Vicki Delany is a Canadian crime novelist and author of
Burden of Memory (June 2006)
and Scare the Light Away.
She has just finished the manuscript for her third psychological
suspense, also set in her native Northern Ontario, entitled
Child of Mine
Julian: As well as being a crime novelist, you’re a systems analyst for a Canadian bank, a role that requires an analytical and logical mindset. Were you drawn to crime novels because they are typically well structured with a problem-solving aspect? What parallels, if any, do you see between the disciplines of IT development and the development of a novel?
Vicki: I’ve never thought about that. I was drawn to crime novels because that’s what I like to read. But now that I’m thinking about it, I can see the similarities: With a crime novel, I always start from the end – knowing who did it and why before beginning to draw in the rest of the plot, and when analysing computer systems, you also have to know what ends you want to achieve before you can even begin.
Julian: Why do you read mysteries?
Vicki: I read mystery novels for a lot of reasons – for the puzzle, and because mystery novels give a good insight into the minds of all different sorts of people. I like books that take place in different locales. For me a sense of place is almost more important than the plot.
The landscape is quite important in my books, all of which have a very seasonal aspect. The seasons change so much in Canada. My first novel, Scare the Light Away, was set in the spring and the theme was renewal. Burden of Memory is set in the autumn, around the time of the Canadian Thanksgiving, which is at the beginning of October. (I find myself saying ‘Canadian Thanksgiving’ because I’m a Canadian writing for an American audience – I’d never say something like that at home where we just call it Thanksgiving!) Thanksgiving is a chance for the family to gather. In some ways this novel is much like the old-fashioned English country house murder – it gives you a nice array of suspects. Child of Mine is set in the summer and there are several children characters so I have them swimming in the lake and playing in the sun as a contrast to the danger that is approaching.
Julian: Having lived in South Africa for eleven years, during a very formative time in your life, have you ever been tempted to write a novel set there?
Vicki: I was travelling and met someone and got married and we had three children, and then eleven years later I came back to Canada. I was there during the apartheid years – and I never felt comfortable there or that I belonged. The time I spent in South Africa gave me a sense of being an outsider. I’m in the early stages right now of thinking of setting a novel there. Both Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory have a historical background – if I set a novel in South Africa it will need something that ties in with today. I’m giving some thought to something about a Canadian soldier going off to fight in the Boar War, perhaps falling in love with a South African woman who is being held in the concentration camps. In South Africa, they’ve never forgotten the concentration camps – I’d say it certainly led to a lot of bitterness. And bitterness is good for a crime writer.
My choice of historical background for Scare the Light Away was inspired by something my aunt said, in passing, about many British war brides being greatly upset when they moved to Canada. In many cases the Canadian soldiers they married either lied about their background, or made up a story and then didn’t know how to tell the truth. When I researched it, I found out a good number of women came to Canada thinking that they were marrying into a rich family, or going to live on a fabulous ranch, and found themselves on some hardscrabble farm. In the book, the character has been estranged from her family for thirty years and after returning home to attend her mother’s funeral, my character [Rebecca McKenzie] reads her mother’s diary. Through reading the diaries she comes to new insights about herself and her family. She has always hated her brother, and when he is suspected of a crime she at first believes he could have done it, but after reading her mother’s diary she begins to have doubts.
Julian: Can you remember a moment, or a trigger, that made you decide to become a crime writer? Were there any particular novelists who inspired you to take up writing yourself?
Vicki: If anything, it’s almost the opposite: I’d read something wonderful, and think that I could never be that good! The Globe and Mail said of Scare the Light Away ‘this is Faye Kellerman territory.’ I like Kaye Kellerman, but I don’t see the comparison. Writers I really like include Robert Goddard, Susan Hill who’s just switched to crime, and Minette Walters. What I like to read most is UK police procedurals, from authors like Peter Robinson (who came to live in Canada in the Seventies, even though his novels are set in Yorkshire), Ian Rankin, Jill McGown. I like their strong sense of place. I’ve just finished reading Piece of my Heart, the latest Peter Robinson, and it has a dual narrative of the present day combined with something from the past – in this case, something that happened in 1969. Which is the same narrative device that I use in my books
Julian: Could you name three Canadian writers you particularly like?
