The big moment arrives!

Prepping for the prize draw: Sharon Wildwind stuffing the ballot box

The panelists getting ready to face the lions... er, audience: Sharon Wildwind, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey, Garry Ryan and Susan Calder listening while moderator Anthony Bidulka lays out the ground rules.

Somebody's getting excited !!!!

Audience members filing in to their first panel of the weekend. We had a full house thanks in part to our prime placement on the schedule and also to the stellar work of our panelists in pushing a draw-ticket/advertisement to every single person at the conference's opening reception.

And they're OFF!

It all winds down in a surprisingly short time, with a happy woman named Benny as the proud winner of the prize basket stuffed to the gills with books and other goodies provided by the panelists (plus a bottle of wine and and an Ink mug to drink it from).



This panel brought many positive comments and a lot of interest from mystery readers from across Canada. Many thanks to the Bloody Words Committee for hosting, the panelists for participating, our wonderful moderator Tony B for keeping all the conversational balls in the air, and Mystery Writers Ink and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for funding support.

The Ink-sponsored panel at Bloody Words, June 3 at 6:30 p.m.

Moderator Anthony Bidulka. 

Would you cross this man?

The Russell Quant series is a multi award nominee including for the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award and Saskatchewan Book Award. The second book in the series, Flight of Aquavit, was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery.








Tony rides herd Friday, June 3 over the

'Writing the Open Range' panel at Bloody Words:

Panelist Sharon Wildwind



Sharon, a nurse, lives in Calgary and writes the Elizabeth Pepperhawk - Avivah Rosen series,  a Vietnam-War era set of mysteries about a nurse, a military policewoman and their combat-hardened pal Benny. A fascinating look at attitudes and anguish of a time almost forgotten only 40 years later. Sharon is a long-time member of Mystery Writers Ink in Calgary.

Panelist Garry Ryan 


Garry lives in Calgary and writes the Detective Lane series set in that city. A veteran of 30 years teaching teenagers to properly punctuate, he is more laid-back than his previous career would indicate. The fifth book in his series, Malabarista, is coming out this September.

Panelist Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

Joan, a travel writer with seven titles to her credit, used to live in Edmonton. She takes readers off the main roads into rural regions of Alberta with her mystery series starring travel writer Elizabeth Oliver.

Panelist Susan Calder

Susan's debut mystery, Deadly Fall, features insurance adjuster Paula Savard, and has recently been released from TouchWood Editions. Susan is a long-time member of Mystery Writers Ink.










Follow the full Bloody experience at 

Writing the Open Range