors and their ofttimes dismal turnouts at their booksignings I know I have had many of those.
Saturday night saw the Anthony Awards, and Sunday morning fans stood in a long line for a chance to get free signed copies of books from their favourite writers.
Next year it’s Bouchercon by the Bay, in San Francisco, California. (Now that would be a long drive!)

Hard-Boiled Roman Detective
One cannot love stories without loving to read, for that is where stories are at their best. Not on the movie or TV screen, but only on the printed page where dialogue and description are there as the writer intended, but still allow for the individual reader to interpret the words as they see fit. One must read, and read a wide variety of subjects and authors, for each one has something to offer, if nothing else to help the reader decide what subject or author they do NOT like.
As a young man I loved to read; everything from comic books to short stories, poems and novels. Though I grew up in the TV age – I enjoyed watching television, and still do– both my parents were avid readers and I suppose I inherited my love of reading from them. It was not unusual for me, however, to discover great detective stories through the medium of television.
In the early 1970s I was watching TVOs Saturday Night at the Movies - with no commercials - and they showed ‘Murder My Sweet’, 1944, starring Dick Powell, based on a hard-boiled detective novel by Raymond Chandler. It was a good movie and I never forgot it. Years later I would come to appreciate Humphry Bogart in Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’, published 1932, the film 1946 and Bogart again in Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’, published 1930, the film 1941. Eventually I would come to read these novels that were first introduced to me through the movies.
There was something about the hard-boiled detective that appealed to me. Maybe it was his moodiness–I have been told I can be moody– maybe it was his unconventional attitude and rough edges– I have been told... let’s just say I felt an affinity for these characters and could appreciate their nature.
I was sitting in church one Easter Sunday listening to the Passion, and as I heard the familiar story I started to imagine if, after Christ’s Resurrection, had the Romans- who were occupying Jerusalem at the time - heard the story circulating about the city of a crucified Jew who had risen from his tomb? And if the Roman authorities did hear these accounts, would they send someone to look into it? And if they sent someone, who would they send, and how would he go about it? And most importantly; what would he be like?
This was the germ of an idea that culminated into a ‘The Case of the Empty Tomb’.
As I began to work out the main character, I saw him as the hard-boiled detective of the 1930s and 40s.
To write this story I would, naturally, try to keep it as accurate as possible. I used numerous sources for my research, including The Bible. As I read Sacred Scripture, some of it for the first time - something I am not proud to admit as a Catholic - I saw how there was a ready-made detective story with conspiracies, mysterious women, plots, counterplots, suspicious characters, political intrigue and religious mysticism.
Many of the characters in The Case of the Empty Tomb are real and it did not seem to take much effort to bring them life. Indeed, there were times when it felt as if someone else was assisting me in writing this book.
I chose to tell the story in the first person which is in keeping with the hard-boiled detective genre. By having the main character, Claudius Maximus, tell the story we learn something of his character from his narration. The book begins with a very strong Chandleresque monologue:
"I hated the desert. I hated the heat, and the sand, and the dust. I hated everything about it."
This was not the original opening paragraph I had written. This opening was written when I had almost completed the second or third draft. It was only then did I get a feel for my main character, and I wanted the reader to see immediately what type of person was telling the story.
I wanted my central character, Claudius Maximus, to resemble the typical hard-boiled detective, tough and unsentimental. He drinks too much and barely has a friend in all Jerusalem, a city which he abhors almost as much as it inhabitants.
To make Maximus as miserable as possible I located him in a place where he did not wish to be, and longing for home where he was not longer welcome.
With a character such as Claudius Maximus it is important to know something of his background, but I do not like to give too much all at once. I like to keep certain elements of his background a secret. This was quite easy since I myself did not know much of his background. Very seldom do I bother to write character outlines or backstories. Most of my characters develop as I write. During the story the reader will see that I drop subtle hints about his past. Early on Maximus relates the rumours circulated about the city regarding why he was banished from Rome and sent to Jerusalem.
"I cannot say that I truly objected to any of these stories. None of them was as bad as the truth."
In The Case of the Empty Tomb, Maximus is given the duty of looking into a rumour circulating about Jerusalem regarding a recently crucified Jew who is missing from the tomb where he was interred.
In his search for the truth regarding the missing messiah, Maximus encounters hostility from his fellow Romans, (he is even badly beaten while in the state of inebriation), he endures threats from high officials such as Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas. He even has to endure insults from Joseph Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest.
Despite all this, Maximus presses on out of a sense of duty, and a strong desire for the truth. These are the very reasons why we will always appreciate the hard-boiled detective.

Books, Books and More Books

I like going into bookstores. I have to admit to ordering books over the internet, but only when I could not find them in bookstores. I prefer to hold a book in my hand, read the blurbs on the back, skim through (never to the end!) and generally see how it is layed out. More than that, I appreciate the atmosphere of a nice bookstore, the way it is arranged, the lighting and ambiance. It is guaranteed that you can always run find someone who is in-to books, someone who likes to talk books and authors and storylines.
This past week my wife Susan and I made a little pilgrimage and visited three Canadian mystery bookstores.
The first was The Sleuth of Baker Street in Toronto on Bayview near Yonge Street. There we met with Marian Misters who was very helpful. Susan was taken with the ladder that slides on rollers along the tall, packed bookcases. I liked Sir Percival, a very big poodle who seemed to lay around a good deal. I can also recommend subscribing to their newsletter, The Merchant of Menace.

Next it was on to the nation’s capital, Ottawa where we dropped on at Prime Crime Mystery Bookstore on Bank Street. It is a nice, cozy long shop that draws you in, with big, comfortable chairs at the back, a coffin-shaped bookcase, and it is the only bookstore I’ve been to that has a skeleton in the window. Their slogan is, We’re dying to meet you.
The last stop on our pilgrimage was historic Kingston and As the Plot Thickens on Brock Street. Unfortunately Brian Fenlon was out, but we did get a opportunity to speak with Ann Stevens who is as friendly as anyone from the East Coast. This shop has all the accoutrements of the perfect mystery bookstore; lovely hardwood floors, custom-made bookcases, fireplace, soft lighting and comfy chairs. Maybe its most notable feature was that the cashier’s table was an antique bar with foot rail.
While in Kingston, I attended the Scene of the Crime, the annual festival for mystery fans held on Wolfe Island.
Saturday, August 15, was a beautiful morning for crossing the St. Lawrence River to Wolfe Island. The ferry ride from Kingston is free, and it was my first trip to the island. Giant windmills stood like techno sentinels along the island. These slow-turning guardians of the Green movement generate much needed power but look so out of place in such a setting.
This was the 10th annual Scene of the Crime festival, and the Grant Allen Award, named for the man who is a pioneer in Canadian crime writing and was born on the Wolfe Island in 1848.
Among the great list of Canadian mystery writers were, Peter Robinson, this year’s Grant Allen Award winner, Rick Blechta, Barbara Fradkin, David Rotenberg, and Vicki Delany. Needless to say there were plenty of books for sale.
As rewarding as it was meeting and talking to these writers and hearing them read their work, was meeting the great mystery fans who attend the festival. These are the people who love to read mysteries and revel in thinking about crime. Better to only think about it than to do it, I say.