Author Photos

/in , /by

Back when I was young and dewy-eyed, ca. 1980s, aka, the “decade for big hair.” This photo was taken at a Sears portrait studio. I wasn’t an author at the time, but I was living out of town and my mom wanted a nice photo of me.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: unless you’re young and dewy-eyed OR spectacularly gorgeous, most female authors approach getting new professional author photos with the same dread that might be reserved for bathing suit shopping (I can’t speak for male authors vis-a-vis bathing suit shopping, so I’m not even going to try).

Anyway, my last author photo was taken a few years back, though I’ve had a couple taken for newspapers. These tend to fall into the “not-that-great, but they’re free” category. And with the impending launch of A FATAL AFFAIR: THE MURDER OF HELEN GRIER coming October 28th, and with my co-author, Amanda Capper, in the same leaky boat is me, we decided to bite the bullet.

We started by researching local photographers and settled on Anna Pelletier Doble of Kevanna Studios in Sault Ste. Marie. She came recommended, we liked her online portfolio, and even better, she insisted on a meet-and-greet before setting up a photo shoot. The initial idea was to get a few pix, plus headshots, but Anna fractured her foot a few days before so…headshot for the book, any other author photos down the road.

One of the things you notice when it comes to author photos is the passage of time (a nice way of saying “aging”). Back in the day, I wore contact lenses, but dry eyes (prescription eye drops) make them an impossibility. Reading up on the “rules” of author photos, apparently if you wear glasses on a daily basis, you should be wearing them for your author photo(s)– (the hope being that readers can recognize you).

And yes, of course I bought new glasses! I may be older, but I’m not entirely without vanity.

And now, without further ado, my Author Photo Lineup.

 

 

2004 First photo taken as I ventured into editing and writing for magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 Freelance writer and journalist / magazine editor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First official author photo, 2015, taken for THE HANGED MAN’S NOOSE, my debut novel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2023 (For The Sault Star)

 

2026, Kevanna Studios. Official author photo for A FATAL AFFAIR: THE MURDER OF HELEN GRIER.

Enough about me…here’s more about me

A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the founder and owner of Superior Shores Press, which she established in February 2018.  

Judy is a member of International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the Board of Directors, most recently as Chair. A native Torontonian, Judy now splits her time between Goulais River and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with her husband, Mike, and their golden retriever, Enzo. Find her at judypenzsheluk.com.

 

A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier [Part II]

/in , , , /by

I first wrote about A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier in my January first Monday post (if you missed it, you can find it here). Since that time, my co-author, Amanda Capper, and I have continued our research. Much of that research is about the police investigation, the events leading up to the trial, the trial, the verdict, and for lack of a better term, the cast of characters.

Here’s the thing. Much of what we discover, while interesting (at least to us) won’t be relevant to the book, and has nothing to do with Helen Grier. We learned, for example, that the Crown Attorney (Canada’s version of District Attorney) went back to the scene of the crime two-and-a-half months after the initial investigation. And given the remoteness of the hunt camp in Northern Ontario, the only way to access it in mid- to late-January was to fly in.

Okay, so that part is relevant. But the former journalist in me can’t leave it at that. I contacted the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie (known as “the Soo,” where I live), gave the curator the approximate date of the flight and the known passengers (Crown Attorney John O’Flynn and Ontario Provincial Police Constable Thomas Crawford) and moved on to the next rabbit hole.

George H. R. Phillips

Here’s what the Bushplane museum came back with:

  • An invoice in the amount of $17.50, issued by the Provincial Air Service in January 1938, and paid by the Department of the Ontario Attorney General.
  • A flight manifest logging a 100-mile round trip flight from Sault Ste. Marie to Long Lake.
  • The plane was piloted by George H. R. Phillips.
  • Passengers were listed as Crown Attorney and Prov. Police.

All relevant enough to include in the book. But what about the history of the Ontario Provincial Air Service? The backstory on the pilot? I couldn’t resist digging deeper.

