By Charlie Senack
Don Butler
Island Park area resident Don Butler drew inspiration from his former Ottawa Citizen newsroom when he wrote his first book A Life of Bliss. The former journalist of 40 years turned author released the mystery novel in 2021 after sitting on the copy for a few years.
The book, published by Ottawa Press and Publishing, is about Bliss Browning, a timid travel editor of the fictional Ottawa Daily Advocate, who is contacted by the late opera diva Maria Callas from beyond the grave. At the urging of the ghostly presence he travels to Greece and embarks on an unusual journey which “could be the key to his own salvation.”
To build on its success, Butler released Norman’s Conquest earlier this year. Second in the series, it follows returning character Norman Pugsley, who becomes entangled in a decades-old murder mystery.
“The basic theme is redemption and trying to win in life when it seems your best days are behind you. You want to make contributions and right a wrong to solve a problem that’s been neglected,” said Butler. “That makes it sound serious but it really isn’t. It’s an entertaining book that’s focused around journalists during the heyday of newspapers. It’s a fast moving story and it moves around in time. It’s a book you can read in a day or two because you can’t put it down.”
According to the book’s synopsis: “The tale unfolds against the backdrop of unlikely romance and unforgettable encounters — from a spirit bear to a former prime minister. Join Norman Pugsley’s journey, where the past collides with the present, and every twist and turn brings him closer to solving the murder.”
Butler is planning to start work on a third in the series next year.
Barbara Fradkin
When Westboro area author Barbara Fradkin started to spell at the age of six, she began creating stories of imaginary friends going on adventures.
In adulthood, the child psychologist of 20 years started to put pen to paper and write mystery novels. Fradkin’s first short story was published in 1994, and the books started flowing soon after. To date, the crime fiction writer has published over 30 stories.
The Montreal-born Fradkin is a member of the notorious Ladies Killing Circle, a group in which like minded “kindred souls” get together and “ask what an autopsy looks like, how to poison someone, and what police do when they get to a crime scene.”
Mystery authors, Fradkin admits, can have twisted minds. Most of her books are set in Ottawa, including her first Do or Die, which was primarily set at the University of Ottawa.
“There are great places to bury bodies in Ottawa. We’ve got four or five rivers and a lake in the middle of a city. There are lots of places to drown people,” said an energetic Fradkin. “There are big cliffs where you could push people over and many natural parks where you can bury people. I buried someone at Bruce Pit as an example.”
Nobody was harmed in the making of Fradkin’s stories. The book is one of 11 in the Inspector Green series. The Ottawa-based detective used to run the criminal division but in later sequels is sent to a desk job at the courthouse after getting in trouble. He still finds ways to meddle in cases.
Shipwrecked Souls, a 12th book in the Inspector Green series, will be released in January. It has a Kitchissippi connection.
“It starts off with the murder of an old elderly woman in the back alley in the Britannia neighborhood. The victim has no ID but she has a note in her pocket with three different languages on it with short phrases. Over time, they identified her as Ukrainian who was looking for someone. Through the book I track down what happened to her.”
Fradkin’s latest novel Wreck Bay was published in January 2023, and is part of the Amanda Doucette series. In this installment, the thirty-something international aid worker pursues the connection between a reclusive artist and the wealthy surfer who turned up dead on a remote island in Vancouver Island’s Pacific Rim.
Katie Tallo
For 20 years, Kitchissippi’s Katie Tallo threw her inspiration into the television and production industry. The Carleton and Algonquin graduate wrote screenplays, worked in animation, and made motion pictures.
But in the back of her head was always the thought of one day being an author. Inspiration for putting pen to paper came after reading Stephen King’s book on writing.
“In it he says to take a few characters, throw them into a situation, and see where they are going to go,” she said.
Tallo tried it and success followed. She won an international novel contest out of the United Kingdom for women writers in 2013, and landed a publishing deal for her first novel, Dark August in 2021. The murder mystery is set in Wellington West where she lives, and follows Augusta (Gus) Monet, who becomes an amateur detective after finding her late mothers cold case files in her grandmother’s basement.
“Gus’ mother, who was a police detective, died when she was eight. She starts building her moms evidence wall from memory, starts investigating the case, and finds out why she really died,” stated Tallo.
The novel became an international bestseller and was chosen as an Apple Book of the Month and New York Times Editor’s Choice. It led to a second in the series, Poison Lilies, which is set after Gus solved her mothers murder. After digging into her past, the mystery solver moves to an apartment in the Glebe where Gus befriends the elderly Poppy Honeywell. Things take a turn when a body shows up in a nearby pond.
All of Tallo’s books are set in Ottawa and include references to real places and businesses. In Poison Lillies, a made-up character named Howard is ironically a freelance journalist at the Kitchissippi Times.
Howard makes another appearance in Buried Road, Tallo’s third and final book in the series, which will be released on Dec. 3. It is narrated by Gus’ 13-year-old daughter Bly.
“It jumps ahead 13 years into the future,” said Tallo. “I love to explore memory and how that feels and impacts a character. This is about a young girl who takes a dangerous road trip to look for a missing person in Prince Edward county.”
While it will be a final installment in the series, Tallo has already penned another novel about a “70-year-old spitfire” who takes on Ottawa’s criminal underground.
“I’m not sure if it will become a series. It wraps up and I don’t know if I need to keep going with her,” said Tallo. “But I have other books in my mind already and other genres. I have somewhat of an apocalyptic story in my brain that I can’t get out.”