Writers Read: Eva Gates

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Eva Gates

Eva Gates, also known as Vicki Delany, is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty-five books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and

novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Catskill Summer Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane.

Delany is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Delany is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

The latest Eva Gates Lighthouse Library mystery is The Stranger in the Library.

Recently I asked Delany about what she was reading. Her reply:

Summer is my best reading time. Nothing I love more than sitting in the sun by the pool with a good book. But, before the Great Canadian Summer gets into full swing, here’s what I’ve been reading lately.

The Hunter by Tana French. Easily one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. French is Irish and the book (follow up to The Seeker) is set in a small, rural patch of Irish countryside where the people are not exactly accepting of strangers, and definitely into following everyone else’s business. The plot is interesting, the atmosphere perfect, the characters well drawn and fascinating, but the best part, to me, is French’s skillful use of the Irish accent and idioms that cleverly give the English speaking reader a taste of the dialect without making it something you have to parse through to understand. When local words are used, they’re well placed in context so you understand without having to look them up. Highly, highly recommended.

The Lantern’s Dance by Laurie R. King. I’ve been reading this series about Mary Russell and her mentor/husband Sherlock Holmes since the publication of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice thirty years ago. The series sagged a bit in the middle, but I kept on reading because I love the characters so, and I’m glad I did as this latest is as good as ever. In particular, I love the Russell character, every bit Holmes’s equal in every way. The Russell and Holmes books have a prominent place in my own virtual bookstore, The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium which I write under my own name of Vicki Delany.

All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay. I am not much for reading fantasy (with some exceptions) but for some reason I thought I’d give this one a try. I didn’t even finish. I was interested in the characters and their story but when it got all wound up in the intricate politics of the world, which became nothing more to me than a jumble of made up words and names, I decided not to continue.