Our “Tainted” book launch celebration on Wednesday April 15 at the Ancaster Old Town Hall was a great success. The venue is charming in an olde worlde sort of way, with a clock tower, limestone walls, and high cove ceilings. The party was a team effort, masterminded and mostly executed by my wife Lorna. She prepared and labelled “tainted” nibbles that reflected the clues and characters in the novel (including young Max’s favourite brownies). Acoustic Properties, the musical trio that  comforts the patients in the palliative care unit at my hospital (Brantford General), added greatly to the ambience, especially when they premiered “Zol Szabo’s Theme”, a tribute to Tainted‘s main character. My lively sister Sheena acted as host of ceremonies; my brother-in-law Tim set up the tables/chairs and kept us calm; my parents Barbara and Archie, all the way from Ottawa, chatted with the guests from their front-row seats; our daughter sent her love from Windsor while writing university exams; Patti and Mario sold Tainted copies on behalf of Brantford General Hospital Foundation; our son Fraser charmed the long line of guests waiting to
have their brand new books signed by this very happy and grateful author.

Jack David, the helmsman at ECW Press, said some very kind words and then I talked about the book’s setting and characters before reading a few short excerpts. It’s tricky to do a reading of a mystery novel. You don’t want to give the game away, yet you want to engage the audience and impress them with your writing style. I chose short passages, which introduced four of the characters. There were a few chuckles and then a lot of hand clapping, as you’d expect when you’ve corralled 130 of your good friends and supporters.

Edna Barker, my skilled and patient editor, along with Simon and Erin from ECW Press, made the trek from Toronto to provide their continued support and encouragement, which have been essential to the success of the enterprise. At the end of the evening, three lucky winners took home Lorna’s specially made, and truly gorgeous, quilted table runners.

Now that the big launch is over, I’m looking forward to the next few Tainted talks and readings, which people have been kind enough to arrange. For me, meeting enthusiastic readers is the biggest bonus of being a published author. Please click on this website’s Author Events tab, and do come out and say hello when you can.