Posts Tagged ‘urban mystery’
new rural mystery series
Last year, I published 5 novella-length ‘urban mysteries:’ Office Green; City Grotesque; Hollow Hotel; Dancing with Trees; and Roundabout. These are quick reads, set in cities of the Atlantic provinces (Halifax, Saint John and Fredericton). In each book, a young woman is faced with a problem to solve.
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You can purchase these books at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto, and at The Write Cup Bookstore Cafe in Saint John. They are also available at the Fredericton public library and on Amazon.
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This year I will release five novellas in my ‘rural mysteries.’ To begin the series, I considered the various aspects of the rural landscape that interest me and I have built my novellas around these elements:
Rural communities: human communities are a main features of the rural landscape. Towns, villages, and dispersed rural housing are fundamentally different from the urban landscape. Communities include more than housing. Convenience stores, schools, churches and small businesses give these spaces character and help to knit people in rural communities together.
Roads: roads are the circulatory system of the rural human landscape. They connect populations, allow transport of goods, and make most areas of our landscape accessible.
Trails: trails reach into areas not accessible by roads. They enable humans to move through both built and natural areas, and provide exercise and adventure opportunities.
Gardens: Vegetable and flower gardens are an enjoyable feature of the rural environment. They return us to a time when we produced our own foods and provide focus for spending time in the out-of-doors.
Fields: Hay fields, pasture and meadows are some of my favourite parts of the rural landscape. They are a key part of the agricultural landscape and also provide places where native plants can flourish and migrate.
Woodlots: Before communities and the agricultural landscape developed, the Atlantic provinces were mostly forested. Woodland areas provide habitat for wild life, wood for heating, building, and forest products, and spaces for people to reconnect with nature and enjoy wild life.
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In the next posts, I will introduce you to my five rural mysteries, their covers, characters and a glimpse of their stories.
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All my best,
Alexandra Tims (a.k.a. Jane)
New Urban Mystery: Dancing with Trees
A new Urban Mystery is available! Dancing with Trees is the 5th novella in the Series. The story is set in Fredericton, New Brunswick. An artist, Katie, who is cataloguing interesting trees in the city, happens on a mystery associated with the trees. As she walks the city streets, she encounters a strange dancer who shares a special relationship with each tree.
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Fredericton, known as the City of Stately Elms, has long been celebrated for its old trees and urban forest. The story was a natural for me – during my career as an environmental botanist, I often worked with trees, including those in the city.
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The Urban Mysteries are short, at only about 20,000 words, and each one is a quick, easy read. So far, there are five novellas in the Series:
- Office Green: set in Halifax, NS
- City Grotesque: set in Saint John, NB
- Roundabout: set in Fredericton, NB
- Hollow Hotel: set in Saint John, NB
- Dancing with Trees: set in Fredericton, NB
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The books are available at Dog Ears Books in Oromocto, New Brunswick, and 2nd Story Books in Harvey, New Brunswick. They are also available at Amazon.ca, under my pen name, Alexandra Tims.
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Hope you enjoy these books!
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All my best!
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Jane Tims
(a.k.a. Alexandra)
Hollow Hotel – a new Urban Mystery
This week is the release of book 4 in my Urban Mystery Series: Hollow Hotel. There are three previous titles in the Series: Office Green, City Grotesque, and Roundabout. These are novellas, each a quick read and packed with adventure and mystery.
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Set in Saint John, New Brunswick, Hollow Hotel features three young climbers who attempt to scale the exterior of the old Saint John Hospital (now demolished). They get into all sorts of trouble: with the climb itself, and with a group of thugs who have taken up residence in the abandoned building. After a brutal fall from the dome of the hospital, one of the climbers must team up with a homeless woman to save her friends.
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The book is available through Amazon Canada, or Dog Eared Books in Oromocto.
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All my best,
Alexandra Tims
(a.k.a. Jane)
new: three Urban Mysteries
I have released three of my new books in the Urban Mysteries Series: Office Green, City Grotesque, and Roundabout. These three are set in the cities of Halifax (Nova Scotia), Saint John (New Brunswick), and Fredericton (New Brunswick). The stories are fiction, but the settings are real and illustrate the diversity of downtown Halifax, some of the interesting architecture of Saint John, and the traffic movements in Fredericton.
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Office Green is dedicated to Susan, good friend and co-worker, who operated a real business, watering plants in office buildings in a city out west. The image of her carrying her watering can through the streets inspired my story. The book is available here.
City Grotesque is dedicated to wonderful friend and author, Ana, a member of my writing group, Fictional Friends. Ana first introduced me to the ‘grotesques,’ sculptures on the Chubb’s Corner building in Saint John. The book is available here.
Roundabout is dedicated to my husband, Glen, a patient man and good friend. He sat with me for hours beside the Victoria Circle roundabout in Fredericton, to identify categories of vehicles and record possible elements for my story. The book is available here.
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All three books are available from Amazon, here.
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The next three books in the Urban Mystery Series will be released next year: Hollow Hotel, Dancing with Trees, and Hunting the Dragon.
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Enjoy the reading of these books as much as I enjoyed writing them. They are illustrated with my pencil drawings and a few personal experiences are included within the pages.
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All my best and Merry Christmas!!!!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
creating a cover: identifying a motif
As I prepare to release my new Urban Mysteries Series, I still have some work to do. Because I both write and illustrate my books, I also do my own covers. Selecting a motif or theme for a cover takes some thought.
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Most of my books focus on a central theme. The fifth book in the Urban Mystery Series (currently titled ‘Dancing with Trees‘) is set in Fredericton and tells the story of an artist who is making an drawn record of the trees in the community. As she draws, she encounters a mysterious woman who appears and dances with some of the trees. The woman is associated with an urban legend of a man and woman who hid a treasure in a local tree and vowed to only retrieve it together.
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Creating a book cover is a little different from ordinary painting. A cover must:
- represent the themes and symbols in the book;
- entice a reader to know more about the story;
- present a strong focal point;
- leave room for the title, and sub-title and the author’s name;
- consider the style of other books in the series.
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When I chose a theme for the cover of my book, I already have about twenty drawings to illustrate parts of the story. I choose one of the drawings and modify it to represent the story as a whole. The painting can be embellished by including various symbols from the story. In the case of my Kaye Eliot Mystery ‘How Her Garden Grew,’ I include a Grinning Tun, a sea shell that appears in the story, over and over.
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In the Urban Mystery, ‘Dancing with Trees,’ trees and dancers are central motifs. So, for the cover, I chose to paint one of the drawings in the book.
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I work with acrylics and seek to use only a set number of colours in the cover painting. This is partly to allow the font and colour of the lettering to show well on the cover. It also reduces the busy-ness of the image for the reader.
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In a few days, I will be able to reveal the look of the final cover for ‘Dancing with Trees.’
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
nichepoetryandprose 