NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
BOOK LAUNCH – MARCH 31
Book Launch! So excited to be sending Opposite Sully’s Gym out into the world. Thanks to the great people at Another Story Bookshop for hosting the second Patrick Bird Mystery launch. I hope this becomes a habit. Tickets available at https://oppositesullysgym.eventbrite.ca
A missing tenant, an irate mother-in-law, and a killer hiding in a Toronto rooming house — out-of-work PI Patrick Bird is back in business.
March 15, 2026
Many thanks to Rebecca at Canada Reads American Style for a great review of Opposite Sully’s Gym and for having me on the podcast Canada Reads American Style. It was a great opportunity to talk about my writing with her, including her great question: Do you anticipate a time when Patrick Bird doesn’t screw up? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear the answer!
March 14, 2026
Had a great conversation with Nick Wangersky of Hollywood North Magazine about my writing and how it fits into the tradition of the noir writing of the ’30s and ’40s and the films that followed. We even got into my favourite Nicholas Cage movies! Not noir there – but in case you’re wondering, I highly recommend Adaptation, loosely based on Susan Orleans’ The Orchid Thief.
March 13, 2026
I had a great conversation with Steven Beatty of That Shakespearean Rag about the writing of Opposite Sully’s Gym, noir fiction, the character of Patrick Bird, the pacing of novels, the differences between this second book from The Road to Heaven, memories of the Ex (the Canadian National Exhibition), and lots more. It was great to talk to Steven; you can find the interview here.
February 12, 2026
Recommender Grant
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council and Dundurn Press for awarding me a Recommender Grant for a future project, which at this point in time, I am calling, Love Will Prevail – A Murder Story. I first received this grant in 2024, to support my writing of Opposite Sully’s Gym and this Recommender Grant cheque arrived, fittingly, in the same week as my author copies of the book.
February 20, 2026
Public Lending Rights Grant
In Canada we have a great public lending right program that compensates authors for books in the public library system across the country. I know I am always excited to see copies of The Road to Heaven in the Toronto Public Library, particularly when they are dog-eared and creased and show that they have been busy out in readers hands and not gathering dust on the shelf. Many thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts.
January 27, 2026
Thanks to Rebecca at CanadaReadsAmericanStyle for a great first review for Opposite Sully’s Gym.
“Stefanovich-Thomson knows how to write a flawed character whom the reader roots for but doesn’t quite trust to do the right thing! The setting of Toronto in the 1960s is a bonus for those who prefer pay phones to cell phones and cabs to Uber.
If you’re looking for a new mystery series to embrace from the start, pick up a copy of the #1 The Road to Heaven and then pre-order the second in the series, Opposite Sully’s Gym, available March 31, 2026.”
Hollywood North Magazine – Maple Noir Interview
January 2, 2026
Thanks so much to C. Fitton @pugnpages for this wonderful review of Opposite Sully’s Gym. Here’s some of what she says:
“This was an intriguing investigation that took many twists and turns. As the action escalated, I could not put the book down. The ending was both surprising and satisfying. It’s beautifully written and the author definitely knows how to build suspense.”
June 11, 2025
I woke up to discover that The Road to Heaven had been named as a finalist by the Private Eye Writers of America in their Best First PI Novel. The winner will be announced on September 4, 2025 in New Orleans at Boucheron. What a great year for The Road to Heaven. So many thanks to the team at Dundurn Press, my editors there, Megan Beadle and Erin Pinksen, and everyone else who helped make this possible.
May 1, 2025
The Road to Heaven was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best Paperback Category. The Edgar Award Banquet was held on May 1st in New York City. Accompanied by my daughter Ava (doubling as my personal assistant and social media advisor) we braved the border and the Newark Airport (!) and arrived in NYC.
Congratulations to Kimberly Belle, winner of the Best Paperback Original for her novel, The Paris Widow. Had a great time, meeting so many amazing writers and basking in the glow of Times Square. Thanks so much to Ava for taking the trip with me.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their generous support, through the Market Development Travel Grant, which helped my promotion of Canadian crime writing south of the border.
Photo by Jasmina Tomic
RECENT EVENTS
RECENT EVENTS
Toronto Public Library & One Year Later
July 10, 2025
C. Fitton, Steve Urszenyi, Angela van Breemen and I were back on stage at TPL to share our “One Year Later Panel.” TPL was kind enough to display the panelists' books during our talk and I was so happy to see a copy of The Road to Heaven there looking well-travelled, previously-loved, worn, tired, tatty, beat, dog-eared, thumbed, used–read! Kind of the same aesthetic I’m aiming for.
June 28, 2025
Motive & One Year Later
Honoured to be sharing the stage with C. Fitton, Steve Urszenyi and Angela van Breemen at Motive Crime Fiction Festival (June 28th) and again at the Toronto Public Library (July 10th) all under the leadership and organization of the great Jass Aujla. Hope you can catch one of our engagements!
June 12, 2025
The Road to Heaven – the Audiobook!
Thanks to the good people at DreamScape for releasing the audiobook The Road to Heaven on audiobook narrated by Patrick Lawlor. On sale wherever you buy your audiobooks.
May 9, 2025
Bony Blithe
So glad to be a part of the Bony Blithe mini-conference again this year. Thank you to Elaine and Cheryl Freidman for organizing this great event – just blocks from my home. Fantastic to be talking noir with Jim MacDonald and Lisa de Nikoliti and moderator (Madeline) M. H. Callway. Can’t wait until next year!
April 30 & May 1
Edgar Nominees Roundtable
Take a look at Edgar nominated authors (including myself) in a roundtable discussion about everything from their favourite reads, to the dangers of AI, to the future of crime fiction at Crime Reads (Part 1 and Part 2). Thanks to Molly Odintz for all her great questions and providing us a venue for this conversation.
Edgar Symposium Panel – “Do You Remember the First Time?”
April 30, 2025
Really enjoyed talking writing at the 2025 Edgar Symposium panel: “Do You Remember the First Time?” moderated by Terry Shames. It was great to share the stage with debut authors Ash Clifton, Audrey Lee, Kai Lovelace, and Robert L. Fish Edgar winner Anna Stolley Persky.
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their generous support, through the Market Development Travel Grant, which helped my promotion of Canadian crime writing south of the border.
February 23, 2025
Hope you can join me at 6:30 PM on Sunday February 23rd at Type Books in the Junction where I’ll be reading from The Road to Heaven and answering questions. It’s a great opportunity to support local writers in relaxed setting. Hope to see you there.
February 25, 2025
Hope to see you at The Caledonian (826 College) on 6:00 PM on Tuesday February 25th for a night of fiction and....drinking. I’ve been told this “gets a little more rollicking than your standard fare church basement reading”. Sounds like fun! Thanks to Emily Weedon for inviting me to Drunk Fiction!
February 12, 2025
If you’re interested in some of the thinking that goes on inside my head (maybe not...), here’s a blogpost I wrote for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’s “Trace Evidence” that goes into some of the choices that authors have to make and why I write in the first person. Always such an honour to be published in AHMM and many thanks to editor Linda Landrigan for her ongoing support of my writing.
Ontario Library Association Conference 2025
January 31, 2025
Thanks so much to Jass Aujla and Lorne Tepperman at the Crime Writer’s of Canada for their work to organize Crime Time at the Ontario Libary Association’s annual conference. It was great to meet other crime writers and get to pitch our books to librarians from across the province.
Check back here for information about new happenings or contact me to stay in touch.