Erika Chase (pen name of Linda Wiken) has been nominated for an Agatha Award
for Best First Novel, for A Killer Read, the first in the Ashton Corners
Book Club Mysteries, from Berkley Prime Crime. The awards will be given out
at Malice Domestic in Bethesda, MD, May 4th.
April 18th – Arthur Ellis announcement
A Mysterious Celebration!
OPL-RGB
To announce the nominees for the 2013 Arthur Ellis Awards for the best in Canadian Crime Writing
and
The shortlist for the Audrey Jessup short story contest.
Join Ottawa’s top crime writers for an entertaining evening of celebration of Canadian crime writing.
o Refreshments
o Hard-Boiled or Laughs: What makes a great mystery?
o No-holds-barred debate
The announcements take place at 8:45 pm
Thursday April 18. 7:00 PM
Auditorium, Main Branch, Ottawa Public Library, Main Branch.
120 Metcalfe St.
Books for sale from Books on Beechwood
April 17th meeting – Horse Racing in Canada: Equine Drug Testing.
NOTE: This meeting will be held at the Honeywell Boardroom at Ottawa City Hall (2nd floor). Also note the date – this is the third Wednesday, not the usual second Wednesday of the month.
Horse racing is an international sporting industry with deep roots in Canadian culture, yet it is relatively little known to the general public. Because of its association with gambling and potential for fraud, it is one of the most heavily regulated sports in the world.
Adrienne Stevenson will be talking about the forensic science of equine drug testing, touching on historical aspects, what is regulated and why, current challenges, international issues and links with human sports medicine. The world of horseracing offers writers many opportunities to tell interesting stories in a variety of settings. You may be surprised by how much the sport has influenced our language and history.
BIO:
After getting degrees in Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Adrienne Stevenson spent 6 years as a Forensic Toxicologist with the RCMP, analysing over 500 cases for drugs and poisons in humans.
Adrienne then transferred to the Race Track Division of Agriculture Canada, which is now the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency. For 26 years she managed the Equine Drug Control Program. She retired in 2009 and is now an occasional consultant to racing industry regulators.
During her time with the CPMA, she was active in the international Association of Official Racing Chemists and the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, of which she is a Past President.
Adrienne is also qualified as a Technical Assessor for the Standards Council of Canada’s Lab Accreditation program, and was a member of their national oversight committee for the program for over 10 years.
March 13 meeting – Crisis and Hostage negotiation
Staff Sgt Lynne Turnbull has been a police officer for 28 years and a Crisis Negotiator for 17 years. It is a part time role as crisis negotiators are called out as required. She currently manages the Ottawa Police Services’ Professional Development Centre (training branch). She has worked in many areas over the years including Patrol, School Resource, Partner Assault Unit, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit, and Temporary Custody.
Lynne will speak about the structure of a major incident response and the specific role of the negotiator, negotiations vs crisis intervention, and she will have a couple of case studies to share with the group.
Time: March 13, 7pm. Place: Library and Archives building, Wellington and Bay, Room 156. Guests welcome.
Pillar Society – Next meeting – Tickets not yet on sale
This one looks great:
The Aldrich Ames Mole Hunt: Our Next
Presentation
Our May 22, 2013 Speakers Series at the
Shenkman Arts Centre promises to be one of the
Most interesting and fascinating sessions that we
Have brought to you in this series. Brutal betrayal
By an intelligence ‘insider’ has always been one of
The most feared events of any intelligence
Organization. Former CIA officer Aldrich ‘Rick’
Ames became one of the most damaging moles in
U.S. Intelligence history.
We are very pleased to announce that Sandy
Grimes will be our May 2013 presenter at our next
Pillar Society Speakers Series. This presentation
Has never been presented in Canada before and
Only on a few occasions in the United States.
