NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

The Road to Heaven

The Road to Heaven is now available for online orders. It should be in stores on June 25, 2024. This noir mystery introducing artless young detective Patrick Bird, set in Toronto’s Parkdale during the tumultuous ’60s. Purchase your copy here.

Raw and twisty, The Road to Heaven takes you through hell to get to the promised land. Painfully human, we bear witness to what happens when people's longings crash into bright lights and dark alleys . . . a brilliant debut.
–Jane K. Cleland, author of Jane Austen's Lost Letters

Goodreads

I’m on Goodreads! I have an author page and The Road to Heaven is getting reviews! Thanks to all the readers who have rated and reviewed The Road to Heaven. Look forward to seeing you there.

Ontario Library Association Superconference

I’m going to be at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference on January 26th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Look for me there -- I’m going to have some advance reading copies of The Road to Heaven to give away, and I’m speaking on the panel “Canadians Can be Villains, Too, Eh” at the IdeaHub at 1:00 PM.

Check back here for information about new happenings or contact me to stay in touch.

PAST EVENTS

PAST EVENTS

May 2023

The Crime Writers of Canada Judges Comments:
Duckworth Detective Agency is on the case. The novella pulls the reader in with a dramatic statement: Dalton Duckworth, a young Private Investigator, might have to travel to Australia to find a massive yellow diamond. It has been stolen right off the head of Joy, a wealthy philanthropist. As he dreams of Down Under, Detective Duckworth takes us from the chatter and safety of his mother’s kitchen to the leathery faces and curling mustaches in the world of crime. His mother charms us with her sassy opinions: “…girls like that don’t have brothers. They shed them somewhere just west of Wichita,” and “No one comes back from Australia… it’s a destination, not a starting point.” It becomes clear that she is the brains behind the operation.

Winner of the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Novella Award for "The Man Who Went Down Under"

Thank you so much to the Crime Writers of Canada and to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine for publishing the story.

April 2023

Some big news in my life. I signed a contract with Dundurn Press to publish my novel, The Road to Heaven, a maple-noir mystery set in Toronto in 1965. 

Thanks so much to acquiring editor Megan Beadle at Dundurn for reading my manuscript, giving me a chance, and signing me up—for all her help and support. 

March 2023

Very happy to have my flash fiction, "His Own Blood", published in Toasted Cheese Literary Journal. Thank you to Theryn and the editorial team at Toasted Cheese.

March 2023

So honoured for "The Man Who Went Down Under" to be included in the Crime Writers of Canada list of finalists in their Best Novella Category.

January 2023

Thank you to Janet Kuypers at cc&d magazine/scars tv for choosing to publish my ghost story, “What Marcy Thought.”

September 2022

Many thanks to Mechelle, Deepa and Anna, and the whole team at Emerging Writers Reading Series. I was so grateful for their support in my first public reading. I read “Close to Home,” the flash fiction story of a drunk driver falling asleep at a red light with home in sight.

July 2022

So exciting to see my novella in print. A big thank you to Linda Landrigan and Jackie Sherbow at Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine for their help editing support. What an honour to have “The Man Who Went Down Under” published in one of the most prestigious and established mystery magazines.

April 2022

Thank you to the Toronto Star and the Yorkville Toronto Public Library for hosting this competition. And congratulations to Nina Dunic (first place) and Sara Mang (second place). My story, “The Unfinished Book,” placed third. It was great to see my work in print.

December 2021

Thanks to Jane Cleland at the Wolfe Pack—that’s the  Official Nero Wolfe Literary Society—and Linda Landrigan at Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine for their help and support. Congratulations to other winners that night -- Tom Larsen, David Baldacci, and Stephen Spotswood. It was such a blast to go to New York to receive the award.