I learned that George Hector Reid Phillips was a legend in the Ontario Provincial Air Service and one of the most active pilots in the Forest Protection Division.

I also learned that the Buhl Airsedan used, registration CF-OAT, crash landed into Haw Lake on June 22, 1940, while transporting two-and-a-half-year-old Hope Matvenko from the Wawa area north of the Soo, to the Sault Ste. Marie Hospital. The pilot, doctor, and another passenger were found alive five days later, able to swim ashore, though without food or shelter. The child, who was suffering from a skull injury from a car accident, was unable to swim and drowned. The plane was left behind to rot.

In 1989, a team of volunteers retrieved what was left of the fuselage, as well as other components. These, along with a poster detailing the events leading up to, and after the crash, are on display at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

Which of course led us to…

A visit to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre:

Where we took loads of pix, copious notes, and learned lots, including this tidbit of information: The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre is the only museum in Canada dedicated to bushplanes, and visitors come from far and wide. And here it is, right in my own backyard.

The research continues…

L to R: Curator Mary Collier, Co-author Amanda Capper, co-author Judy Penz Sheluk

 

 

Parts of the CF-OAT’S wreckage are on display at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025 Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances, and the 2026 Derringer-nominated Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

 

About A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier

On October 28, 1937, Helen Grier’s body was discovered by her married lover, Vernon Spencer, at a hunt camp in Algoma, Ontario. Amanda Capper & Judy Penz Sheluk are on the case. Did Spencer, a wealthy Michigan dairy farmer and former professional baseball player, get away with murder? You be the judge. Book Launch: Oct. 28, 2026. Follow A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier on Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky. New posts daily.

 

 

Guest Post: Susan Van Kirk on The Powerful Gift of Words

/in , , , , /by

Visiting us today is bestselling author Susan Van Kirk. Susan and I were first introduced to one another by Lourdes Venard of Comma Sense Editing. This would have been in 2013, maybe 2014. Both Susan and I had written first manuscripts and we were filled with dreams of eventual publication for our cozy masterpieces. The dream came true for both of us, though we’ve both had a few bumps along the way (getting “orphaned” when our publishers closed shop being one of them). Knowing there was someone there to understand what we were going through, from those early edits on, knowing we could vent (and it would stay between us)…that’s powerful stuff.

But here’s the thing. Susan is also a former educator and she’s just released Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life).  Take it away, Susan:

The Powerful Gift of Words

Sometimes gifts are returned to you in unique ways, often using words as their vehicle of choice. The universe has a way of doing this when you least expect it.

Since my first book came out sixteen years ago, I’ve written ten mysteries. However, my first book was a memoir about my forty-four years in classrooms. I recently revised it and launched it into the reading world again. Called Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life), it consists of fifteen true stories written as creative nonfiction.

Before becoming an author, I was a single parent of three and a public school teacher. When my last child was a summer away from starting college, I went back to school for a master’s degree at the University of Illinois. I moved there for three summers, sublet an apartment, and finished my degree at age fifty. It was the first thing I’d done for myself since I’d married almost thirty years earlier and eventually divorced.

I took a course called Reflective Teaching, a course meant to help educators consider deeply the answer to this question: How did their beliefs and values influence their teaching? On one of my papers, my professor wrote a note saying, “Your writing has a wonderful voice, and your stories are incredible. Have you ever thought about writing a book?”

Well, no, Professor, I hadn’t, but her words stuck in my brain, and several years later I wrote my memoir. Her remark had given me a gift, one I’ve enjoyed over these sixteen years.

After the memoir came out, I received a letter from a former student who’d read it. In part, it said this:

“You know, I grew up in a family that loved me but had few expectations for me. My mother’s only requirement was that I graduate from high school. The fact that I brought home As and Bs was a bonus for them. My seven older siblings sure hadn’t. Anyway, since they were happy, I never learned to push myself…Now here I sit, working my way through a PhD program, planning to become a college professor.

