From the Booking Desk:
Vicki Delany is another of those authors I was fortunate enough to meet when I first started attending mystery conventions. Even though she lives to our North in Canada, she regularly attends the cons around the country. Every conversation I have had with her as led to new discoveries and this Composite Sketch is no different. Enjoy getting to know Vicki just a little better and be sure to check out her many books.
Name: Vicki Delany
Location: Picton, Ontario
This person from my personal life is such an inspiration:
My daughters, all three of them. Amazing, strong, determined women. They were lucky enough to be born at the moment all doors flew open to women and capable enough and brave enough to charge through. Life presented them with obstacles, as it does to all of us, but they wouldn’t allow that to deter them from achieving what they wanted. Two have master’s degrees; one daughter is a high-ranked Canadian diplomat, one a councilor to troubled young people, and one a paramedic with a major city service. I am proud to have all three of them as my daughters and my friends.
One of the people I admire most in the crime fiction community is:
Dru Ann Love. Boundless enthusiasm, tireless energy, and genuine love of authors and books shines through everything she does. The crime fiction community couldn’t ask for a better advocate. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s mentioned Dru Ann to you. At almost any conference one of the first people I see is Dru with her big smile and open arms welcoming (and being welcomed) by everyone.
STALKER ALERT! If this fictional character were real, they would likely need to get a restraining order against me:
Aragorn Son of Arathorn from The Lord of the Rings. What can I say? I’ve loved LOTR since I was a teenager and always swooned over Aragorn. And the way Viggo Mortensen played him in the movie version! OMG. More swooning.
People are always surprised that I am a fan of this individual (singer, actor, or artist):
I don’t think it would come as a surprise to anyone, but I love Judi Dench. She’s eighty-five now and still working as hard as ever. Her acting is superb and the roles she takes are varied and intelligent. It’s important, I think, to see older woman active in the world, and the British seem to have a plethora of them (Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren come to mind also). It helps, I think, that British movies and TV are more likely to choose an actresses for a role based on her skill than on her looks the way I fear Americans are.
As an aside, when I decided to have my hair cut and go gray I sent a photo of Judi Dench to my hairdresser and said, “this is what I want.”
My personal catch phrase is (or should be):
Don’t sweat the small stuff. One thing I’ve learned over my life, is that there is always a tomorrow and what seems a major issue today might well fade into nothing next week or next month or next year.
Good interview, Kris. I like how Vicki stresses the abilities and skills of women — of all ages.
Aragorn!
Oh, yeah!
Vicki is a delight in person and always has a new release. Great to get to know her better.
Thanks Mark
Dru Ann, Aragorn, and Judi Dench? I’m all in! And your daughters sound amazing, as well. Add yourself to the mix, Vicki, and we have a fabulous Seven!
Thank you for saying so Leslie.
How timely that Vicki is this week’s Composite Sketch feature. Just last night my local library’s Mystery Book Club selected Elementary, She Read (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series #1) as our pick to read (or in my case, re-read).
And you can’t go wrong with Aragorn, either.
Now if only I could hear the news that she was going to do a signing event down on Cape Cod where the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries are set!
I would love to come to Cape Cod some day soon. Head’s up: My new Tea by the Sea series coming from Kensington (Tea and Treachery, next July) is also set on Cape Cod.
I love Vicki Delany’s books– Molly Smith series, the Lighthouse series, the Sherlock Book series and Ashley Grant books are all must reads for me! Great to learn more about this wonderful author!
Totally agree, Dru Ann is amazing!!!