Anthologies

When seven award-winning women authors with crime on their minds join forces the result is seven anthologies in just over a decade. In these stories from the first anthology, The Ladies' Killing Circle, everyone has secrets and sometimes murder is the only way to keep them safe. Mary Jane Maffini won Best Short Story Award from Crime Writers of Canada for Cotton Armour in which ultimate power is wielded from a death bed. Cross Country Skiing turns out to be deadly in Joan Boswell's One Cold Cookie. Audrey Jessup's The Little Treasures proves that a lonely woman with a houseful of valuables can be far too trusting In Birdbrain, by Vicki Cameron, dumb animals turn out to be both smart and vengeful. Linda Wiken proves the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words and all of them end in murder in There Goes the Neighbourhood. Sue Pike's story, With Friends like These, asks the question, what's a girl to do when she believes all of her friends are gunning for her? And, finally, in Barbara Fradkin's Secrets of the Night, the darkest stories are revealed just before the dawn. Let the ladies slay you!

Twenty Crime Stories by: Karen Blake-Hall, Vicki Delany, Elizabeth Hosang, P.M. Jones, N.J. Lindquist, Rosemary McCracken, Lynne Murphy, Helen Nelson, Sue Pike, A.J. Richards, Steve Shrott, Madona Skaff, Tracy L. Ward, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Linda Wiken. Editor: Janet Costello The Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with this anthology of twenty stories penned by fifteen Canadian Crime writers. Selected by a blind judging process, the stories are cozy and noir, humorous and poignant, historical and current. There are amateur sleuths and professionals–cops, private detectives and one or two you won’t see coming. The protagonists are women, men and children. The settings are varied too, within Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Vietnam and an unnamed exotic locale. These authors are young and young at heart–established authors and those who are being published for the first time. And while most are female, there is also one male author in this collection.

This is the second collection of mystery stories by Canadian members of Sisters in Crime. The collection features 24 stories by 21 Canadian members. The authors, including both established authors and those who are previously unpublished, are: Lou Allin, Catherine Astolfo, Linda Cahill, Melodie Campbell, Miriam Clavir, Susan Daly, Jill Downie, Elizabeth Hosang, P.M. Jones, Ann R. Loverock, H. MacDonald-Archer, Lesley Mang, Elaine Ruth Mitchell, Charlotte Morganti, Helen Nelson, Carol Newhouse, Judy Penz Sheluk, Steve Shrott, Madona Skaff, Coleen Steele and Linda Wiken. It is edited by Janet Costello. The stories have a variety of characters: shop owners, children, a thief, vengeful women, unhappy wives, a poet, police officers of both sexes and more... The stories are set mostly in Canada, in a wide variety of locations, including British Columbia, Northern Ontario, Alberta and Quebec! All stories were selected by a blind judging procedure.