I recently visited my plaque in Midland, Ontario, erected by Project Bookmark Canada, which chose  my historical novel, The Queen of Unforgetting, as part of its literary highway, a huge honour. Little Lake Park, where the text of the plaque is also set, hasn't changed much in 30 years. Still blissfully green and quiet, it's a jewel, with a long narrow road winding through the park, and a homey take-out place specializing in fish and chips. There's a baseball diamond near the entrance, a new playground in the middle, and the Huronia Museum at the far end of the park. Part of my story takes place in the 1600s when the Jesuits arrived from France; I'm not sure the park looked any different then.  

Sylvia at the International Festival of Authors in the Crime Writers of Canada tent, June 4, 2023

I read from my newly finished historical novel, The Orphan

 

Several Mesdames of Mayhem--Lynne Murphy, Madeleine Harris-Callway, Rosemary McCracken, Caro soles and I--spent 2 lovely days at Word on the Street in Queen's Park the last weekend in May 2023. 

My story, "The Natural Order of Things," published in Ellery Queen, was shortlisted for a 2023 Crime Writers of Canada award

 I am very excited to announce that my short story, "The Natural Order of Things" has been accepted by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and will appear this fall. The story is about Jake, a great believer in science, who is writing a kids' book about the preying mantis. When he meets Angie, his faith in the natural order of things is shaken to the core. 

 I am thrilled to announce that my short story, "Days Without Name" has been shortlisted for a Crime Writers of Canada Excellence Award for 2021. It appeared in Grave Diagnosis, an anthology published by Carrick Publishing. The story takes place in Belize during Wayeb, the short inauspicious month of the Mayan calendar.

Thanks to Donna Carrick for her hard work and dedication in producing the anthology.

                                                           

                                                     

I have recently finished reading an exceptional novel by Rosemary Aubert, The Light in Trieste. Known for her award-winning Ellis Portal mysteries, she has written something very different, an historical novel, with much success. The book interested me because the story is based on a fictionalized account of the last month of Empress Elizabeth, or Sisi, as she was affectionately known, wife of  Franz Joseph, ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have posted my review here.

The Light in Trieste is a stunning achievement, an ambitious opus set in Trieste, straddling 120 years and divided into three time periods. In 1898 Empress Elizabeth of Austria, Sisi is desperate to escape the stultifying court in Vienna and start a new life in New York. This historical section was a thrilling read for me, having visited the palace in Vienna and like many others, being mesmerized by the vain beauty who starved herself to maintain her tiny waist right till the time she was assassinated at age 60. Aubert’s rendition of Sisi is exhilarating. 

In the second part, still set in Trieste but in 1954, the protagonist, Marijana, is the granddaughter of the man who was supposed to take Sisi to New York. Echoing the storyline, Marijana, now a scientist, desperately wants to escape her home in Communist Yugoslavia and get to America with the help of an American scientist.

 The final section jumps to the present with Ravena, a street-smart young con artist who deals in scientific oddities for cash and who has an inexplicable talent for mathematics. The theme replays and she, too, fervently seeks a new life in America. I am not a math aficionado, but I enjoyed Ravena’s display of math bravado as well as the mathematical esoterica introduced, among them a “nocturnal,” which can tell time from the stars. Aubert has connected the three stories with a prism, a magical piece of glass originally owned by Isaac Newton and used by the three women as a bargaining chip for their freedom. 

Highly recommended.

Time has slipped away from me because of the pandemic and I am only now posting the news that my short story, "None Shall Sleep," originally published in In the Key of 13 by Carrick Publishing, was shortlisted for a Derringer Award in April. Many thanks to the organizers, coordinators and judges of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Congratulations to the winner, Sandra Murphy, for her excellent story, "Lucy's Tree."

The Cabin in the Woods shortlisted for Derringer

My story, "The Cabin in the Woods" has been shortlisted for a Derringer. It was originally published in Mystery Most Geographical, a Malice Domestic anthology in 2018.

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The Cabin in the Woods

         

The Ranchero's Daughter, published in 13 Claws

"The Ranchero's Daughter" was published in 13 Claws by Carrick Press in 2017. I wrote the story after my husband and I visited his old boss, H, in a swanky seniors' residence in Santa Barbara the previous fall. H introduced us to his friend at the residence, a ninety-five-year-old Honduran psychiatrist who had spent the last half of his life practicing in the U.S.  I and my husband, also a psychiatrist, were spellbound, listening to his melodic voice recounting what he had done and where he had been over his long life. His profound insights and generous spirit resonated with me long after we left. This story is not about him but was inspired by his humanity and the echo of his voice in my ears.