Lorna Poplak – Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at 7:00 pm (EDT)

Our guest speaker for March is Lorna Poplak, a Toronto-based writer and researcher. With two award-nominated non-fiction publications with Dundurn Press, articles appearing on the TV Ontario website and in other publications, she’s the author of an in-depth exploration of the Don Jail from its inception through jailbreaks and overcrowding to its eventual shuttering and rebirth. Her recent book is A Grim History of the Death Penalty in Canada.

THE DON was shortlisted for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s 2021 Speaker’s Book Award, which recognizes non-fiction works by Ontario authors, and for Crime Writers of Canada’s Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book and Heritage Toronto’s Book Award in 2022.

Lorna is currently working on a book about great (and not so great!) prison escapes, to be published by Dundurn in 2025.

Write What You Know: My Journey from Music to Mystery by David Barber – Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 7:00 pm (EDT).

I’ve been a musician since boyhood, even graduated university with a music degree. I’ve also always wanted to be a writer – and for many years was able to combine those two pursuits. But only more recently have I been able to achieve another lifelong goal – that of becoming a mystery writer.

David W. Barber is a journalist and musician and the internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen books of music (including Accidentals on Purpose; Bach, Beethoven and the Boys; When the Fat Lady Sings; Getting a Handel on Messiah, Bach, Beethoven and the Grrrls) and literature (including Quotable Sherlock, Quotable Alice and Atonement and other stories). He’s also written two Dugan Heywood murder mysteries, Hedshot and Mugshot. Formerly a writer and entertainment editor of the Kingston Whig-Standard, editor of Broadcast Week magazine at the Toronto Globe and Mail and the assistant editor of arts and life for Postmedia newspapers, he is currently a freelance writer, editor, musician and composer. As a composer, his works include two symphonies, a jazz mass based on the music of Dave Brubeck, a Requiem, several short choral and chamber works and various vocal-jazz songs and arrangements. He sings with the Toronto Chamber Choir and various other choirs on occasion. In a varied career, among his more interesting jobs have been short stints as a roadie for Pope John Paul II, a publicist for Prince Rainier of Monaco and a backup singer for Avril Lavigne.

Writing a Mystery Series by Mike Martin – Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 7:00 pm (EDT).

The challenges of writing a mystery series. And keeping it going.
From where to start to getting through the middle to not losing the plot along the way.
Does it get easier? Sometimes
Does it get harder? Often
When will the series stop? Good question

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 15 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Too Close for Comfort. A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

In December we had a dinner meeting at the Britannia Yacht Club in Ottawa. Our guest speaker, RCMP Superintendent (retired) Steven Foster, gave us an exciting behind the scenes look into several fraud cases that he worked.

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday! See you in January where our meetings will return to Zoom.

My long and winding road on the way to a life of Crime (writing) by Maureen Jennings – Wednesday November 13, 2024 at 7:00 pm (EDT)

It has seemed like a long road, and it certainly has taken lots of turns.  Along the way, I’ve learned lots of things I can share. – how to get lucky; how to find workable ideas for stories; how the TV show Murdoch Mysteries came about; how to stay writing fresh, (reasonably).

Maureen Jennings was born in England and emigrated to Canada as a teenager, eventually settling in Toronto. She acquired a B.A. in philosophy and psychology from Assumption University in Windsor. Wandered around in career confusion, taught high school; got an M.A. from U. of T. more teaching at college level then trained as a psychotherapist and practiced for many years until finally settling into a career as a writer in the crime genre. Eighteen novels three plays, fourteen scripts for television later, she feels lucky to have finally landed.  She lives in Toronto with her husband, photographer, Iden Ford, and their dog, a labradoodle named Murdoch.

EUROPEAN INFLUENCES: How Living Abroad Affected My Thriller Writing by William Burton McCormick – Wednesday October 9, 2024 at 7:00 pm (EDT)

William Burton McCormick is an Edgar Award-nominated writer whose short fiction regularly appears in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post and elsewhere. Twenty-four of his best stories are included in his new collection Deeds of Darkness from Level Best Books. 

William is a graduate of Brown University, earned an MA in Novel Writing from the University of Manchester and was elected a Hawthornden Writing Fellow in Scotland.  He is the author of the acclaimed thrillers House of Tigers, A Stranger from the Storm and KGB Banker. His historical novel of the Baltic Republics, Lenin’s Harem, was the first work of fiction added to the permanent library at the Latvian War Museum in Rīga. A native of Nevada, William lived nearly twenty years in Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Russia for writing purposes.

William will be talking about his experiences living in Eastern European countries and how his time there influenced his use of setting and served as research and inspiration for fiction of all lengths and in many genres.

My Journey of artistic reinvention – from actor to librarian to writer by Robert Bockstael – Wednesday May 8, 2024 at 7:00 pm (EDT).

I’ll be talking about my first several decades as an actor – from theatre to film and television – and the forces that compelled me to change my career a year before my 50th birthday. I’ll touch on how and why I then returned to school to pursue Library Studies which ultimately led to me managing my own branch library in the Near North. Then, several years later, how I answered the siren call, enticing me to embark on a novel while, at the same time, rediscovering my roots in the live theatre after twenty years away. And, if time allows, I may mention how I became an acting instructor and that I am now in the midst of transitioning into another series of artistic endeavours while writing my next two books.

Robert Bockstael has written for theater, television, and film, and his short fiction appears in literary magazines across North America. Willow’s Run is his debut novel. His next book, She Carried the Sea, is set in Nova Scotia, Canada.

An award-winning actor with a forty-year career, Robert Bockstael has played lead roles in a multitude of television series and films, as well as being a prolific cartoon voice actor, narrator, and stage actor. He is a teacher and a sought after private acting coach and has worked as a librarian in a small, rural library. Bockstael lives in Ottawa, Canada. Please visit his website at robertbockstael.com and find his Author Page on Facebook and Instagram. His list of film and television credits can be found on IMDb.