Not only does Blair take note of Ottawa\u0027s drabness and OC Transpo\u0027s lack of punctuality\u003B she sets it in what might as well be present day.
“My mystery author’s brain said, ‘Dead body,'” says the Ottawa-based writer. “It’s not a broken sewage line. It’s a dead body.”It’s no spoiler to say that Shadow Play, which is Blair’s fifth mystery, begins with an unnamed figure ruminating about a hidden corpse generating rusty stains that seep through the station’s tunnels.
She says readers who have contacted her or reviewed Shadow Play online appreciate that the book is set in Ottawa. “The one thing they’re all commenting on is they really like the fact that it’s Canada, the fact that it’s Ottawa, that it has local details,” says Blair. Although Blair’s previous books were well-reviewed and one of them even cracked a national best-seller list, Blair took a long hiatus from writing, which didn’t help when she tried to make a comeback.
She says she writes by the seat of her pants rather than by meticulously plotting a book with an outline. “Often I don’t know where a story’s going until I start writing it. I don’t know who’s going to turn out to be the major character,” she says. “It really all comes out as I’m going through it myself and sometimes it takes me in directions I don’t expect to go.”
“There’s a bit of me in all of them,” Blair concedes of her characters. “But none of them are me. Unless I’m difficult, impulsive, kind, generous… They all have different aspects.”
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ottawa mayor condemns anti-LGBTQ2S+ 'Million March for Children' rally in OttawaOttawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is condemning the 'One Million March for Children' on Parliament Hill, which is a protest opposed to teaching LGBTQ2S+ issues in schools.
Read more »
TTC proposes using savings from LRT delays to hire more frontline personnel as winter loomsThe TTC says it wants to use savings from the delayed openings of the Finch West and Eglinton LRTs to hire 178 new personnel to improve safety on the network as the winter months approach.
Read more »
Ottawa didn’t inform Saskatchewan of claims against key trade partner India, minister saysSaskatchewan Trade Minister Jeremy Harrison says Trudeau did not inform province of claims made against India’s government
Read more »
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow heading to Ottawa next week to plea for financial aidToronto Mayor Olivia Chow will head to Ottawa next week in a bid to convince the federal government to sign on to a new fiscal framework, following a provincial promise to help tackle the city’s structural deficit.
Read more »
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow heading to Ottawa next week to plea for financial aidToronto Mayor Olivia Chow will head to Ottawa next week in a bid to convince the federal government to sign on to a new fiscal framework, following a provincial promise to help tackle the city’s structural deficit.
Read more »
SNAPSHOTS: Ottawa Senators ready to get down to business with or without Shane PintoGARRIOCH SNAPSHOTS: The Ottawa Senators ready to get down to business, with or without Shane Pinto
Read more »