I still remember the extensive headlines and media coverage during the seventies over the shooting of a woman hostage at the old B.C. Penitentiary in New Westminster. However, in all the years I have known my friend, Margaret Franz, I
Episode Thirty-four: Troubles coming in battalions.
Shakespeare definitely had it right when he wrote: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” March, that year, not only came in like a lion, but went out leaving us feeling as if we were facing
Goodnight Desdemona – Playing with the Plays
When, years ago, I sat through my Shakespeare course at UBC, I remember youthfully railing at the annoying twists of fate in Romeo and Juliet. The play, as our textbook described it, was “a succession of unlucky mischances”, and it
Episode Thirty-three: Hell on Paws gets a House on Wheels
Max continued to be a mixture of klutz, disobedient hellion, clever trickster, spoiled brat and independent thinker. He would race through the woods with such abandon that he regularly hit trees and almost knocked himself out. Alternately, he would pick
Emulating Rumpole – The Challenge of Writing a Short-story Mystery Collection
My books are collections of nine or ten stories, each one a separate mystery, but there’s an ongoing thread that tells the story of the main characters. Therefore, the books combine the characteristics of the short story and the novel.
Episode Thirty-two: Hell on Paws Again!
It was abundantly obvious when Max had completely recovered because he reverted to ‘Hell on Paws’ mode again. The command, “Come”, was no longer in his vocabulary, witness the day he took off in pursuit of a spaniel, ran right
Alone Together – well worth a visit!
Audiences at Vagabond Players production of Lawrence Roman’s domestic comedy, Alone Together, are coming out smiling. They are also laughing and exchanging stories, for the play focuses on an issue that is plaguing many of today’s Baby Boomers: What do
The Battle of New Orleans and a tour of Oak Alley: History inspiring mystery!
The end of 2014 will mark 200 years since the Treaty of Ghent ended the the War of 1812. When this subject is raised in Canada, we tend to think of the battles on the Great Lakes, but two years
Episode Thirty-one: Howling the Blues!
The first weeks of 1994 were depressing. We and the world were out of joint. The news was dominated by news of Sue Rodriguez’s right to die, or downers from the world of figure skating. Brasseur and Eisler placed third
Episode Thirty: The Invalid
Poor Max was still in a lot of pain, so he was very restless in the night—not a good thing since we were all exhausted from the New Year’s Eve party. The girls were able to flop on the couch