A range of new and older works, given the scope of this project. This blog post will be a work in progress, so this is a start, and a placeholder. I read dozens of mysteries last year. And many of them were purchased with a grant from Sisters in Crime back in 2023–thank you, thank you!!! My reading for this project got delayed a bit by being a judge for the Canadian Crime Writers’ contest, which meant I read lots of new Canadian mystery fiction–but more than half, interestingly, was by male authors. And lots of authors whom I would have anticipated would be entered in the category I was judging were not.
Loved, or very much liked and will seek out more by the author:
Calli Barrow’s Red Rover. The first in a very welcome series: a contemporary lesbian PI, with an office in Toronto’s Kensington Market. I’ve linked to my fairly detailed GoodReads review, although I’m having ethical qualms about GoodReads and may delete my account. At the moment, however, it’s a fun way to keep up with what friends and family are reading.
Janice MacDonald’s Victor & Me in Paris: A new series from the Edmonton-based author; her Randy Craig series, set in Alberta, is a big part of two of my chapters, so it was very fun to see MacDonald launch a new protagonist into the world–and send her to Paris to eat croissants and help solve a murder.
Janice MacDonald’s fascinating Another Margaret, which is, as the publisher’s website indicates, the 1st and 6th book in the series–it’s a substantial revision/extension of an earlier work which I’ve read but is now hard to find. For CanLit folks: these books are about an elusive Canadian woman writer, so there’s a fun literary mystery going on, and MacDonald does setting–including academic milieus–exceptionally well.
Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf, because even though it’s more in the thriller than the cozy/police procedural mode I prefer, it’s a cracking good read with strong pacing and an intriguing premise. The companion novel–this one ends on a cliffhanger–will be out next year. Penny’s work, despite my caviling, is consistently outstanding, as her legions of international fans suggest.
Jean Paetkau’s Blood on the Breakwater and The Sinking of Souls: Victoria-set novels with a single mom amateur sleuth who has a lot on her plate but still finds time to dig into mysteries, historical and contemporary, and enjoy the gorgeousness of this city’s physical and cultural offerings. Lots of focus on Victoria heritage, which I enjoy; I’m hoping for a future book that incorporates the thousands of years of Indigenous life on these lands more explicitly.
All of L.R. Wright: re-reads, with delight and wonder and gratitude. How brilliant she was! The Sunshine Coast of British Columbia comes to life and the plotting is intricate and surprising. It’s a pity that the TV series is less than stellar, but it was the occasion for re-issuing her Alberg books, and that’s a wonderful thing. If you’re starting Wright, do begin with the first of the Alberg books, The Suspect (and I think the TV series was smart to do the same). Alternately, you could read her truncated second series, with a female RCMP investigator, Eddie Henderson. But a joy about Wright’s books is that in every book, in every chapter of every book, there are vivid, in-depth, startling insights about people. I don’t know that any other Canadian mystery writer has had such a strong grasp of psychology. Can’t say enough good things.
Joy Fielding: many of them! I’m learning to understand the tropes of domestic suspense, and Joy Fielding got there early and often. She’s rather intriguing, in her relationship to place, because she’s the polar opposite of Wright: her books are set in U.S. cities and place is not terribly important–except to create a sense of familiarity for U.S. readers. I don’t think Fielding’s quite gotten her due in Canada, and one of my 2025 goals is some work in her archives, to get a better sense of the trajectory of her long career.
TBR:
Alexis Koetting’s Encore and Triple Threat–-I read her Revival a couple of years ago, because we have a mutual friend who recommended it: the series features an actor-protagonist working out of Niagara-on-the-Lake, and she’s a very fun amateur investigator.
Margaret Millar: a fascinating early domestic suspense/thriller writer. Born and raised in Canada, and a handful of her books are set here, but they’re mostly U.S.-based. I think she’s fallen out of favour a bit? Due for a revival and some new adaptations.
Barbara Fradkin: I read a few of her books this past year, from two different series, but I need to do a deeper dive into her work, which is set in a range of intriguing places–and in Ottawa.
Mary Jane Maffini: Ditto. And that reminds me that I need to do some research on the Ottawa-area Ladies’ Killing Circle of mystery writers. At one point in the distant past, Ottawa had a good mystery bookstore, and I have a vague sense that this helped connect some of these authors.
The Landscape of Canadian Women's Crime Fiction 
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