In a brutally frank account of CIA traitor Aldrich
Ames’s career Sandra Grimes and the late Jeanne
Vertefeuille, in their recent book, pull back the
Curtain on the hunt for an American who spent nine
Years working for the KGB without being
Discovered. Sandra Grimes is a 26 year veteran of
The CIA’s National Clandestine Service. The retired
CIA officers recently published, Circle of Treason:
A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames And The
Men He Betrayed. Their book is compelling.
Join us for this fascinating insider account, which
Not only deals with the tenacious, painstaking
Pursuit of the CIA’s most damaging spy, but also
Reveals the extraordinary efforts the CIA took to
Ensure the safety of its sources fighting the
Oppressive Soviet regime. This presentation is
Essential for intelligence professionals and for
Anyone interested in the day-to-day reality behind
Cold War espionage
2013 Short Story Contest
The 2013 Capital Crime Writers Short Story Contest
1st Prize: $200.00 2nd Prize: $150.00 3rd Prize: $75.00
Entries must be postmarked by April 2, 2013. Contest is open to all residents of the National Capital Region. Aged 18 + and to all members of Capital Crime Writers
Stories must be: Original unpublished fiction| featuring crime | no more than 3500 words | in English | typed double-spaced | on white paper
(Submissions that identify the author in the pages of the story will be rejected.)
Identifying information must only be found on a separate cover page, which must include:
Your name | mailing address | email address telephone number | Story title | an accurate word count
There is a limit of one submission per author.
You must mail or deliver 3 hard copies of your story submission to:
Capital Crime Writers Short Story Contest
Suite 124
393C Richmond Road
Ottawa, Ontario
K2A 0E9
ENTRY FEES:
Please include a cheque payable to: “Capital Crime Writers”
$10.00 entry fee ONLY or $25.00 if you wish to also receive a written critique of your work. To take advantage of the critiquing service, please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope so that we are able to return your manuscript.
A short list of 5 stories will be announced on April 18, 2013. Prizes will be awarded at a Capital Crime Writers event in June, 2013 with winners asked to read from their stories. Those who have submitted a story will be notified of the time and place of each event by e-mail; notices will also be posted at: www.CapitalCrimeWriters.com.
Judging will be blind & conducted by a panel of 3 knowledgeable volunteers.
For more information: E-mail: joeitaliano23@yahoo.com
February Meeting – Claude Richer
February’s meeting will be a question and answer session on the modern reality of prosecuting drug offences and drug offenders.
Claude Richer is a Counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) for the National Capital Region. As Counsel, Mr. Richer represents the Attorney General of Canada in conducting criminal prosecutions which relate to the administration of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and other federal statutes before provincial and superior courts in Ontario. Mr. Richer’s area of practice is focused on prosecutions involving drugs, organized crime and proceeds of crime. Prior to working for the PPSC, he worked as counsel for the RCMP Legal Services attached to the Technological Crime Section and as an Assistant Crown Attorney in Ottawa. Mr. Richer has been a lawyer practicing in criminal law for 16 years.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada is a federal government organization, created on December 12, 2006. The PPSC fulfills the responsibilities of the Attorney General of Canada in the discharge of his criminal law mandate by prosecuting criminal offences under federal jurisdiction and by contributing to strengthening the criminal justice system. The PPSC is responsible for prosecuting offences under more than 50 federal statutes and for providing prosecution-related legal advice to law enforcement agencies. Cases prosecuted by the PPSC include those involving drugs, organized crime, terrorism, tax law, money laundering and proceeds of crime, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Criminal Code offences in the territories, and a large number of federal regulatory offences. The PPSC is an independent organization, reporting to Parliament through the Attorney General of Canada.
January 9th meeting – We, the Jury.
When all goes well, juries make decisions based on the evidence and the law but research shows that jurors are swayed by other factors. What are those factors? And what are the implications for justice?
The popular heroic view of juries come from movies like “12 Angry Men”, where a single juror manages to change the minds of the other jurors. How likely is this in reality?
