Shall We Dance?

 

                                                   more about my books here!

I was delighted when this image was chosen for the cover of my latest novel from BWL because of the dynamic dancing feet of a Cherokee Fancy Shawl dancer.  Here's one in motion at a pow wow...

I love featuring dance in my stories for many reasons.  A dance can prove a vibrant setting for a scene. It can illuminate character.  Who wouldn't be charmed when a confident dancer urges a shy partner out onto the dance floor?

It can be a springboard to romance. I grew up delighting in Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers musicals of the 1930s that were playing on television in my childhood a generation later. Wow, I was transported into another world of glamor and spectacular dancing!

My parents met on the dance floor in those 1930s and were champion Peabody dancers well into their 80s. Their complementary moves and in syncopation were, to me, a symbol of their 66 year marriage. 

When we invite readers into our stories it's much like being asked to dance... to trust the elements of our writing moves to bring us both to a place we've never been. I'm eternally grateful to readers who have accepted my offers of...shall we dance? 

Whisk(e)y -- with an 'e' or not?

                                     

                                      Please click this link to learn about the author and her books

When I heard that BWL Publishing planned to publish a series of Canadian historical mystery novels, I was eager to get involved. In 2021, I wrote a mystery short story set in my home city, Calgary, Alberta, during the second and deadliest wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic. I showed the story to a writer-in-residence, who suggested I turn it into a novel. This intrigued me, but I polished the short story and submitted it to the Crime Writers of Canada 40th anniversary anthology. My story, A Deadly Flu, was accepted and published last spring in Cold Canadian Crime. 

But BWL's plan prompted me to consider how I could expand my 4,500 word story into a 75,000 word novel. I mulled ideas and decided I'd add three new characters to the story: two suspects and female protagonist, Catherine. I'd still keep my original detective protagonist as a secondary narrator. He and Catherine would both have personal story arcs, including a romantic subplot. WWI would also feature more prominently in the novel, as the story built to the November 11th Armistice. 

Confident these additions would give the story sufficient fodder for a novel, I asked BWL if I could write one of the books. The concept for the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series is that twelve different authors or author-pairs would write novels set in our ten Canadian provinces and two of our territories. Authors would have free rein over what to write, as long as the novel features a crime, takes place during a real historical time period, and is 70,000-80,000 words to keep the book sizes uniform. BWL assigned me the story set in my home province of Alberta.

The series will be published over a period of almost two years. Since I won't have time to start writing my novel before this summer, I asked for the last publication date, December 2024.  The first  Canadian Historical Mystery comes out this month. Rum Bullets and Cod Fish by H. Paul Doucette, set in Nova Scotia, sounds like roaring fun. "The year is 1924 and Prohibition is spawning a new breed of criminal." An undercover investigator tracks the ringleaders illegally transporting liquor to the US mob. 

Since BWL is promoting the whole series right away, they asked each author to provide a title, story blurb, and suggestions for cover images. Luckily, I have a framework for my novel -- my short story and my ideas for expansion. From this, I came up with a blurb. I also needed a new title. My short story title, A Deadly Flu, was a wink at my first novel,  A Deadly Fall. For a novel I'd want something to distinguish the two books. Words like dead, murder, kill, secrets, and their variations are popular for mystery titles. I also find concrete nouns in titles conjure strong images. The weapon in my story is whisky laced with a lethal drug. I settled on a title, A Killer Whisky.

During this process, I discovered a potential problem with the word 'whisky.' Ireland and the USA spell whiskey with an 'e,' unlike Canada and the rest of the world. My research suggests this might have  been due to Ireland's desire to distinguish its whiskey from Scottish whisky. Did Canada adopt the Scottish spelling because many of our early explorers and fur trade merchants came from Scotland, while whiskey became popular in the US with waves of Irish immigration? That's my best guess. 

I debated changing my title to one that wouldn't confuse American readers, or using US spelling, or making the poisoned drink a non-spelling-controversial liquor, like rum. But whisky is so concrete that I can almost smell it when I hear the word. It's also infamous in western Canadian history. Our fur trade is often called the whisky trade, which caused alcoholism problems for indigenous people. In the end, I decided to stay with whisky and Canadian spelling. Early in the novel, I'll have a character point out the difference between the countries, so US readers won't think I can't spell. 