“For years, I have held on to a memory of being in your English class. You assigned us to groups and had us ‘teach’ the class. None of my group members wanted to be the one who actually spoke. So, I stepped up and did the teaching. I clearly remember you writing the words, ‘you should be a teacher’ on my paper when you graded it. At the time, I didn’t think I would truly be good at teaching others. In reality, you apparently saw the flicker of a passion within me that I did not self-identify at the time. Now, I can’t imagine doing anything but teaching. I thank you for this gift.”

I tell this story not to brag, but to illustrate that the universe sometimes does work in unique ways, and words are the powerful tools it uses.

About the book

When Susan Van Kirk drove into little Monmouth, Illinois, in 1968—straight out of college, with her teaching degree in hand—she thought she was ready to teach English and speech to high school students. She didn’t realize she would both teach and be taught by a town, a school, and the students who entered her life. A veteran of forty-four years of public high school and college teaching, Van Kirk will take you on a passionate and unforgettable journey through one teaching life. Meet her students and experience the events that molded a rookie teacher into a veteran. This montage of stories covers the years 1968 to 2008; they describe her early fears about classroom discipline, plots to overthrow “the rookie,” handling drug overdoses, the devastating first student death, and a challenge to a major Kurt Vonnegut book in her classroom.
Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life) is a second edition, and Van Kirk has added a new introduction plus updated material about where the students from the stories are now. These fifteen stories are incredible, inspiring, and filled with what makes us human. Find the book.

Susan Van Kirk

About Susan Van Kirk

Susan Van Kirk is the author of six Endurance Mysteries beginning with Three May Keep a Secret. Her standalone mystery, A Death at Tippitt Pond, was followed by the Art Center Mysteries: Death in a Pale Hue, Death in a Bygone Hue, and Death in a Ghostly Hue from Level Best Books. The third book of the trilogy was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Paranormal Mystery of 2025. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is past president of the Guppy Chapter of SinC. Find her at susanvankirk.com.

 

Skeletons in the Attic #giveaway

/in , /by

It’s June and that means it’s time for another Stiletto Gang multi-author e-book #giveaway. That might sound simple on the surface, but most (if not all) of us have authored multiple books. Deciding which book to giveaway is step 1 in the process. Step 2 is a bit of shameless self promotion for the promotion (details at the end of the post) and the book selected.

For this year’s #giveaway, I decided to offer my bestselling “cold case cozy,” Skeletons in the Attic, book 1 in my Marketville Mystery Series.

Here’s the official retail blurb:

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know he had. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who hopes to expose the Barnstable family secrets herself. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

So, where’s Marketville?

Just as the setting of Lount’s Landing in my Glass Dolphin Mystery Series is loosely based on my former community of Holland Landing in Ontario, Canada, so too is Marketville loosely based on the town of Newmarket, which is situated just south of Holland Landing. Of course, I have taken great liberties with both locations as well as the surrounding area, and the characters are entirely fictitious.

The idea…

The idea for Skeletons in the Attic came to me while I waited with my husband, Mike, in our lawyer’s office. We were there to update our wills, and his goldendoodle kept us company while our lawyer was detained at court. The opening scenes of the book are culled directly from that experience. (Let that be your takeaway from this: everything that happens in a writer’s life may end up in one of their stories.) Anyway, here’s the opening paragraph:

I’d been sitting in the reception area of Hampton & Associates for the better part of an hour when Leith Hampton finally charged in through the main door, his face flushed, a faint scent of sandalwood cologne wafting into the room. He held an overstuffed black briefcase in each hand and muttered an apology about a tough morning in court before barking out a flurry of instructions to a harried-looking associate. A tail-wagging goldendoodle appeared out of nowhere, and I realized the dog had been sleeping under the receptionist’s desk.

What about the skeletons?

I thought you’d never ask! Turns out, there really was a skeleton in the attic, and Callie was the one to find it (along with a few other old family skeletal secrets). And as soon as Callie found that skeleton, I knew I had my book title.

Available on Audible with a 4.4 overall rating.

What if I don’t win the #giveaway?

