My husband Will and I have been following Deadly Fall’s appearances in Chapters/Indigo stores on the company website. Saturday, four copies were recorded for the store closest to us – Chapters MacLeod Trail. Excited, we drove through Calgary’s freak April blizzard to see how Deadly Fall looked on the Chapters shelf.

As we entered the store, we were greeted by local author, Hugo Bonjean, who was doing a book signing. Since I have lined up some book singings in the Okanagan for late May, we listened to Hugo’s spiel. Will bought the book.

Further into the store, a bookseller, Diane, offered us a sample of herbal tea. We told her we were looking for my novel Deadly Fall. When I said it was a mystery set in Calgary, Diane asked me to bring her a copy when we found it in the store – she wanted to buy it for herself.

Will and I walked up to the mystery section and found nothing on the “Ca” spot on the shelf or on the table display. We went back to Diane, who hurried off to hunt for the book in the back of the store. She returned with the four copies. I signed hers, with an inscription. Another bookseller standing nearby, asked me to sign the other three copies and they would attach a “signed by the author” sticker. Later this week, I’ll visit the store again to see how the books are displayed.

Diane directed us to the person in charge of author signings. Tracey gave me her card and asked me to e-mail her. If the store is willing, I’d like to set up an author signing – something I swore I’d never do. I hate sales and pumping my book goes against my natural shyness. But, now I’m thinking book signings are worth trying to get Deadly Fall known to potential readers.