Napoleon & Company attended the BookExpo Canada in Toronto, June 10 and 11. It was a busy booth with nine of our children's and adult authors signing over two days.

Photos: Editor Allister Thompson chats with RVC writer Rick Blechta; RVC authors Mary Jane Maffini (left) and Joan Boswell (second from the right) share a laugh with Cheryl Friedmann of the Crime Writers of Canada; Rick Blechta gets serious with an attendee; R. J. Harlick signs 'Red Ice for a Shroud'.

As graduates of the University of Toronto, Barbara Fradkin and R.J. Harlick were invited to sign their latest mysteries at the U of T Alumni Book Fair on June 2, 2007. The fair took place in the Great Hall of Hart House during the university's Spring Reunion.

RendezVous Crime celebrates at the 24th annual Arthur Ellis Awards!

RendezVous Crime and Barbara Fradkin celebrated last night, June 7th, 2007 at the Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre, as Barbara won her second Arthur Ellis for Best Novel for her 2006 mystery, Honour among Men. Even though Barbara won the same award in 2005 for the previous novel in the series, Fifth Son, it never becomes old hat. Her three children were for the first time present at the event and ten other friends were also there to make it a really joyous occasion for the family.

RendezVous had two other nominations for Arthurs, David Russell's first novel Deadly Lessons, and (once again) Barbara Fradkin's short story, Voices from the Deep.

Above, from top: publisher, Sylvia McConnell, celebrates with fourteen RendezVous Crime friends and family; Barbara Fradkin accepts her second Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel; Mary Jane Maffini toasts the win of her friend Barbara at the RendezVous Crime table; the happy winner Barbara Fradkin shows off her Arthur; Sue Pike and Lyn Hamilton are all smiles.

Upcoming Events for David Russell:

Saturday, June 9th
Murder Most Foul: A Mini-Conference on Crime for Writers and Readers
Victoria Public Library
735 Broughton Street
Victoria, B.C.

Russell will speak on a panel with fellow mystery writers Lou Allin and Ron Chudley.

Sunday, June 10th
Chapters Victoria
1212 Douglas Street
Victoria, B.C.

Russell will sign copies of his Arthur Ellis Award nominated novel, Deadly Lessons.

Upcoming Lou Allin events:

June 8th All-day Crime Week in Canada seminar/panels at the Victoria BC Main Library along with other Crime Writers in Canada members.

September 8-9 Sooke Fall Fair: Reading and selling along with Denise Dietz

September 27-30 Bouchercon in Anchorage. Lou plans to participate in the Authors in the Schools program which sends writers by bush plane or other wilderness travel options to remote areas.

Book Launches: May 23, 7-9 p.m. Mary Jane Maffini

Come out and celebrate the launch of a new series by author and CCW member Mary Jane Maffini at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St. in the SunkenLobby. Organize Your Corpses, the first Charlotte Adams book, will be let out of the starting gate. Author Joan Boswell will unveil her second Hollis Grant mystery, Cut to the Quick. For more info or to phone ahead to reserve books: call Prime Crime Mystery Bookstore at 613­238­CLUE.

Fri, Apr 27, 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Van Houtte Coffee Shop & Bistro, 272 St. Catherine St. E.
Montreal, PQ

RendezVous Crime authors R. J. Harlick, Rick Blechta and Barbara Fradkin will be discussing and signing their books at Crime Writers of Canada’s Interactive Showcase. There will also be live jazz, nibbles, a cash bar, and door prizes. A $5 donation at the door will be gratefully accepted on behalf of Handicap International, an organization working to ban land mines and cluster bombs.

RVC author Lou Allin will be reading and signing at the Pacific Festival of Books on March 24. The reading will be at the open mike at 1:30 and the signing/selling at the Crime Writers of Canada booth from 2-4.

Address: Victoria Arts Connection Building, 2570 Quadra St., Victoria, BC

At the behest of a friend, Deadly Lessons author David Russell entered the Talk Show Idol contest on BC’s powerhouse radio station CKNW. Like the Canadian Idol phenomenon that inspired it, the contest seeks to find the next rising talk show host talent. Admittedly, having been a talk show host on local television for six and a half years in the 1990’s, Russell was mostly looking at it as an opportunity to plug his book on the province’s biggest radio station – which, of course, he duly did when he took to the airwaves for his segment on February 25th. But once he got behind the mic, the old juices kicked in and he had a lot of fun. Apparently the judges and listeners did too: later in the week CKNW called to say he’d been advanced to the quarterfinals that take place sometime in April. Stay tuned!

In mid-March, Russell will shoot an interview as part of a new Global TV documentary series called True Pulp Fiction. Each episode of the series will focus on a true crime with reenactments and interviews with police detectives who originally investigated the crime. Each episode will also feature a Canadian crime writer who will comment on parallels between the true crime and that which was featured in the author’s fiction. One of the crimes on True Pulp Murder has interesting parallels to the story in Russell’s Deadly Lessons. No word yet on when the series will air so again...stay tuned!

New dates for Joan Boswell:

Ottawa Launch, National Library of Canada, Wellington Street, Wednesday, May 23rd
Kingston Signing, As the Plot Thickens, Saturday, June 2, 2-4
Toronto Launch, Badminton and Racquet Club 25 St. Clair Ave W., Saturday June 9th 2-4
Book Expo Toronto Sunday, June 10th