South Stormont—Seaway crime novelist Maggie Wheeler will host a farewell to her much-loved protagonist Farran Mackenzie at the launch of her seventh and final novel in the popular Lost Villages mysteries The Last Wave By.
“This is not just another book launch,” explains Wheeler, known to fans as the Seaway Valley’s Queen of Crime. “It’s goodbye to Farran and the gang. The Lost Villages series started 21 years ago, and it’s been a great run.”
Wheeler launched her career as a mystery writer in 2001 with her debut novel, A Violent End, that showcased the social, cultural, historical, and psychological fallout from the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project of the 1950s as a backdrop to a murder discovered 40 years after the fact. With the first print run selling out in less than five months, Wheeler found herself a regionally bestselling author and one book became a series.
“It’s been an amazing journey for both Farran and me,” says Wheeler. “I’ve been on the speaking circuit non-stop for over 20 years now, sharing the history of the Seaway and Lost Villages—with some murder mixed in.”
Wheeler’s books have been used to teach English and history from public to post-secondary schools across Eastern Ontario and Upstate New York. Media coverage of her work has included CBC Ontario Morning, The Montreal Gazette, The Ottawa Citizen, and The National Post. Awards include a nomination for the Ontario Premier’s Awards for the Arts, an Ontario Provincial Hansard, and the FACES Magazine 2017 award for Ottawa’s Favourite Female Author. Wheeler is also a contributor to Historica Canada’s Canadian Encyclopedia—the official national online resource for all things Canadiana.
The final novel in the popular series, The Last Wave By, will be launched on Sunday, November 6, 2022, at the Royal Canadian Legion Br. 569 in Long Sault from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. Wheeler will do a presentation and short reading at 3:00 pm. The Legion will provide a cash bar and bar menu. Tickets can be purchased through Eventbright for $10.00 each, with all proceeds being donated to the Friends of GTR 1008 in support of the Train Preservation Project near Morrisburg.
“Farran will face off with a serial killer undiscovered for decades, a ghost train, and a husband on murder charges,” says Wheeler. “It will be quite the ride.
“It will also be very hard to say goodbye.”