Well, that would be disappointing, but the good news is that Skeletons in the Attic is available in trade paperback, e-book AND on Audible. So really, there are no losers here… and if you’re a reader who is willing to take a gamble, the first 3 Marketville e-books are available in a box set for just $9.99.

 

 

 

About me

The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five multi-nominated Superior Shores Anthologies. Find me on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, and on www.judypenzsheluk.com.

And now, the #giveaway deets:

Enter to Win the Summer Book Bonanza #Giveaway!

WHERE: sign up at https://www.thestilettogang.com/home-giveaway/

WHEN: June 1 – 30, 2026

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: July

Grand Prize Winner receives… 9 E-BOOKS

  • Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston
  • The Second Shot by Bethany Maines
  • Murder in the One Percent by Saralyn Richard
  • The Body Business by Gay Yellen
  • Skeletons in the Attic by Judy Penz Sheluk
  • House of Rose by T.K. Thorne
  • Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford
  • Deadly Recall by Donnell Ann Bell
  • With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying by Debra H. Goldstein

Two runners up will receive 3 e-books and may select from the list above.

Twelve Years and Counting

/in , , , /by

It’s hard to believe, but come July 2026 it will be 12 years since I signed a contract to publish my debut novel. Traditional publishing can be slow, and it was a full year (July 2015) when The Hanged Man’s Noose was released by Mystery Writer of America-approved publisher Barking Rain Press. If you had told me then that a dozen years later I’d have two mystery series (seven novels), my own publishing imprint (Superior Shores Press) with five multi-author anthologies (two award-nominated as best collection), two books on publishing (one a double award winner!) and a handful of published short stories, I never would have believed it. But here I am, working on my first true crime, and another first, working with a co-author.

If you missed my post about A FATAL AFFAIR: THE MURDER OF HELEN GRIER you can find it here.

For someone, like me, who tends to be a bit of a control freak (which is why self-publishing has been so good for me), and who, over the years, has not shared what I’ve written with anyone but my editor until after the book is published, the co-author thing has been a learning experience. But we’re managing, Amanda Capper and I, even though (as evidenced by this photo collage of our offices) we have very different writing styles and habits.

Of course, twelve years changes a person, and I’m no exception. It goes beyond going back to my natural color (now mostly gray with a bit of brown),  gaining a few pounds (where did my metabolism go?), or accepting that I can no longer juggle three projects at the same time. I’ve also come to accept that I’m unlikely to ever earn what I like to call “Stephen King money” and it’s doubtful that Reese Witherspoon will ever select one of my books for Reese’s Book Club (though hope does spring eternal). What hasn’t changed is my belief in me, my stories, and the power of authors helping authors. That’s why I love being on the Stiletto Gang; collectively, we are stronger, more visible. United in our pursuit of writing the best book or story we can, and sharing it in whatever way works for each of us as individuals.

Twelve years has also changed the publishing landscape.

Self-publishing no longer carries the stigma it once did (at least in most circles) and there are far more independent publishers today than back in 2015. That’s both good and bad. Good because authors have lots of options. Bad because many authors will self-publish books that just aren’t ready, unwilling to take the time, or spend the money required, for good editing. Many small presses will also close shop in the next five years, leaving a host of authors “orphaned.” I know all about that. If you’ve read either of my books on publishing, you’ll know that it happened to me, not once, but twice. But, hey, as Elton John would say, “I’m Still Standing.”

The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025  Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances and the 2026 Derringer-nominated Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

 

Authors Helping Authors: A Full Circle Moment

/in , , , /by

AUTHORS HELPING AUTHORS

I’d been published a little over a year, maybe two, when I first met Emily Wood. I’d been approached by a regional library to talk about writing and getting published. As I recall, it was loosely related to the now defunct National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) held each November. Anyway, Emily was there, and at the time she was the Editor of the Base Borden newspaper, and worked part-time at the library.