Vicki: Canadian writers I like include Giles Blunt, Lyn Hamilton and Rick Blechta. Giles Blunt is doing really well, writing police procedurals set in Northern Ontario. Lyn Hamilton’s novels are about an amateur detective, who deals in antiques and travels the world. Rick Blechta writes great stand-alones that take place in the music world. I could go on and on listing Canadian writers I like but you asked me to name three. Canadian crime writing is in a very exciting time right now, and is beginning to get real international recognition. For a long time we were told never to place our books in Canada – they’d never sell. I think that’s changing.
Julian: Your new novel is called Burden of Memory and it’s out this month. Your website gives a number of teasers about the story, which involves dark secrets from the Second World War being unearthed by a present-day biographer of a wealthy matriarch. What inspired the story, and what attracted you to the Second World War (a subject you also explored in your debut, Scare the Light Away)?
Vicki: The inspiration began with the location. I have friends who have a cottage on Lake Muskoka, and someone mentioned to me that a lot of these big places (which only the wealthy can afford) have a caretaker looking after them all year. I thought that it must be a nice job, sitting around in a luxury cottage all year, but it doesn’t give much scope for a murder plot. From there I decided that it would be about an elderly woman looking for someone to write her memoirs which would give my character, Elaine Benson, the opportunity to move in.
I took modern European history at university and I see the World Wars as times of enormous upheaval, both in terms of people being moved around, and in terms of society changing. With so much turmoil, you are bound to have plenty of opportunity to hide secrets. With Burden of Memory I really got into researching the story of the Canadian Army Nursing Sisters, and I wanted to pay tribute, in some small way, to the courage of the women who also contributed so much to the war effort.
Julian: Do you think you have any recurring themes in your novels, or are there any ideas that you find yourself constantly drawn to?
Vicki: I do like to have the parallel narrative (i.e. a story from the past and the present running simultaneously). Also, my books are all about conflicts in families. There’s no mafia or professional criminals or anything like that; it’s all strictly family stuff. Perhaps we could say that the remoteness of the Canadian landscape is part of my theme. In both Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory, there are various points where the character is alone in the wilderness, which gives her opportunities to consider what’s going on.
Julian: You have another novel in the offing, but it’s set in 1898 in the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush. It’s a very different setting from your other novels and the full title, Golddigger: A Klondike Mystery, makes it sound like the start of a series. Can you tell us about it?
Vicki: It is a series. Before Poisoned Pen Press, I got a contract with a Yukon publisher, who was the first publisher I approached. They sat on it, so I asked them if I could have my rights back, which they gave me. I then reworked it, and I’ve already written a second novel in the series. I don’t have a publisher yet, but I will be offering it to PPP. It’s different in style, more light-hearted than my other novels.
I’ve also just finished my newest psychological suspense, which is called Child of Mine. Although it takes place in the same town as Scare the Light Away and some of the minor characters and the police are the same, it’s a different format. Right at the beginning, we find out who the killer is and why. The back-story takes place in the early 1950s. The tension comes from wondering whether the protagonist can work it out in time. It’s therefore more of a genuine suspense rather than a mystery, because it’s less about the puzzle and more about people dealing with their relationships while this great threat looms over them.
Julian: The ‘parallel narrative’ scenario seems to be extremely popular at the moment, with writers and readers alike. Do you think there’s a risk it may get overused, like serial killer storylines?
Vicki: At the Bloody Words convention in Toronto, some of us were talking about whether this idea is being overused. The conclusion we came to was that you can’t say something is overused until people don’t want to read it any more.
Julian: Good point! Thank you, Vicki. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.
More information about Vicki Delany can be found on her website: