Many local mystery authors have been quoted as saying Ottawa is a great city to plan a murder. There are various small towns and villages full of quirky characters, rivers and waterways where bodies can be hidden, and countless neighbourhoods to keep the settings new and different.
A new anthology is putting Ottawa’s mystery writers — and the city itself — in the spotlight. A Capital Mystery, released this fall by Ottawa Press and Publishing, gathers 21 stories by local authors who have turned the nation’s capital into a stage for crime, suspense, and surprise.
Mike Martin, who is co-editor of the book, has been writing local mystery novels for the last 20 years. He said the idea to compile various short stories has been in the back of his mind for years, but he finally had the energy to move it forward.
“We had probably 40 submissions, and we only targeted people who were members of Crime Murders of Canada or Capital Crime Murders,” Martin told KT. “It is pretty cool when you see the whole collection because it stretches from Orleans to Stittsville. It goes down to Greely, Manotick, and every little neighbourhood in Ottawa, from Westboro to Bell’s Corners and Rockcliffe Park. People from Ottawa are really going to enjoy this collection because they might see their neighbourhood included.”
The short stories each have their own flavour and charm. One of Martin’s favourites is based around the old Ogilvy’s department store which was located on Rideau Street. It centres on the heir to the company’s fortunes and two women who end up in competition until something bad happens to one of them.
In another story, an unknown assailant is terrorizing the quiet suburban neighbourhood of Riverside South. It will be up to a young boy to put an end to the reign of terror. And on the topic of terror, in another story a downtown restaurant is plagued by threats from a poison pen. The proprietor, the chef and a former vice cop turned major domo try to fend off disaster while cooking up a side order of romance.
What makes this book unique, Martin says, is that it includes a mix of known local mystery authors and bright new talent.
Ruby Urloker’s story follows Lucy, a young woman with schizophrenia whose obsession with a man deepens her delusions. Love both captivates and destroys her, pulling her toward danger. As her fixation grows, her grip on reality slips — until it drives her to a tragic, irreversible act. In the end, Lucy realizes she cannot separate her identity from her desperate need for love, even though it’s the source of her downfall.
The story draws on personal experiences Urloker faced while being treated for schizophrenia at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. She said many of the thoughts and sensations Lucy faces through the course of the series mirrored her own.
“I hope readers get a view of what it’s like to have delusions and to suffer from a psychotic illness. What I wanted to really show is what it’s like to be delusional where you don’t realize it when it’s happening,” said Urloker. “There’s no difference between me being psychotic or me being in a normal state of mind. And so I think that the connotations behind that can be really scary because you can look back on all these very foolish decisions you’ve made when you were delusional and you don’t know where you were at that time or what went wrong. I’m also hoping that people can get more of a compassionate view of what it’s like to have a mental illness.”
Urloker is new to the crime fiction world, but has been writing poetry and short stories since she was 13. The mental health advocate came upon the opportunity to be part of A Capital Mystery thanks to her dad and his twin brother who were planning to submit short stories of their own.
Looking ahead to the future, Urloker said she is now penning a memoir about her mental health struggles to look back at her own triumphs and hopefully encourage others.
“I’m recovering more than I ever have before. I wanted to write a statement of what I’ve been through and all the tough chapters of my life and how I’ve come out of it victorious,” she said.
Anna Di Meglio, whose short story is titled “The Key is in the Buttons,” said her inspiration was drawn from a curiosity about the people’s lives she passes in the grocery store, doctor’s office, or coffee shop.
Its premise is based upon mystery writer Terra Ramblings who is pulled into a “real-life whodunit” when visiting her quirky, Star Wars-obsessed chiropractor for a quick neck fix. But when a tearful woman, a cryptic cat collar, and an unsolved murder collide just down the street, Terra’s writer’s block takes a backseat to something far more intriguing.
The story is primarily set in Orleans and draws upon events from Di Meglio’s real life.
“My husband had a painful neck and I kept thinking he should probably go see the chiropractor, who is quite funny and a Star Wars fan. So I incorporated that into the story,” she said. “It just all fit together. I wrote it in two weeks and was very thrilled to hear it was accepted. Now I am continuing to write my own cozy full-length mystery novel.”
A Capital Mystery can be purchased on ottawapressandpublishing.com.