Tag Archives: #mysterywriting

# 1

September 30, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

Thanks to a great turnout at my book launch, my novel, Spring Into Danger, hit #1 on today’s Calgary Herald Bestsellers List. Here I am on the list in pretty good company.

CALGARY BESTSELLERS

Calgary Herald

Compiled from information from Owl’s Nest Books and Shelf Life Books.

30 Sep 2023

FICTION 1. Spring into Danger

Susan Calder. After thieves break into a store and steal two bicycles, a psychic phones Det. Mike Vincelli.

2. Brave Like the Buffalo

Melissa Allan and Jadyn Fischer-mcnab. A children’s book with a message that will inspire all readers.

3. The Last Devil to Die

Richard Osman. It’s rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club when shocking news reaches them — an old friend has been killed.

4. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

Lisa See. The latest historical novel from See, inspired by the true story of a female doctor from 15th-century China.

5. Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda.

6. The Covenant of Water

Abraham Verghese. A shimmering evocation of a bygone India.

7. Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (editors). Many Indigenous people believe whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear.

8. Yellowface

R F Kuang. White lies. Dark humour. Deadly consequences.

9. Tom Lake

Ann Patchett. Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

10. Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus. Elizabeth Zott is a scientist who becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.

NON FICTION 1. The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartenders Guide From the Celebrated Speakeasy

Jim Meehan and Chris Gall. Jim Meehan, PDT’S innovative operator and mixmaster, is revolutionizing bar books.

2. Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory

Sarah Polley. Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director and actor explores memory and the dialogue between her past and present. Canadian author.

3. The Home Cafe: Creative Recipes for Espresso, Matcha, Tea and Coffee Drinks

Asia Lui Chapa. With this classy curation of recipes, you’ll find endless ideas.

4. The Met Office: Pocket Cloud Book

Richard Hamblyn and the Met Office. This book provides you with all the information you need to identify different kinds of clouds and the weather that may be on its way.

5. Alberta Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Animals

James Kavanagh. Covers 140 of the most common and familiar animals you are likely to encounter.

6. Bugs & Slugs, 2nd Edition: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar North American Invertebrates

James Kavanagh. This guide highlights over 140 familiar species of insects, spiders and invertebrates.

7. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

David Grann. A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

8. The 48 Laws of Power

Robert Greene. Every law here has an interest in total domination.

9. How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going

Vaclav Smil. An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our 21st-century lives possible.

10. Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast

John Vaillant. A riveting journey through the intertwined histories of North America’s oil industry and the birth of climate science. Canadian author

Tonight’s the night!

September 21, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #cSpaceMardaLoop, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

My book launch for Spring Into Danger is tonight at cSpace King Edward Marda Loop. I think I have everything prepared and will have lots of stuff to bring up to the 4th floor Treehouse — food, drinks, disposable dishes, my computer for the PowerPoint presentation, door prizes, and more. Books will be the heaviest item, since I’ll be supplying Owl’s Nest, the bookseller for the event.

It looks like we’ll be fortunate with the weather. After two overcast days, the sun is out. It won’t be summertime warm, but people will be able to step outside on the deck as well as catch views of the city and mountains through the Treehouse’s glass windows.

My husband Will and I are going early to get a parking spot in the lot since cSpace has another event going on that night. For those who come later, there will be plenty of free parking on the nearby streets.

I look forward to seeing friendly faces in the audience cheering on my new book.

One day to go!

September 20, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

Yesterday’s cool, cloudy weather made it a good day to stay home and work on my book launch presentation. I enjoy creating PowerPoint presentations. As I’ve done at past launches, I’ll show slides of locations that inspired my novel and read scenes related to each setting.

My first reading will be the novel’s opening scene, narrated by my protagonist, Paula Savard. The novel begins with Paula alone in her office building in Calgary’s historic Inglewood neighbourhood, pictured at the top of this post.

After my readings and talk, I’ll invite audience questions and answer them as best I can. Then comes a trivia quiz, which I spent this afternoon preparing. I did my best to find interesting questions that strike a balance between easy and hard. With luck I succeeded and people will find the game fun and informative.

I look forward to tomorrow evening with readers and friends at cSpace Marda Loop.

Thursday, September 21, 2023, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

The Treehouse, 4th Floor cSPACE Marda Loop, 1721 29th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta

RSVP Owl’s Nest Bookstore email: contact@owlsnestbooks.com or phone 403-287-9557

Two Days to Book Launch

September 19, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Bouchercon, #Canadianmysterynovels, #CoronadoIsland, #ebikes, #mysterynovel, #mysterywriting, #SanDiegoadmin

At Bouchercon San Diego in early September, I met Nancy Brashear at an evening event. She said she’d driven from San Clemente to the convention with her husband, who wasn’t attending Bouchercon. He’d brought his e-bike and had discovered interesting bike paths in the city. That morning he’d taken his bike on the ferry to Coronado island. Even though I was thoroughly enjoying the convention, as an ardent e-biker I was a tad jealous.

The next day I was surprised and pleased to see Nancy and her husband at my Author Spotlight at Bouchercon. I set up my presentation materials while our husbands chatted about e-biking. After my talk, Nancy asked if I’d be interested in participating in her blog. She regularly interviews authors and creates a super post. We got in touch after I came home from California. Here’s the post she did about me: https://www.nancybrashear.com/e-bike-and-pandemic-inspire-author-susan-calders-new-mystery-spring-into-danger/

Nancy says she’s coming to Calgary Bouchercon in 2026 and if she lived in Calgary, she’d love to come to my book launch.