For images, I suggested  a bottle or glass of whisky, as well as a piano. I plan to start the novel with my protagonist playing the instrument and music will feature through the story. Michelle Lee, BWL's cover designer, worked with my suggestions and created a stunning cover. I love the golden whisky colour against the black background. I can hear the clashing chord as the glass hits the piano keys. The glass of whisky stops the music, like murder.  

 

    

       

                      

 

Hidden in Plain Sight by Karla Stover

 

When I had my radio show and newspaper column, I was always looking for something interesting to share. One day I was browsing through old news papers and I came across a local woman who had become a camouflage artist during World War I. The article was so interesting, I read everything I could find about the Women's Reserve Camouflage Corps. which gave the nucleus for my next book.

Camouflage was developed in France  by artists such as  Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola, all of whom loved its theatrical nature. By1914 they experimented in attempts to hide military personnel, actions on the battlefields and the battlefields themselves. In 1917, a British artist named Norman Wilkinson came up with the idea to disguise ships by painting them with  optical illusions. His proposal to the Royal Navy was accepted and at his studio five designers began creating designs.  Eleven female artists went to work and between spring 1917 and autumn 1918 had "razzle dazzled", as the technique was called, more than 2,300 ships.  

Meanwhile, in the United States, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the U.S. would be entering the war. As a result, the Women's Reserve Camouflage Corps" was created. It was a "specialized unit of American female artists" tasked to "design and test camouflage techniques for the military." Before camouflage clothing came along, some soldiers rubbed mud on their clothing or painted their uniforms with splotches and lines.  But now, women were creating clothing that resembled the landscape, and that included suits resembling rocks or tree trunks for use by snipers. They help make fake tree limbs, fake trees, and disguises for equipment. Need to draw the fire, Put a phony head where the enemy could see it. While serving as a Second Lieutenant of Engineers in France, an American named Homer Saint Guadens saw how cotton for blankets was in short supply, and found a way to make blankets by recycling paper. The patterns created soon led to using green, brown or grey on the material. Snipers and scouts hid underneath one and inched along the ground. 

Behind enemy lines women made nets out of wire up to 37 feet long out of wire and fishnet to drape over tanks and conceal them from enemy aircraft. They made garlands out of green burlap to hang from trees and painted to disguise giant umbrellas. Their ages ranged from 14 to 65. 

As for the Tacoma girl, after the war she married a banker and lived in the Midwest. But she didn't forget her Puget Sound roots and endowed a building at a local seminary. I have plenty to work with. Now, will someone please crack a whip under me.

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He’s Determined to Ski Again – Barbara Baker

 

In 1937, when Dad was five-years-old, he learned to ski in his hometown, Partenkirchen, Germany. His first pair of skis were handmade. 

Years later when he started racing, he crashed while training and broke his femur. He said it was hours before ski patrollers found him because he’d flown off the course and into the trees.

While he was in the hospital, with his leg in traction and strapped to a sky hook, bombs shook the building. Nurses ran through the ward shouting for patients to get under their beds. Dad laughs when he tells the story and says all he could do was put a pillow over his head.

Dad has skied all his life but took a two-year hiatus when he was 88 years old so he could have a long-over-due knee replacement. After the surgery, he exercised. He walked. He exercised some more. He was determined to ski again.

On January 10, 2023, we arrived at the Mt. Norquay ski resort, outside of Banff, well before the lifts opened. I forced myself to slow down - my walking, my talking (I can be a chatterbox). I wanted to focus on Dad and be helpful without him asking.

Boots on, skis on, poles in hand, we headed to the beginner hill. I stayed beside him as he tested out sliding and then climbing up the slope. Each time he climbed a bit higher.

Snow plow turns first. Then the stem christie maneuver. The parallel turns proved to be trickier. Dad’s new knee worked just fine and the leg slid nicely into place. But the old knee, which was used to being in charge for decades, was pushy and uncooperative. It rushed ahead of the uphill ski and Dad would have to stop to reposition himself.

After a few equipment adjustments and more practice, Dad was ready to go up the lift.

“Can you ask the liftie to slow it down?” he said as we got our tickets scanned at the Cascade chairlift.