I remember her sitting there, earnest, notebook in hand, dreams in her eyes. She asked a lot of questions. Good questions. Relevant questions. I answered them honestly, but I hoped, with cautious optimism. Yes, getting published was tough, but it could be done. And the one thing I believed in was authors helping authors. Emily might not have been a published author — yet — but in my mind, she was still an author.  I seem to recall she was writing something dystopian. The Handmaid’s Tale was big at the time, which may or may not have had something to do with it.

I went on to do a few other library events and presentations, mostly at my then-local library. Emily attended each and every one of them. I think, the first time, she was surprised that I remembered her, but I had been really impressed by her enthusiasm and ambition. I’d been her, once. Part of me still was, even if I’d become just a little more jaded. By 2018, after being “orphaned” twice, I gave up on traditional publishers (except for the odd short story) and had started my own imprint.

STEP-BY-STEP PUBLISHING GUIDES

Fast forward to late 2022. After 14 years in remission, I was diagnosed with the unwelcome return of breast cancer. Surgery followed shortly thereafter and suddenly the idea of trying to come up with a complicated mystery plot seemed impossible. Not writing also seemed impossible. But I was a former journalist. And I knew about traditional and self-publishing. What if I wrote about that, a sort of easy-to-read step-by-step guide? I liked the idea, but I knew I would need someone to work with me, an editor that was willing to review a chapter (or part of a chapter) every week. But who?

Then I remembered editor and aspiring author Emily Wood. I contacted her, and we came to an agreement whereby I’d pay her a fair hourly wage, and she’d return edited chapters to me on a weekly basis. It was a partnership made in heaven. Emily’s much more youthful perspective, and her recent efforts to find an agent, added meat to FINDING YOUR PATH TO PUBLICATION: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE, that otherwise would not have been included. That book went on to win the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction AND the 2024 Writer’s Digest Award for Best Prescriptive Nonfiction (that one was nice because it came with a $1,000 prize). I followed up PATH with SELF-PUBLISHING: THE INS & OUTS OF GOING INDIE. Here, Emily’s lack of knowledge was instrumental in how I would explain the process that virtually anyone could follow.

A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT

Another fast forward, this time in 2024, when Emily was hired fulltime at the library AND informed me she’d landed an agent and they were shopping her book (a romance, which is what she loves to read). She signed a contract soon after and the book JUST MY LUCK, released in February 2026. You can find it on Amazon and other retailers.  And then, one day in March, a parcel arrived from Emily. Her debut novel, signed and personalized. A matching bookmark. A lovely thank you card.

And that’s what you call “a full circle moment.”

ABOUT JUST MY LUCK (by Emily Wood)

Sloan Sanders’ perfectly curated online life is in shambles. Dumped the same day her dream business collapses and rocked by a shocking DNA test, she escapes to her aunt’s farm to regroup.
Instead of peace, Sloan finds herself knee-deep in manure and butting heads with Parker, the annoyingly hot stable hand who seems determined to make her life difficult. She thinks he’s shady. He thinks she’s an entitled princess. But as sparks fly and secrets come out, Sloan realizes the line between enemies and something more is getting blurry.
When a chance comes to prove herself and reinvent her future, Sloan needs Parker’s help. Transforming a dusty hayloft into an Instagram-worthy event space might just change everything—if she’s willing to show the world her unfiltered self.
Perfect for fans of Jen DeLuca’s Well Met and K.A. Tucker’s The Simple Wild, JUST MY LUCK is a heartwarming rom-com about identity, family secrets, and finding love where you least expect it.

YOU CAN FIND EMILY WOOD ON INSTAGRAM @emilywoodwrites. 

The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025  Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances and the 2026 Derringer-nominated Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

 

Brown Hound Press & The Last Detail

/in , /by

The Last Detail is the title of a short story, written by me and recently published by Brown Hound Press. A new online publisher, Brown Hound is a small press based in Lexington, Kentucky that publishes offbeat mystery, dark humor, southern gothic, and literary fiction.

Brown Hound Press plans to publish one short story a week, with no repeat authors for the first 52 weeks. (Which means, any authors reading this, that Brown Hound might be a market for you to research. And yes, there is prompt payment to the author.)

