TAKE 3: THE LIE

So I was invited by Dundurn Press to write a guest post. That was over a month ago, plenty of time, no problem. I started to write about the latest in my BC Blues crime fiction series, River of Lies. At that time COVID-19 was in the news, but seemed distant. Life went on as normal, here in Nelson. Though we learned to sing happy birthday when washing our hands.

I started writing my post, but the news kept distracting me. Things were getting scarier. The numbers were surging. I scrapped Blog Post Take 1.

Throw them a challenge! That simple piece of advice remains one of the best I’ve received from other mystery writers in whose skilled footsteps I follow. It’s a variation on the ‘ask-the-what-if-questions’ approach to characters and plot. More importantly, it’s an incredibly useful way to develop your protagonists and antagonists. Put them outside their comfort zones (and even better, put yourself outside your comfort zone as a writer), and you’ll watch fascinating and quite unexpected things happen as a result.

Hello Canada,

My name is Brenden Carlson, and I am publishing my first novel, Night Call, in June of 2020. It has been an incredible journey going from amateur writer to nearly published author, and it all began in 2008, when my parents accidentally bought me the wrong book.

PI Dan Sharp interviews his creator, writer Jeffrey Round

DAN SHARP: If I might dive directly into the subject at hand, what drew you to the story of Toronto’s now-notorious serial killings?

History is not what actually happened, but rather what is recorded to have happened. For numerous reasons, some deliberate, others not, the recording of history can often be a distortion, if not a complete misrepresentation, of the events as they actually occurred. As such, the historian must be a sleuth to uncover, as closely as possible, the actual reality and drivers behind those events. This can be a daunting task as there are a myriad of challenges to obscure the “truth,” especially for military historians.

As a child I was fascinated by mysteries. This clearly originated in my reading, from Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew, to Enid Blyton’s adventure, and later every single Agatha Christie novel.  When I was ten, I started my own sleuthing club, the Amateur Detective Club. My sister and best friend and I even followed a pickle trail once.

via GIPHY