VILLAGE COSY

Death by chocolate may be a favourite fantasy, but what about death by poisoned chocolate? The victim of Vanessa Westermann’s cozy Cover Art dies after eating the wares of the local chocolatier in a lakeside vacation spot.

Ms. Westermann’s setting is inspired by her community. Elements of the town of Warkworth colour the novel’s village. She tried to give her readers a taste of cottage life in her writing.

“Everyone writes mystery their own way. My writing is character-based. I like brainstorming and exploring my characters’ backstory.” Her detective is an artist, because “both art and mysteries are about perspective. Shift the perspective and you empathize with the murderer.”

Ms. Westermann’s debut mystery, An Excuse for Murder, was published in 2019. She discussed the appeal of murder to readers and writers. “It’s our inner detectives,” she said. “We want to know more.” Murder mysteries are intriguing puzzles, she said, and in the end good triumphs over evil.

“We’re also intrigued by what drives people to kill.”

This year’s Women Killing It crime writers’ festival, the first since the pandemic, brought three exceptional writers, Catherine Fogarty, Carolyn Whitzman and Vanessa Westermann to the Picton Library. It was moderated by Prince Edward County crime writer Janet Kellough, who co-founded the series in 2017 with Vicki Delany.

“The festival showcases the large number of women writing in the crime/drama genre,” said Kellough. “This genre wasn’t getting a lot of exposure at literary festivals. They were all booking the same three male best-selling authors. The crime writing community is small and Vicki and I decided to do our own thing.” 

IN COLD BLOOD In the autumn darkness of October 6, 1894, someone slipped through the streets of Parkdale, rang the doorbell at the home of a well-to-do Toronto family, and shot teenager Frank Westwood in his doorway.

IT’S ALL WHO YOU KNOW- Catherine Fogarty’s “Someone You Know” is a collection of a dozen murder mysteries from stories she read and heard about during her younger days in the Toronto area. She told the Women Killing It Authors Festival audience the key to writing fact is that “people are fallible. Re- trace and reflect on everything you are told.” (Photo by Joanne Fralick)

Carolyn Whitzman’s Clara at the Door with a Revolver, published by the University of British Columbia Press, explores the story of Clara Ford – a black tailor and single mother known for wearing men’s attire.

She was arrested for the crime, confessed — and then recanted. It is also the story of 19th-century Toronto. The book paints a portrait of a city and a society that have not changed enough in 125 years.

Clara Ford was a poor black woman accused of murdering her rich, white, 18-year-old neighbour in 1894.

“I became enraptured by this fascinating, funny, smart woman,” said Ms. Whitzman. “She was a trendsetter, not only the second person in Canadian history to defend herself in court, but also the first person I’ve found in any North American newspaper defined as homosexual.”

For this, Clara was branded mentally disturbed and coerced into a confession.

“Everything was against Clara. Even her alibis,” said Ms. Whitzman. “We don’t know much about working women in the late 1800’s.”

Clara is her fifth book. A former policy writer, she developed an interest in law and how it affects ordinary people living ordinary lives. “I love history, and I love making other people love history,” she said. “There is a myth that Toronto’s Parkdale was a stable residential community. This was untrue. Rich and poor lived next to each other.”

The crime was well publicized in the newspapers of the day, which gave Ms. Whitzman a glimpse into Clara Ford’s world. In her own voice, on trial, Clara tells the story of how she was manipulated by the police into a false confession. A jury of 12 white men agreed the case was not as cut and dried as the police had made it seem. It returned a not-guilty verdict in just over an hour.

“I feel it was an anti-police verdict,” said the author. “I like to think it was a pro-Clara verdict. We’ll never know who committed the murder of Frank Westwood.”

The true-crime novel is doing very well, particularly in schools. “Teachers are giving excerpts from the book to their students, unpacking Canadian history in a new and interesting way.”

LOCAL TRUE CRIME STORIES
If short stories are more your style, Catherine Fogarty’s Someone You Know is just the ticket.Founder and president of Big Coat Media, an award-winning company that has produced series including the HGTV series “Love it or List it,” Ms. Fogarty  is also the writer, producer, and voice of the true-crime podcast, Story Hunter.

In 2021, Ms. Fogarty published her first non-fiction book, Murder on the Inside: The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary, which won the Marina Nemat Award for Creative Writing. Indigo called it one of the best history books of the year.

Someone You Know’s dozen stories are of betrayal – a best friend, brother, son-in-law. “Very few women are sociopaths. These stories of personal murders explore why they happened – it’s not not the bizarre, as in serial killings,” she said.

Someone you Know, Clara at the Door with a Revolver and Cover Art are all available at local booksellers and online. The festival will be back again in 2024.