A CWC Awards of Excellence prize-winning short story; a riveting psychological thriller involving a dissociative identity; a dangerous Cambodian investigation with a gutsy heroine; a mysterious text that’s a prelude to murder. Please join these outstanding Crime Writers of Canada authors as they read from a delicious assortment of their criminally-inclined work.
Hybrid events are held in person, you will also be able to watch it live streamed from our Youtube channel.
Location: Room C225, UBC Robson Square
Type: Panel
Sponsored by Crime Writers of Canada
Moderator: S.M. Freedman, Blood Atonement (Dundurn Press)
Panelists: K.L. Abrahamson, Within Angkor Shadows (Twisted Root Books) | Karen Dodd, Everybody Knows & Deadly Switch (Isleview House Press) | Craig H. Bowlsby, “The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead” (published in Mystery Magazine)
About The Moderator
Mystery and thriller author S.M. Freedman studied acting in New York and spent a decade as a private investigator on the not-so-mean streets of Vancouver, before returning to her first love: writing. She’s the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller The Faithful, which made the quarter-finals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was selected by Suspense Magazine as the Best Debut of the Year, Impact Winter, and The Day She Died. Her most recent psychological thriller, Blood Atonement, about a woman who escapes an isolated religious sect and must determine if her alter personality is a murderer or if she’s going to be the next victim, was selected as a Top 100 Best Books of 2022 by the Globe and Mail, chosen by the Vancouver Sun and The Province as one of five books to give this holiday season, and was a finalist in the Crime Writers of Canada’s Awards of Excellence.
About The Readers
Karen Dodd is a novelist living in a tiny seaside village on the west coast of British Columbia. Her atmospheric thrillers are set in the achingly beautiful but dark underbellies of Italy and Malta. Her second novel, Scare Away the Dark, won the Chanticleer CLUE award. She is currently writing a psychological thriller set in the Pacific Northwest. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, past president of the North Shore Writers’ Association and current president of the Canada West chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Author of the police procedural Detective Kazakov Mysteries and the amateur sleuth Phoebe Clay Mysteries, K. L. Abrahamson’s short fiction can be found in various anthologies, as well as Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, and Black Cat Mystery Magazine.' Trapped on Cedar Trails, the fourth Phoebe Clay novel was released in November 2022. When she isn't writing she can be found with a camera and backpack in fabulous locations around the world. Karen’s work has been described by national bestselling author, M.L. Buchman as having “connection to culture and … powerful characters (that) make an incredible story.”
Craig has published many short stories, primarily in the mystery or sci-fi genres. In 2023, the Crime Writers of Canada gave Craig the Award of Excellence for his short story, “The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead,” published in Mystery Magazine in April 2022. Another story, “Black Tie for Murder,” was long-listed in April 2022 for the Margery Allingham Short Mystery competition, and later presented online in Mystery Tribune, in November 2022. Other recent published fiction includes: “Bota and the Swarm,” in Metastellar science fiction, 2021 (USA); “The Day the Earth Didn’t Stand Still” in Neo-opsis science fiction, 2021 (Canada); “The Last Run of Old 248” in the JayHenge science fiction anthology on Joining Forces, 2021 (Sweden); “The Last of the Shamrocks” in Aethlon the sports literature magazine, 2020 (USA); “One Day in Tom’s Life with Ice Cream,” in Neo-opsis science fiction magazine, 2019; and “Translate This,” in the sci-fi magazine, Polar Borealis, 2018, (Canada) also re-issued in a Tall Tale TV Podcast in 2021, (USA). Etc. Several stories written by Craig for Lynda Williams’ Okal Rel universe (Edge sci-fi in Calgary) were published in the Okal Rel extended anthologies. Craig’s unpublished novel titled “Requiem for a Lotus,” involving a Shanghai detective in 1917, was shortlisted for the 2023 Clue Book Awards (presented by CIBA, USA), and declared a finalist in July for the 2023 Killer Nashville Claymore Awards for Unpublished Mystery novels. Craig has a Bfa in creative writing from UBC. Several of his non-fiction hockey history books earned him the 2014 Brian McFarlane Award from the Society for International Hockey Research. He has studied extensively with William Deverell, the celebrated, veteran crime writer, and winner of the Dashiell Hammett Prize. Outside of writing, Craig’s pursuits include winning the Western Canadian Fencing Championships (in foil) five times.
