Recently invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada, Maureen Jennings and her husband, photographer Iden Ford, were visiting the County as they have done for some twenty years. But this was something of a working vacation.

They were here to take in the Théâtre Roulant production of Ms. Jennings’ play, No Traveller Returns, a classic Agatha Christie style murder mystery — but set in 19th-century Huntsville. It features a detective named for the first OPP officer, John Wilson Murray. 

This is the character who would go on to become William Murdoch in Ms. Jennings’ first novel. And, before long, one of the most popular and recognizable characters on Canadian television, still going strong after 18 seasons in the Murdoch Mysteries.

How did the current production come about? “I like telling the story,” says Ms. Jennings, who clearly likes telling stories—“occupational hazard,” she quips. “So, two years ago, we’re all sitting outside waiting to go into a play with Graham Abbey, in the barn at the Eddie. We’re chatting away, and one thing led to another. Iden, who’s my husband and manager, said, ‘Oh, by the way, Maureen has written a play, and you might like to see it.’

“So they did Dying Like This last year. They did a brilliant job. But it was a bit too emotional. This year they chose something more traditional, a mystery. They did a super job: really, really good. We came to see opening night. And then we’ve been once more.”

And they’re already planning next year’s production, Death in a Black Suit—another Christie-style mystery. But this time, Ms. Jennings intends to modify her script to suit the circumstances of Théâtre Roulant and the County.  “So, there’s going to be lots of little jokes about performing outdoors and the mosquitoes. But, also, we just met up with Peter Lockyer and talked about lighthouses! In the original version, which is set in Georgian Bay, they’re snowed in. I’m changing all that, and they’re going to be on Duck Island and stuck in a lighthouse!”

Historical detail is one of Ms. Jennings’ strong suits. This is her role in the Murdoch Mysteries television series. Watching her pore over old copies of the Picton Gazette, taking notes in a well-travelled little notebook, I see she’s always in the market for new, or old, ideas.

Her most recent episode for the series is called “Shakespeare’s Beard,” inspired by a recent news item about the discovery of a couple of seventeenth-century costume beards in Stratford, England. They might be traced back to Shakespeare’s theatre company. “And so I thought, what a great story. It’s about a traveling company. I was paying homage to Théâtre Roulant! They got a similar wagon. They couldn’t use the same name, so it’s called the Traveling Troubadours, but, you know…”

Ms. Jennings also spent some time at the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre in Ameliasburgh— not looking for anything in particular. “What I find is, I’m not always looking for something specific, more like a general time period. And I go, and I start looking at stuff and something goes, ‘Da da Daaa!’”—Ms. Jennings actually sings that part—“and that’s what I’ll pursue. Like talking to Peter about lighthouses.

“I like primary sources. The Marilyn Adams has all of these letters from World War I. There’s a certificate from the Saint John Ambulance to a young woman who had passed the course. It said she was now qualified to ‘Aid the Injured,’ and I went ‘Da da Daaa!’ because it was almost certainly a young woman who was going to volunteer in the War, not terrifically well trained, but got her St. John’s to go over there and deal with mangled and destroyed young men. … And there was the actual certificate. I’ve just learned to trust that reaction and follow wherever it goes.”

Ms. Jennings has nothing but praise for the Centre. “I was so impressed with the dedication of these women. It’s hard work, and yet that they love it. They love trying to discover things. And the location is very attractively done, too.”

“Life to me is like a necklace with shiny beads. The County has so many shiny beads!”  

Théâtre Roulant’s season continues through August at The Waring House. For information, visit Theatre Roulant.

For information about the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre, just click the link.