Go to the home page of the Brown Hound website to subscribe and receive a new short story every Thursday.

 

The Beginning 

It started with the grass clippings.

I’d just finished mowing the front yard. True, the rows lacked the zigzag symmetry of the adjacent lawns, and the edges were a bit on the shaggy side—I hadn’t yet invested in one of those trimmer gizmos—but I was nonetheless pleased with my accomplishment.

Not that I had a choice. I could barely afford the rent on this place, let alone a lawn service, my finances depleted by a long, drawn-out divorce and a litany of legal fees. In hindsight, it would have been fiscally prudent to accept our lawyers’ proposed division of assets from the get-go. To settle things in an amicable manner. But it’s hard to be gracious when your husband’s former administrative assistant derails your thirty-five years of marriage. Last I heard, the bulimic bride and geriatric groom were honeymooning in Bermuda, may her bleached blonde bob turn green from the hotel’s chlorinated pool.

But I digress.

To read the rest of The Last Detail, click here.

The Inspiration

You’ll have to read The Last Detail, but suffice it to say that I have actually experienced a grass clipping incident similar to the one described in the story. Of course, the revenge exacted by both parties is a complete figment of my all-too-vivid imagination (as is the cheating scumbag of an ex-husband and the bulimic bride with the bleached blonde bob). But gosh it was fun to write! And oh-so-cathartic.

The Brown Hound Submission Process

I submitted the story using Brown Hound’s online portal and heard back within a few days. The editor, Josh, loved the story, thought it was funny, but didn’t buy the ending. Would I revise it?

The chance to revise and resubmit is a generous gesture and not one that happens often, so of course I said yes.

Besides, as it happened, I’d already written an alternate ending and hadn’t been able to decide which one worked better. I resubmitted it with the new/old ending and voila! Acceptance.

And that, my Stiletto Gang friends, is one story with a happy ending.

To read previously published stories by Brown Hound Press, click here. 

The past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025 Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances, and the 2026 Derringer-nominated Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

 

One-hit wonder

One-Hit Wonders

/in , , /by

Do you know there’s a list of one-hit wonders on Wikipedia? It’s true, there is, and those one-hit wonders are even broken down by decade. Back in May 2025, Jay Hartman, Editor-in-Chief, White City Press emailed me with an invitation to submit a short story for Lunatic Fringe, a sequel to their anthology (I Just) Died in Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired by One-Hit Wonders. The only criteria was the song had to come from the list, could not have been done before, and it had to actually inspire the story. It wouldn’t do just to have a character listen to the song or dance to it or some other easy way out.

Now, I’ve had stories in anthologies before (including five that I published under Superior Shores Press). In fact, I got my start as an author by being published in three anthologies in one year (2014). But invited? I’d never been “invited” before. I allowed myself ten minutes of feeling important before surveying the one-hit wonder list. And there it was:

One-hit wonders

Baby, It’s You by Smith

I was probably a bit too young to fully appreciate the angst in lead singer Gayle McCormick’s voice (though I’ve certainly been there and done that since), but I’ve loved that song since the first time I heard it, which would have been 1969, the year it was released. I wasn’t the only one. Baby, It’s You sold over one million copies between July and October 1969, out-charted popular versions by the Beatles and Shirelles, and was awarded a gold record.

Like many bands with or without one-hit wonders, Smith soon disbanded, and after a brief solo career, McCormick left the music business. A lifelong smoker, she died of metastatic lung cancer in 2016, at the age of 67.

My protagonist in the story is named (you guessed it) Gayle. And the man that broke her heart? None other than Mac McCormick, a wannabe writer and very much married man.

The opening paragraph of my story goes like this:

My Mama always said there’s a lid for every pot, it just took some folks longer than others to find their match. Even so, I’d just about given up hope of ever meeting my lid when Mac McCormick walked into my life.

