Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

When people think of Alberta, they may think of the ‘wild west’ (Calgary Stampede, anyone?). And the province does have rugged mountains and sweeping prairie vistas (it’s one of Canada’s ‘prairie provinces’). But Alberta’s a lot more than just rodeos and the Canadian Rockies. The largest cities, Calgary and Edmonton, feature world-class education, music, dining, and so on. And Alberta faces several of the challenges that other places in the world face (e.g. homelessness, poverty, racism). You don’t normally think of Alberta as a hotbed of crime, but it’s there, too – at least in crime fiction.

For instance, Deborah Nicholson’s House Report introduces Kate Carpenter, house manager for the Foothills Stage Network (FSN), which is housed in the Calgary Arts Complex (known as the Plex). As house manager, Kate’s responsible for making sure that the equipment works, the staff is prepared, the washrooms are kept clean, and a thousand other things. One evening during the FSN’s run of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the bludgeoned body of Peter Reynolds is found in the men’s washroom. Detective Ken Lincoln is called in and begins the investigation. The victim’s ex-wife, Gladys, is a natural suspect, especially considering she works as an usher. But she claims she’s innocent. She doesn’t think the police will be fair to her, so she asks Kate for help in clearing her name. Kate gets even more motivation when her lover, Norman ‘Cam’ Caminsky, a building engineer for the Plex, is implicated. She starts asking questions, but it’s not long before her curiosity gets her in danger.

In Dave Butler’s Full Curl, we meet Jenny Willson, a game warden stationed in Canada’s Banff National Park. One day, she sees evidence of poaching in the park. She and her colleague Bill Forsythe begin an investigation, but they haven’t gotten far when there’s another poaching incident. It’s now clear that a full-scale poaching operation is going on, and Jenny is determined to find out who’s responsible. And there are several possibilities. There are a number of wealthy collectors who are willing to pay a great deal for a trophy without asking a lot of questions. There are others who are happy to flout the law if it means a big payday, and they won’t stop at murder to keep the operation going. It turns out to be a much bigger case than Jenny had imagined, with international implications.

In P.D. Workman’ Out With the Sunset, Detective Margie Patenaud and her teenage daughter, Christina, have moved from Winnipeg to start new lives in Calgary. Margie has taken up a job with the Calgary homicide department and wants to make a good impression and prove herself as a team leader. She gets her chance when the body of a man is discovered in Fish Creek Park. He’s soon identified as Jerry Robinson, and the team begins to look into his history to see who might have wanted to murder him. At first, there doesn’t seem to be much of a motive for anyone, but Margie and her team persist. In the end, and with help from CCTV cameras in the park, they piece together what happened. It’s a bit of a challenge for Margie to start a new job in a new city, gain the respect of colleagues, and help her daughter navigate her new environment. Still, Margie is determined to make good.

Vicki Delany’s Under a Cold Stone features Lucy ‘Lucky’ Smith and her partner Paul Keller (Trafalgar, British Columbia’s Chief Constable). In the novel, they decide to have a private getaway, and head for Alberta’s Banff National Park. Everything changes when Paul’s estranged son Matt goes missing. It won’t be easy to find him, either, as he’s a very experienced camper. And he’s suspected of a recent murder, so he has every reason to want to disappear. He could be in danger, though, and Lucky and Paul want to find him as soon as possible. Lucky’s daughter, Constable Moonlight ‘Molly’ Smith doesn’t have jurisdiction in Alberta, but she goes to Banff to help in any way she can. Then, Matt’s girlfriend comes forward, saying that he’s not guilty and asking Molly to find him. Now, Molly, Lucky and Paul take on the difficult challenge of searching for Matt, if he’s even still alive.

And then there’s Janice MacDonald’s Randy Craig mysteries. Miranda ‘Randy’ Craig is a sessional lecturer for Edmonton’s Grant McEwan University. Her background is in literature, and she puts that knowledge to use in Next Margaret and Another Margaret, where she pursues mysteries surrounding acclaimed writer Margaret Ahlers. As she pursues those mysteries, Randy also finds the keys to some mysteries in her own life. In the series, Randy uses her research skills to find answers. We also get a look at modern university life, the social structure of a lot of universities, and the unrelenting pressure to get things published.

There you have it. There’s a lot to love about Alberta. It’s got everything, from breathtaking natural scenery to oil fields, to farms, to fine dining, theatre and music, to world-class education and more. But do be careful. Alberta also has crime…

ps. Thanks, Canada Guide, for the lovely photo!

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Gordon Lightfoot’s Alberta Bound.