Join Evelyn Maeder, an expert in jury research, at our January 9th meeting as she discusses
* the structure and differences in the jury systems of Canada and the US.
* the influence of legal and extralegal factors on juror decision making
* special topics within jury research, such as juror decision making in capital and insanity defence trials.
Evelyn is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University, and is also cross-appointed in the Department of Psychology. She studies the influence of psychology on the law and legal decision-making, particularly with respect to juries and public policy. Her current research projects include studying the effects of extralegal information (including defendant race, victim attractiveness, and defendant gang affiliation) on juror decision-making, legal decision-making in NCRMD trials, and the effects of race salience in the criminal courtroom. She is the director of the Legal Decision-Making Lab at Carleton, and her work is funded by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) and APLS (American Psychology-Law Society).
Annual Christmas Dinner – Dec 12th
Be sure to reserve a place at this year’s annual Christmas Dinner with special guest Tim Wynne-Jones.
Where: KS on the Keys, 1029 Daze Street (South Keys)
When: Wednesday, December 12th
Time: Mingling begins at 5:30 p.m.
**To register, click here.
We are extremely pleased to announce this year’s December guest speaker – Tim Wynne-Jones is a two-time Governor General’s Award-winning author, Order of Canada recipient and nominee for the 2012 international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international honour for children’s authors and illustrators. Tim’s 2011 novel Blink and Caution won the Arthur Ellis Award for best children/YA crime novel and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for 2011. He won his first Arthur Ellis for the Boy in the Burning House, which also won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2002, for best young adult mystery.
Tim’s eclectic, pre-author years included stints as: band member in several rock groups (Boogie Dick and Alabaster, to name two), fine arts student, book designer and owner of a graphic design firm. He wrote his first novel Odd’s End in 1978 while in the Masters Fine Arts program at York University – it won the Seal First Novel award along with the $50,000 prize, making him believe that ‘this writing thing might be fun’.
Tim lives in a house that he designed in Perth, Ontario on 76 acres of ‘rough and tumble land’ that has figured prominently in his writing over the last twenty years. He spent most of last year ‘playing hooky’ overseas with his wife Amanda Lewis but is now back at his computer, working on a new manuscript. For more information about Tim, his travels and his writing, please visit his website.
Books will be available for purchase.
November 14th Meeting – 7pm Library and Archives
In the Line of Fire: PTSD and Law Enforcement Officers
Syd Gravel is a retired Staff Sergeant from the Ottawa Police Service and is one of the founding fathers of “Robin’s Blue Circle”, a post-shooting trauma team that assists officers in working their way through the trauma of death or near-death work-related incidents. The Circle was first established in 1988. Syd has personally assisted over 40 officers survive near-death incidents over a period of 12 years.
Syd is a 31-year veteran of the Ottawa Police Service. In his book, 56 Seconds, he tells the story of how his life took a dramatic turn when he was involved in a shooting. He shares information on how he survived post-traumatic stress disorder – PTSD – as a two-time shootist, during his years of work as a front-line police officer. The book describes how his healthy survival was based on a solid foundation of peer support, friends, family and medical practitioners.
Syd Gravel was a keynote speaker at the First Canadian Forum on Traumatic Stress Conference, Surviving Post-Shooting Trauma, in Toronto, Ontario. He was a guest lecturer for Correctional Services Canada, on Wellness and Traumatic Stress, in Kingston, Ontario. He was the keynote speaker at the International Conference of Conservation Officers, Stress Management and its Realities, in Ottawa, Ontario.
In 2007, Syd was inducted as a Member of the Order Of Merit (M.O.M.) in Policing.
“In 1987, Syd was involved in a very traumatic incident in which a robbery suspect lost his life. The event deeply affected Syd. To his credit he developed a comprehensive Police Peer Support Network on dealing with PTSD. It is Syd’s legacy to the Ottawa Police.”
– Brian Ford, Chief of the Ottawa Police Service, 1993-2000.