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| Focus on Books Series |
Hello and welcome to FOCUS on BOOKS, a series sparked by my love of reading. We explore fascinating, familiar, and new worlds created by authors.
Every third Wednesday of the month, join us for a celebration of storytelling—spotlighting books, conversing with guest authors, and sharing my personal reading recommendations. Giveaways, surprises, and games will add to the fun.
I am delighted to welcome back my friend and skillful storyteller, Canadian author, Susan Calder. Susan has graced the pages of the Focused on Story blog in previous posts. She brings excellent stories to share with you.
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| A Killer Whisky by Susan Calder Historical fiction and mystery |
CONGRATULATIONS on your latest release of this mystery,
Readers, in case you questioned the spelling of whisky in the title, Grammarly explains that Whisky (no e) refers to Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese grain spirits. Whiskey (with an e) refers to grain spirits distilled in Ireland and the United States.
Susan, what prompted you to write A Killer Whisky?
Thank you for hosting me, Janet.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I became intrigued with the 1918-20 flu pandemic, which was formerly called the Spanish flu. I read several non-fiction books on the subject and thought it would be interesting to write a mystery story set during that time. My general idea was that someone dies of presumed flu, but my story protagonist suspects it was murder and investigates. When one of my writing groups, Crime Writers of Canada, decided to publish an anthology of Canadian short stories with the theme "cold," I turned my musings into a short story.
Before submitting the story to CWC, I showed the first pages to a writer-in-residence, who suggested it could be a novel. I sent in the short story anyway and it was published in the CWC anthology, "Cold Canadian Crime."
Some months later, BWL publisher, Jude Pittman, told me she planned to produce a series of mystery novels set in Canada's ten provinces and two of our territories. I considered ways to turn my short story into a novel, decided my plan would work, and asked to write the Alberta novel for the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series.
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Susan Calder |
BACK OF THE BOOK
The 1918 influenza pandemic strikes Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Great War rages overseas. While her husband fights in Europe, Katharine works in a doctor’s office to support her children and her brother, a wounded veteran. One night their neighbour suddenly takes sick and dies. The attending doctor concludes the man died from influenza, but Katharine suspects someone laced his whisky with a drug that mimics the deadly flu’s symptoms.
Katharine convinces the police to investigate. Worried about her brother’s involvement with a suspect, she delves into his secrets and comes to fear he’s connected to the murder. She grows disturbingly attracted to the investigating detective who returns her affections. He’s convinced her brother or someone else close to her is a killer and risks his career to pursue the crime. Katharine must discover the truth so she can move forward in a world that has changed forever.
BUY LINKS:
The eBook is available at major online booksellers
JQ'S REVIEW OF A KILLER WHISKY
The historical fiction novel, A Killer Whisky, is set against a backdrop of WWI and the killer disease, the Spanish flu. That backdrop and the location of the story attracted me to the mystery. My husband and I visited Alberta a few years ago, so I looked forward to revisiting the places through this story. Ms. Calder is an excellent storyteller. Her characters engage the reader and her narratives paint a word picture of the scenes and the era. I had many choices of who would have been the killer, but I did not know who it was until the final pages. Now, for me, that is the measure of a satisfying story. If you are a reader of well-researched historical fiction and mystery novels, I would recommend A Killer Whisky.
ABOUT AUTHOR SUSAN CALDER
Susan Calder is the author of six novels published by BWL Publishing. Four are part of her Paula Savard Mystery Series set in Calgary, Alberta, and the fifth is a
standalone suspense novel. Her recent release, A Killer Whisky, takes place in Calgary during the 1918 influenza pandemic and the final days of WWI. A Killer Whisky is book #12 of the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series.
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| Mystery author Susan Calder |
CONNECT ONLINE WITH SUSAN
BWL Author Page: Calder, Susan - BWL Publishing Inc.
Susan's Previous Guest Post
UPDATE: I have updated my guided journal,
Your LIfe with Jesus: How to Spark Memories and Write Your Spiritual Memoir.
The hardcover will be available later this month for Easter gifting.
Sharing
your sacred story is a beautiful gift to your family, friends, and yourself. As
you look through the lens of time, you'll realize God's presence in your life
journey and gain new insights when recording videos or penning your memoir. I'll let you know when it is published on Amazon.
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| Your Life with Jesus Learn how to write your spiritual memoir. |
Connect online with JQ Rose:
Email: jqrose02 @ gmail dot com
6 comments:
Interesting time to set it in, one of the deadliest pandemics ever. Funny how so few fiction movies and books even mention it when set during those years. Hope it does great, Susan!
Congrats on your new book, Susan! I don't know much about this pandemic, which like Alex says is hardly mentioned. It was interesting to read how you came up with the idea for your story.
I agree, Alex. Thanks, Alex.
And I'm so glad Susan turned the short story into an intriguing novel.
Nice to see a mystery set in Canada. One of DLP's authors sets all her mystery thrillers in Canada and it's interesting to see the different attitudes and such. (I didn't realize so many Canadians were very prejudiced against the indigenous people until I read Joylene's books.)
There are 12 mysteries in this series. Each book's setting is in a province of Canada and in different eras. My publisher received a special grant from the Canadian government to publish these books.
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