Begin At The Beginning, and Books from British Columbia
Updated: Apr 21, 2024
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A few months ago, I began a crazy run of reading mysteries. I talked in a previous post about how I'd recently returned full force to reading. I had several half finished reads lying around, which I am reading through, but I wanted a fresh start. I started looking for a mystery series and came across Krista Davis’ The Domestic Diva cozy mystery series. Full of mystery, fun, and yummy recipes, and a welcoming and inspiringly flexible to whatever life throws at her heroine, I love the Diva series. They make me want to be more flexible, host more parties, see more friends, eat more food, and make things look pretty. And of course, stay up too late reading just one more chapter. So I did. Until I found myself finishing the last chapter of The Diva Delivers on a Promise.
Then I promptly went off to buy the next book.
Only, there wasn't one.
End of a book era fear ran through me. For a minute.
I was happy to discover the next book is due out May 21st! (preorder here)
Not too far off now, but that was February. Too many winter days till Spring, till May.
I'd need more books.
So I packed up my book bereavement and started searching for another series. I don't only read mysteries, but I do always like to have one on hand.
Someone recommended Vicky Delany’s Constable Molly Smith series, touted as a blend between a cozy mystery and a police procedural. I jumped on the suggestion. I know some people, my husband included, can pick up a series, be it book or television, in the middle. But I, like Alice's King of Hearts, prefer to "begin at the beginning."
And so I did, with In The Shadow of the Glacier.
I devoured enjoyed it and have since read all 8 books in the series. The characters and the setting are so clearly written that I can see each person and the streets they are walking down, in their fictional town of Trafalgar, British Columbia. Young constable Molly, Detective Sergeant John Winters she’s assigned to assist, her parents: her father aging out of activism, her mother still passionate.
While reading, I found myself constantly thinking of my own mother, a retired kindergarten teacher who is also an avid mystery reader and the impetus of my addiction. Another beginning! And like Molly, her life began in British Columbia, though on the very real Vancouver Island. I grew up crossing the US- Canadian border every year of my life. As soon as school got out for the summer, mom would load the car with us kids, the luggage and the family dog. Sometimes we'd take two cars, depending on my dad's vacation days. Then it was hours of car games, familiar landmarks, eating Nanaimo bars on the ferry, and rest stops, until we pulled down the gravel drive of my grandparents, across the street from my aunt an uncle. We'd play Scrabble, eat maple ice cream, hug relatives I loved but had trouble keeping track of- Grandma was the oldest 16- visit the oyster farm, strap on saltwalter sandals and go to the beach.
They are the best of memories, and I want to share them with my own kids. Some of their family beginnings. And yet somehow, my sweet little children have stretched and grown into towering teenagers and they still haven’t crossed that border. Things, some bad, mostly good, the busyness of life, interfere with those plans every summer. And here were are. My oldest is 17, fast growing out of the house.
This is the summer, surely. Those roads and faces and foods so familiar in my memory are waiting to be rediscovered and marveled at how they've changed.
Until we get there, I have fictional BC.
Next on my list is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. It was a gift and is currently in my husband's hands. He is a native of the PNW who grew up scuba diving and fishing and has his own octopus stories, so the book drew him right in. He sits beside me at night and interrupts my book to tread me bits of it. I want to stop him- I’m so afraid of spoilers- but I like to read him bits of my book too. So mostly, I listen. And wait my turn.
Then there’s The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, a fictional account of artist Emily Carr.
Born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1871, Carr is considered a Canadian icon. She travelled the Northwest coast, writing and sketching and painting what she saw. She did important work documenting the Aboriginal villages she visited, their art and forest surroundings, even as they were shifting and disappearing.
Homeschooling for us always involved studying 2 to 3 artists a year and several pieces their work. A couple of years ago the boys and I studied Emily Carr. I loved her writings and I fell in love with her art, and I’m excited to know more. I'm looking forward to this book.
OTHER BOOKS IN BC
More books recommendations I’ll be looking to add to my ever growing, slowly shrinking, pile:
Three Against the Wilderness by Eric Collier, an account of a family's living off the land in British Columbia in the 1930s.
San Josef by Harold Macy, a fictional tale of a settlers in BC just after the American Civil War.
Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill, a book born from the author's 20 years as tree planter.
What are you beginning?
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