And later…

I was sitting on my Mama’s porch, rocking back and forth in her white wicker recliner. It had been six months since that first day at the Sleep & Nap and with the exception of the bookstore and the coffee shop, Mac and I had never been anywhere else. It hadn’t mattered in the beginning, mostly because I’d been so sure that he was my lid. But now I wondered if maybe it was loose somehow, like my lid didn’t have a snug enough fit, like there was something else I needed to do. Because not going anywhere, well, it just didn’t feel right.

“Ah, Gayle honey,” my Mama said when I’d finished, her voice soft, the way it got when she was about to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. “Seems like you’ve found yourself a double boiler.”

I looked at her, confused.

“A married man, honey.”

Married?

That would never do.

If you’ve never heard the song …

or if you’d like a refresher, there’s a fabulous Youtube version.

And if you’re a fan of songs that have lived on long after you’ve forgotten the artist who recorded them, then Lunatic Fringe is the anthology for you! Enjoy contributions that mix the best of music and crime from Steve Liskow, Vicki Erwin, Kaye George, John M. Floyd, Linda Kay Hardie, Sandra Murphy, Karen Keeley, Teresa Inge, Michael Bracken, Mary Dutta, Nikki Knight, Judy Penz Sheluk (that’s me!) and Adam Meyer.

You can find  Lunatic Fringe at your favorite retailer or purchase directly from White City Press.

The past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of seven mystery novels, five anthologies, and two award-winning books on publishing, including Finding YOUR Path to Publication and Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.

 

A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier [Part I]

/in , , , /by

I first read about Helen Grier in September 2022, when my local online paper, the SooToday.com, ran a two-part article about her unsolved murder. As the author of two mystery series and seven novels, my first thought was “Here’s a possible idea for my next Marketville mystery.” (My Marketville mysteries are what I like to consider “Cold Case Cozies.”) I printed the article, stuck it inside a folder and more or less forgot about it while I researched, wrote, and published Finding YOUR Path to Publication, followed by Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie in 2023.

I say “more or less forgot about it” because every now and again I’d hunt through old newspaper archives to learn a bit more about Helen Grier. And with every thing I read, I knew one thing: Helen Grier’s story deserved to be told. And it deserved to be told as fact, not fiction. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it.

And then I met Amanda Capper, another Sault Ste. Marie author. Turned out she’d been wanting to write about Helen Grier for more than a decade. In fact, she even knew the current owner of the hunt camp where Helen Grier was murdered. We applied for Ontario Arts Council funding (to assist with research and other expenses) and were approved in October 2025. A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier, will be published on October 28, 2026, the 89th anniversary of Helen’s death.

Here’s a brief recap:

Helen Grier was a 28-year-old stenographer from Pontiac, Michigan. At the time of her death, she had been seeing 40-year-old Vernon Spencer, a married father of two. Spencer, a former professional baseball player (albeit mostly in the minor leagues), had inherited his father’s dairy farm in Wixom, Michigan, and ran the day-to-day operations. By all accounts, Grier and Spencer had been having an affair for five or six years.

In October 1937, Helen and Vernon arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, and registered at a local hotel as Mr. and Mrs. Sprague. The following day they made their way to a hunting cabin on Long Lake, about 45 minutes away by car. The cabin was owned by a Dr. A.A. Holcomb of Pontiac, Michigan.

On the afternoon of October 28, 1937, Spencer, having purportedly been out looking for moose tracks, entered the cabin to discover Helen’s body lying in a pool of blood. She had been shot in her left temple. According to Spencer, he immediately went to the nearest neighbour in search of a phone. The three-mile trek, which typically took less than an hour, took Spencer four. He would later tell police that he had experienced trouble with his flashlight, missed the trail, and gotten lost in the bush.

There’s a lot more to the story, as you can guess, though the bottom line is that in January 1938, Vernon Spencer was charged with the murder of Helen Grier. His trial was held in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, in April 1938. After a scant three-hour deliberation, Vernon Spencer was acquitted of all charges, and returned to his dairy farm in Wixom, his wife by his side.

