I'm Canadian by J. S. Marlo

  

Undeniable Trait

is available now!

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J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

As many of you know, I'm a Canadian author. I love my four seasons. I can't imagine living without snow in the winter, but I'll admit I could live without the excessive heat and mosquitoes in the summer.

When it comes to set my stories, I favour fall or winter in Canada. I've lived or spent lots of time in 9 of our 10 provinces (the 10th one and the 3 territories are on my bucket list, but I know people who live/lived there), so the possibilities are endless when it comes to choose a setting that I'm familiar with. I also like to add that Canadian vibe to my book covers when I can.

My latest novel takes place in Ojibson, a fictional small town in northern Ontario. Many people don't realise how large Ontario is until they drive from Ottawa to the Manitoba/Ontario border. That's roughly 2000 km (1250 miles) along the northern shores of the great lakes and through magnificent forests where you drive by some towns and many villages that are far and few between. Some services are limited, many are only available hours away, and snow storms can wreak havoc with driving anywhere.

This is the setting I chose for my latest novel "Undeniable Trait". There's a rural hospital where the old town doctor had buried secrets. For years after his death, temporary doctors (in my neck of the woods, we call them fly-in fly-out doctors) had come to provide services, but they'd only stayed for days or weeks at a time, none of them settling down. Everything changes the day Dr. Zachary arrives in Ojibson. For reason he won't share until later in the novel, Zachary is looking for a place to settle down and start afresh. The residents are thrilled, but when Zachary starts digging out his predecessor's old files, he inadvertently stumbles onto secrets worth killing or dying for.

Personally I think the only way for two people to keep a secret is for one of them to be dead. And the only way to prevent someone from digging up a secret is to destroy it, not bury it. Eventually, it will rise to the surface and someone will talk, but hey, I'm just the writer. The old doctor didn't ask for my opinion.

When I send my suggestions for a book cover, I try to come up with a visual clue that will tell my readers where my story takes place.

In "Undeniable Trait", it's the money in the six-fingered hand. This isn't colourful Monopoly money. These are real Canadian bills. That's the "Canadian" clue.

In "Voted Out", it's the ball in the middle of the compass pointing toward VOTE. It depicts the Canadian flag.

Enjoy Fall & Happy Reading!

J. S. 

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website