Winona Kent was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School.
Winona’s debut novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Award and was published by Bantam Books in 1989. Since then, she has written eleven more books, including her five current soft-boiled musical mysteries featuring professional musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
Winona’s also the author of a number of short stories, which she’s gathered together for her anthology Ten Stories That Worried My Mother.
Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine. She’s currently the national Chair of the Crime Writers of Canada, and is also an active member of Sisters in Crime – Canada West. After many decades working in jobs completely unrelated to writing, Winona is now happily embracing life as a full-time author. She lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building’s compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners.
Visit her website at: Winona Kent
Previous interview with Winona regarding her shot story anthology: 10 Stories that Worried My Mother
Maureen Jennings is the author of the beloved Murdoch mystery books, which have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. The first books in the series were made into films for television. Soon after, Murdoch Mysteries began in 2008 and is still running today. In addition to the Murdoch mysteries, Maureen has also published two Christine Morris books and three Tom Tyler series. Her books have been nominated for the Anthony Historical Mystery Award, the Macavity/Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award, the Barry Award, and the Bruce Alexander Award. She received the Heritage Toronto Certificate of Commendation and the 2024 Grand Master Award from Crime Writers of Canada when she was acknowledged for her long-term contribution to Canadian and International Mystery writing,
Her latest series, The Paradise Café Mysteries, showcases PI Charlotte Frayne. In this podcast, we delve into the fourth book in the series, "March Roars," which was published by Cormorant Books.
You can listen to a past episode in which we celebrated Maureen's 2024 Grandmaster recipient and discussed "March Roars" here.
J. Ivanel Johnson is the pen name for an author living with (dis)Ability who now resides in the Appalachian range of Northwestern New Brunswick on a small farm overlooking inspirational views of nature. Like her grandmother before her (the 'Ivanel' of her pen name) she has written her entire life, first publishing two poems with Annick Press in Toronto when she was only 12. She has been a high school English/Drama teacher, working & living in the highlands of Scotland, the moors of Yorkshire, & the Rockies of Montana & Yukon before settling in the east of Canada. She strives always to include culturally-diverse characters & those from marginalized communities in her works, as she has taught on Indigenous reservations, in inner-cities, & in remote mountain schools. She is the author of the JUST eSTATE mystery series, whodunnits with literary clues & wordplay, set in the late 1960s in various Canadian provinces.
This podcast will discuss the second book in the series, Just A Stale Mate, which was recently the Runner-Up for the 2023 Mystery & Crime Maxy Award.
J. Woollcott is a Canadian author born in Belfast, N. Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. She has won the RWA Daphne du Maurier Award for Mainstream Mystery and Suspense, has been long-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2019 and 2020 and short-listed in 2021. She was a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville in 2023 and again in 2024 and a Killer Nashville Claymore Award finalist in 2024.
You can find her at…
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085460524148
https://www.instagram.com/j.woollcott/?hl=en
BLOOD RELATIONS
Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride is called to his desolate country home to investigate. In his inquiry, he discovers a man whose career was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present? And who hated the man enough to kill him twice?
Set in Belfast and the richly atmospheric countryside around it, Ryan once again faces a complex investigation with wit and intelligence.
Jonathan Whitelaw is a Scottish author, journalist, and broadcaster. He now calls Grand Prairie, Alberta home. His cozy crime novels are a delightful blend of mystery and humour. His unlikely pair of detectives, the jaded ex-newspaper journalist Jason Brazel, and his bingo-playing mother-in-law, Amita Khatri, add a unique charm to the series. Starting with "The Bingo Hall Detectives" in 2022 and continuing with "The Village Hall Vendetta" and "The Concert Hall Killer", Jonathan's books are a must-read for those who enjoy a good laugh with their mysteries.
Raye Anderson is a Scots Canadian who taught Drama and ran Theatre and Community arts programs for many years, notably at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in Ottawa and Calgary.
Raye has been a resident of the Interlake since 2007 and presently lives in Gimli. Her first crime fiction novel, And We Shall Have Snow, was published by Signature Editions in 2020. It was a finalist for Best First Novel for the Crime Writers of Canada, Awards of Excellence and was also shortlisted in the Original Softcover Fiction category of the WILLA Literary Awards.
The second book in the series, which features Sergeant Roxanne Calloway of the RCMP, occurs mostly in Winnipeg, in a fictional theatre company. Titled And Then Is Heard No More, it was published in 2021, and was the Winnipeg Free Press/McNally Robinson Book Club pick for July/August of 2022.
Raye returned to the Interlake as the setting for her third and fourth books, Down Came The Rain and Sing a Song of Summer
She is currently working on a new crime novel, set in the Scottish Hebbrides, which is scheduled for release in the fall of 2024.
Delvin Chatterson is the internationally acclaimed author of the Dale Hunter Thriller Series, an explosive mix of crime and corruption in the computer business of the 1980s. Dale Hunter and his buddy, Frank the Fixer, were introduced in 2018 with NO EASY MONEY, followed by SIMPLY THE BEST, and MERGER MANIAC and most recently BAD BOYS IN BOSTON
As a former entrepreneur, business advisor, and cheerleader for enlightened entrepreneurship, Del has written extensively on business topics for decades and continues to write on entrepreneurship under the pen name of Your Uncle Ralph. Originally from the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Del has lived and worked for most of the last fifty years in the fascinating French-Canadian city of Montreal.
Del is the International Regional Rep of the CWC.
Visit him at delvinchatterson.com
William Deverell is a Canadian novelist, activist, and criminal lawyer. He is one of Canada’s best-known novelists, whose first book, Needles, which drew on his experiences as a criminal lawyer, won the McClelland & Stewart $50,000 Seal Award. In 1997, he won the Dashiell Hammett Prize for literary excellence in crime writing in North America for Trial of Passion. That book won the 1998 Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian crime novel, as did April Fool in 2003. Trial of Passion launched his first crime series, featuring the classically trained, self-doubting Arthur Beauchamp. This interview discusses the ninth addition to the series, The Long-Shot Trial.
Find past video interviews at youtube.com/@crimewritersofcanada1279
Marcelle Dubé writes mystery and speculative fiction novels and short stories. She grew up near Montreal, lived in the Yukon for 35 years and now calls Alberta home. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies. In 2021, she won the CWC award for Best Short Story. Her story, Reversion, published in April 2023 edition of Mystery Magazine has been nominated once again for an Award of Excellence in the Short story category, and was shortlisted for a Deringer Award.
Learn more about Marcelle at: marcelledube.com/
2022 interview with Marcelle Dubé: https://youtu.be/v1JBTJ0FA6U
Learn more about Crime Writers of Canada at: crimewriterscanada.com
Find past video interviews at: youtube.com/@crimewritersofcanada1279
Melissa Yi’s novel, Shapes of Wrath, was nominated for The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by Charlotte Engel and CWC.
Melissa Yi, also known as Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, is an emergency physician with an active practice and an award-winning writing career. She is a Derringer Award winning author and was a CWC Award of Excellence Finalist in 2022.
She studied emergency medicine at McGill University in Montreal. She was so shocked by the patients crammed into the waiting area, and the examining rooms without running water, that she began to contemplate murder. And so, she created Dr. Hope Sze, the resident who could save lives and fight crime.
Learn more at: melissayuaninnes.com/
Previous interview from 2022: https://youtu.be/dvMlOmr0qPw
Learn more about Crime Writers of Canada at: crimewriterscanada.com
Find past video interviews at: youtube.com/@crimewritersofcanada1279