Some believe Vernon Spencer got away with murder. Others believe Helen, with a history of depression, may have taken her own life. Still others think one of the “bachelors” (single men in the area, in search of logging work) may have been responsible.

Amanda’s opinion on whodunit and mine differ. But what we think doesn’t matter. Our job is to research historical archives, present the facts we discover without bias, and let the reader be the judge.

Follow A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier on social media:

Facebook        Instagram         BlueSky

The past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of seven mystery novels, five anthologies, and two award-winning books on publishing, including Finding YOUR Path to Publication and Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.

 

Bucket List: Blue Rodeo

/in , /by

Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy at the mic

I don’t have a huge bucket list of places I want to go or concerts I want to see. Part of the reason is that I tend to do things I want to do, if I can afford to do them. The other reason is I have few wants, and those that I do have tend to be simple. But one of my bucket list wants has been to see Blue Rodeo live in concert. Admittedly, many of you reading this won’t even have heard of Blue Rodeo. They’re a Canadian band, been together 40 years, but they never really hit it big in the U.S. But in Canada…well, they are legendary.

Like any band of longstanding, Blue Rodeo has had changes in band members. The exception is the frontmen — singer/songwriters/high school friends Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. They have very different vocals, but both are immensely talented — but once you hear Jim Cuddy’s voice, you’ll never forget it.

The long story short on this post is that Blue Rodeo actually came to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where I live, in October. They played at the local hockey area to a full house of about 6,000 diehard fans. I knew it might be a risk — we’re always told not to meet our idols (or in this case, go to see our favourite band live) but I took a chance and…

Blue Rodeo played for 2 hours straight, including five of my favourite songs: Try, Bad Timing, Five Days in May, Lost Together, and Bulletproof.

And I’m no casual fan…I’ve included mentions of them in several of my novels, and even wrote a Facts in Fiction post about them on my website. You can access that here to learn more: FACTS IN FICTION: BLUE RODEO. And in case you don’t want to do that, here are some excerpts from three of my novels:

Excerpt from A Hole in One: A Glass Dolphin Mystery #2

“I’ve got to get back to Lount’s Landing. Can you point me in the direction of Union Station?” Kevin stood up. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll walk you there.”

They were within spitting distance of Union Station when Emily noticed Chloe strutting toward them, chest thrust out, hands on hips, her black spandex tights and leopard-print top accentuating every curve. How long had she been following them? Since they’d passed her gym the first time? Or on the way back? Emily didn’t know and was relieved to find out that she didn’t care.

Unless, of course, Chloe knew more about Marc Larroquette than she had shared with Kevin.

Damn it. She’d have talk to Chloe.

But not today. Today, Chloe was Kevin’s problem. Emily patted Kevin’s arm, letting her hand linger slightly longer than necessary, then gave him a peck on the cheek.

She wound her way through the throng of commuters to Platform 26, humming Bad Timing by Blue Rodeo. It was time to go home.

Want to hear Bad Timing? Watch the official YouTube video with Jim Cuddy on lead vocals.

Excerpt from Where There’s a Will: A Glass Dolphin Mystery #3

The DJ began playing Blue Rodeo’s Lost Together, a cue for Luke and Emily to take center stage for their first dance before inviting others to join in. Arabella pushed back a tear, watched the dance floor fill up, and contemplated the pairings.

Want to hear Lost Together?  Watch the official YouTube video with Greg Keelor on lead vocals.

And finally, from Past & Present: A Marketville Mystery #2

I hung up and found myself humming a few bars of “To Make You Feel My Love.” I thought about the Barnstable family curse and laughed. More like “Bad Timing” by Blue Rodeo. Hell, almost anything by Blue Rodeo, especially if Jim Cuddy was the one singing it. That man had a voice made for sad songs.

Maybe this time would be different. I started humming again.

And my all-time fave? Bulletproof with lead vocals by Jim Cuddy, courtesy of YouTube.

Thanks for listening.

© Copyright - The Stiletto Gang