Submitted
It’s not so much “whodunit,” but “howdunit.”
On Saturday, Sept. 29 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., crime fiction writers R.M. (Rachel) Greenaway and J.G. (Judy) Toews will discuss their novels and what it took to create them in a “Two-Woman Crime Spree,” a free event as part of B.C. Culture Days. The event takes place in the Nelson Public Library’s lower level.
Since 2013, when they met at a mystery writing workshop, Greenaway and Toews have been doing plenty of coffee-shop brainstorming, commiserating, and celebrating of milestones.
“With the release of our latest novels, it struck us that since an important part of producing a book is telling the world about it, we could combine two of our favourite things — touring and gabbing — and invite other readers and writers into the conversation,” says Toews.
Greenaway first began writing crime fiction while northbound on a Greyhound. Work as a court reporter in the remote parts of B.C. often took her on the road, and in this case, on a bus in the middle of a blizzard.
Which was good, she says, as being a passenger gave her time to kill, “and what better way to kill time than to think up cat-and-mouse stories?”
Street names became character names as the bus passed through small towns, and the blizzard became the setting for her first book, Cold Girl. There are now three in the series, which includes Undertow and Creep, with a fourth, Flights and Falls, to be released next spring.
Give Out Creek is Toews’ debut novel and the first in a series featuring sleuth Stella Mosconi and set in her own hometown of Nelson. Toews says she has always been hooked on crime fiction, fuelled by a fascination with forensics and her own science background.
The Two-Woman Crime Spree will also stop at libraries in Trail, Castlegar, Kaslo, and Salmo, where the duo will talk about the craft of writing with a focus on crime fiction, the ups and downs of publishing, the characters they’ve created, and the roads they’ve travelled.