Malcolm Kempt sits down with Erik D’Souza to discuss Malcolm's debut crime novel, A Gift Before Dying. Malcolm shares that he left a 17-year career as a criminal lawyer in the Arctic to write full-time during the pandemic. He describes Cape Dorset, Nunavut, as a real, isolated place he loves, and explains that the story features a fish-out-of-water police detective and a 10-year-old Inuit boy to offer different perspectives. Malcolm addresses comparisons to Nordic Noir and confirms the story remains uniquely Canadian. He also discussed the challenges of promoting a first book, the lack of Canadian media coverage compared to the US and UK, and his experience with culturally sensitive readers and support from the Inuit community. Finally, Malcolm mentions he is working on a second police procedural set in the hinterland of Newfoundland with supernatural undertones.
BIO
Malcolm Kempt spent seventeen years working as a criminal lawyer in the remote Arctic before leaving to write full-time.
He won the Percy Janes Award for Best Unpublished Novel in 2023. His debut, A Gift Before Dying, was published by Crown (Penguin Random House) in January 2026. He lives on the island of Newfoundland.