I took a breath and gave a silent prayer to whomever was listening.

“Can you please slow it down,” I said to the lift operator. “He’s ninety. Testing out his new knee.”

“No problem,” the Aussie accented girl replied. “Just wave to the operator at the top and he’ll slow it down again for you to get off.”

“Perfect.”

The chair swung around and scooped us up. Dad scanned the run. He was quiet. So was I. As we got to the last tower I waved at the guy in the hut. He flagged a thumbs up. I nodded.

“I don’t know if I can stand,” Dad said.

I moved right next to him and squeezed his bicep. “I’ll just shuck you off if you can’t get up.”

He laughed. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

 After an uneventful exit we stood at the top and looked down the run. Dad nodded and slid his skis back and forth. Away he went. Again, I held my breath and followed but not too close. I didn’t want to rush him.

It took a few runs but soon his perfect parallel turns, quiet body and graceful carving cut across and down the slope.

The smile on his face, the sweat dripping down his cheeks and the twinkle in his eyes made all my fears and angst melt away.

He did it. Dad skied again.

Watch Dad ski again:  Dad Skiing Again - 90 years young - YouTube

You can contact me at: bbaker.write@gmail.com

Summer of Lies: Baker, Barbara:9780228615774: Books - Amazon.ca

What About Me?: Sequel to Summer of Lies : Baker, Barbara: Amazon.ca: Books

 

How to Make a Killing Writing Murder Mystery by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 

 

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

    So if you've been keeping track of the Books We Love Website (which... if you haven't, why not?) then you know that the upcoming Canadian Historical Mystery Series is on its way! My book, entitled Twice Hung, is the tenth book in this exciting new venture, and I am excited to tell you a little bit about it. 

It's a murder mystery. 

    No, but seriously, it will be one of the first serious mystery novels that I've wrote, and while I've been doing a ton of research on how to create some good mystery, I have come across a few tips I thought I'd share with ya'll because... well, I luv ya all a bit! 

I was going to pick meme that highlighted how much I loved my blog readers but... 
this meme was way more me...

So NUMBER ONE!

The Victim: Yeah, they may not be around much, but they are still very important to the story. Whether or not your mystery started with their untimely demise, it's important to know about the events that led up to it. Who was your victim and why did someone want them dead? Why were they in the wrong place at the wrong time, and/or what was their relationship to the killer? What is also important was their character. Did they have it coming, or should we sympathize with the newly dead? 

TWO!

The Murderer: This may be the most interesting character in your story, after the main protagonist. Knowing who they are is essential in creating not only a great story, but one that keep readers turning pages. I love gray area people, and by that I mean creating characters (not just antagonists) with a bunch of flaws. I believe its a key to being human and gives writers a way to allow their protagonists to overcome personal obstacles. How is the murderer similar to the protagonist? How are they different? Do we sympathize with them at all? Keep your reader guessing. 

THREE! 

Red Herrings: Mysteries are the most fun when there are plenty of twists involved. However, that sometimes means keeping one step ahead of your readers. Subtle hints are key, but give too many and they may guess the end before it comes. Think George R. R. Martin and Jon Snow... (Maybe that's the REAL reason he hasn't finished the books, because everyone had already guessed the ending.)

FOUR!

Foreshadowing: As mentioned above, suble keys are great, especially when you finally get to the "Ah ha!" moment. If the ending doesn't make sense, or seems out of left field, it's probably because it is, and because you didn't leave enough puzzle pieces for the reader to collect. This can really make or break a mystery for me, because if the ending doesn't seem justified, it just makes me think that the author was too dumb to outsmart me and if that's the case then... wow... really?

... it's possible...

 FIVE!

Beta Readers: Get someone else to read your book when you are done. This applies to anything you write, but is especially important for mystery novels. It's hard to know if the clues you left behind were sufficient or way too obvious, but for a beta reader, they can tell you if they saw the ending from a mile away, or if it didn't pack enough punch. 

So that's it. My sure fire way to create a mystery novel. I'm sure there are way more tips, but these were my integral five. Twice Hung will be out next year, and I am so excited! In the meantime, check out the cover image, and head on over to Books We Love to discover more about the series and read some super exciting blurbs! 

Cheers!