Thursday, September 21, 2023, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

cSPACE Marda Loop, 1721 29th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta

Getting closer – five days to my book launch

September 16, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #hiking, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

Hard to believe my book launch is only five days away. I’m finding it hard to focus on preparing for the event in the midst of Calgary’s burst of summer weather. Wednesday I went hiking in our beautiful Kananaskis mountains south of the city. Today I went to another part Kananaskis for a short hike and our hiking club’s annual highway cleanup. It’s always disappointing to find so little garbage by the roadside. Tomorrow I’m off for a bike ride in Banff on the Bow Valley Parkway, which is closed to motor vehicles this month. But Sunday, despite the forecast sunshine and warm temperatures, I will have to get down to work.

The launch party for Spring Into Summer will take place Thursday, September 21, 2023, 7:00-8:30 p.m. cSPACE Marda Loop, 1721 29th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta.

Seven days to book launch

September 14, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

Opal Magazine is back in action. Here’s the first piece I wrote for the new issue. I describe my initial process of planning my book launch, which will take place a week from now. https://opalpublishing.ca/2023/09/06/planning-a-book-launch/

Above is a photo of cSpace Marda Loop, the launch venue. The Treehouse is the top floor of the extension on the left hand side.

Thursday, September 21, 2023, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

cSPACE Marda Loop, 1721 29th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta

Nine Days to Book Launch

September 12, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterywriting, biking, e-bikesadmin

When I’m on holiday my mind reboots. I wrote today’s BWL blog before my trip and had forgotten the topic I chose until I checked the BWL website today. Turns out I wrote about how biking inspired my new novel, Spring Into Danger, and how I came to set the story during the first pandemic lockdown. Here’s the post: https://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/

Podcast

August 27, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterynovel, #mysterywritingadmin

Author Joanna Vander Vlugt interviewed me for her podcast series. I really enjoyed our conversation. You can listen to us here: https://jcvartstudio.podbean.com/e/e157-susan-calder-spring-into-danger/

Two Events

August 24, 2023News#Bouchercon, #CrimeWritersCanada, #mysterywriting, #sistersincrimeadmin

I’m excited about two upcoming events. Next week I’ll be on a panel at Bouchercon, San Diego, with four talented writers. It promises to be informative and fun. https://www.bouchercon.com/

On Sept 21st Owl’s Nest Bookstore will host the book launch party for my new novel, Spring Into Danger. The event will take place at cSpace Marda Loop, 1721 29th Avenue SW, 4^th floor Treehouse. Scroll down Owl’s Nest’s Event page for details. Owl’s Nest Bookstore (owlsnestbooks.com)

Creating a Novel Series Cover Brand

June 22, 2023News#amwriting, #amwritingfiction, #bookcoverdesign, #Canadianmysterynovels, #mysterywritingadmin

BWL’s Art Director didn’t set out to create a cover brand for my Paula Savard Mystery Series. The first cover that Michelle Lee designed for me was for book # 2 of my series, Ten Days in Summer, published in 2017. The process began with me filling out a BWL Cover Art Form (CAF). I provided details about the story, its setting in Calgary, and the two main characters and suggested images related to these. At that time, BWL required that most novel covers include at least one image of a person.

I plugged keywords into the photo image website, searching for ones that suited my protagonist and the story antagonist, a wannabe cowboy. None were exactly right, especially for Paula, my insurance adjuster sleuth. “Female detective” turned up images of young women peering through magnifying glasses. Paula is fifty-two and doesn’t use that prop. Keywords “female insurance adjuster” showed women examining cars. The story involves a building fire insurance claim. I tried “businesswomen” and got images of women sitting in meetings, while Paula spends her time out on the case.

I selected the best images for Paula that I could find along with images for my antagonist, which included a silhouetted cowboy. I also suggested images of the Calgary skyline, fires, and a boarded-up house for the burned building. I don’t think Michelle used any of the exact images I sent, but she meshed my ideas into a cover that was better than one I could have designed (see cover image above). The fire suggests the heat of summer in the title.

Two years later, BWL republished A Deadly Fall, book # 1 in the series. During that short time period, book cover fashion moved away from portraying people and toward crisp and intriguing images that evoke a sense of the story. Now BWL’s CAF stated that most covers would not include a person. I sent people image suggestions anyway, but I found it easier not to have to focus on finding an image that fit the characters in my head. On my CAF, I suggested images for the Calgary skyline and fall — fall leaves on water, a path in fall, trees with colourful fall leaves, and falling leaves. Again, I doubt Michelle chose my actual suggestions, but they were her starting point to create this golden cover.

When the third series book, Winter’s Rage, was ready for a cover two years later, we were on our way to a series cover brand. My CAF included a few people image suggestions — a woman texting, a man in a snowstorm, but I focused on images of the Calgary skyline in winter and winter driving, since this story was about a hit-and-run collision. For the first time I considered colour. While red, orange, and yellow suited the fall and summer seasons of the first two books, I saw winter as white, blue, and black (night). Michelle came up with a cover that continued the brand with snowflakes and a frozen Calgary. Winter’s book cover was blue, with yellow lettering that linked it to the colour of the two earlier books in the series.

By book # 4 of my Paula Savard Mystery Series, the series brand was established: Calgary skyline, colours to suit the story season, and additional images related to the season or story. Since bicycles feature prominently in Spring Into Danger, I included bicycle images among my CAF suggestions and chose Calgary skyline images that had a place for a bike or cyclist in the foreground. Here’s the cover design for Spring Into Danger, which is scheduled for release in September.

I like how the cyclist pops into view. Whenever I look at this cover, I don’t notice him until he emerges from the shadows. The book’s blue cover with yellow lettering matches Winter’s Rage and the covers for the four books have come full circle by including a silhouette on the first and last design. I look forward to seeing Spring Into Danger sitting on a bookshelf.