It May Surprise You That...is Literarily Speaking's latest feature. Here we have authors give us 10 things that would surprise us about themselves and/or their book.
Today we have Mike Martin, author of All That Glitters. Mike was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.
He is the award-winning and best-selling author of the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 13 books in this light mystery series with the publication of All That Glitters.
A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award.
Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest A Tangled Web was released as an audiobook in 2023. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.
Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.
Website: https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore
10 Interesting Things about Sgt. Winston Windflower
1. He’s Cree from Pink Lake, Alberta
Windflower is a Cree from the fictional community of Pink Lake Alberta. People ask why did I make him Indigenous? I didn’t make him anything. That’s the way he came. Windflower came out of the fog one night in Grand Bank, Newfoundland and started talking to me. I just wrote down his story.
2. He likes to eat
This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read any of the Sgt. Windflower books. His favourite foods are mostly meat and fish. And desserts, especially chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. Food is an important element in the Windflower books because they give a break in the police action, an opportunity to visit with friends, and sometimes a chance to reveal clues or additional details about crimes or criminals.
3. He likes to cook
Almost as much as he likes to eat, Windflower likes to cook. His specialities would be grilling or barbequing. Anything from steak to ribs to pork chops. He also loves to cook fish and makes a delicious fried cod with garlic mashed potatoes and maple Brussel Sprouts. And scrunchions. Small pieces of fried fatback pork that are sprinkled over the cod fish.
4. He likes to pick blueberries
He could spend hours picking any kind of berries, but blueberries would be his favourite. For him, he enjoys the quiet, meditative action of picking berries. Being outdoors in nice weather and being close to Mother Earth. And he loves all the baking that comes out of the berry crop. Sheila, his wife, makes a blueberry buckle that he could die for.
5. He likes Shakespeare quotes
Windflower and his friend Ron Quigley had an instructor at the RCMP training college who loved the Bard. He inspired these two young RCMP cadets to learn and practice quotes. They picked up the habit and carried it into their professional careers together. That’s why quotes are found all through the Windflower books. One that pops up a lot is ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here’. Pretty apropos for police work.
6. He likes classical music
He didn’t always like classical music. More of a classic rock guy. But his friend, Herb Stoodley, turned him on to this type of music and he loves it now. Every so often Herb gives him a CD and he likes nothing better than to play it when he is travelling by himself on the lonely highways in Newfoundland.
7. He likes trout fishing
Another passion that he picked up from Herb Stoodley who is a master fisherman. Herb takes him all over the area to find the best fishing ponds and the biggest fish. They even go sea trout fishing in the rivers that run directly into the ocean. Those are some of the biggest and tastiest trout that Windflower has ever eaten. He grills them on the BBQ, by the way.
8. He likes walking and hiking
Windflower loves being outside. Even in the winter. Even in the rain, drizzle and fog that is often the weather in this part of the world. He especially likes walking on the many trails in the area and over the barrens and rocky hills overlooking Grand Bank. The view from the top is spectacular.
9. His pets Lady and Molly
Windflower and his collie Lady have a love affair ever since he rescued her after her original owner died in a car crash. They are constant companions on their daily, and nightly, walks around Grand Bank. He loves Molly the cat, too. But isn’t so sure that love is reciprocated. But he keeps working on that relationship and finds that morsels of salmon always help.
10. He loves Newfoundland
One characteristic of Windflower that would be apparent to anyone upon meeting him is that he has a great love of Newfoundland. He liked the community of Grand Bank right from the beginning, fell in love with Sheila at the same time and then grew to love the people, the food, even the weather. Well, not so much the weather, but the feeling of being so close to the ocean filled him up so much he can’t imagine ever leaving.
Title: ALL THAT GLITTERS
Author: Mike Martin
Publisher: Ottawa Press and Publishing
Pages: 282
Genre: Mystery
Sergeant Winston Windflower is moving on to a new chapter of his life, no longer an RCMP officer but now a Community Safety Officer in his home of Grand Bank, Newfoundland.
But when a body is found in the bed and breakfast he co-owns, diamonds are found in the body’s digestive system, and then Windflower’s friend Dr. Sanjay, who was given the diamonds for safekeeping, is kidnapped, it’s clear that crime has returned once more to Grand Bank.
Windflower finds himself back in the thick of it, helping his newly promoted friend, RCMP Corporal Eddie Tizzard, track down a ruthless diamond smuggler who will stop at nothing — kidnapping, even murder — to pull off his dirty business.
This is another finely spun Windflower mystery that contrasts suspense and tension with the joys of friendship, family, and gratitude.
Amazon (US): https://tinyurl.com/4ucyjwzv
Amazon (Canada): https://tinyurl.com/z9b2n5br
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/2nzf687b
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