Canadian writer Vicki Delany may have one of the best taglines in the mystery world: One Woman Crime Wave.
It’s an apt description for an author who has written over 40 books with over five series, ranging from cozy mysteries to suspense, under her name and the pen name, Eva Gates.
In a 2019 Chicks on the Case guest blog post, Delany disagrees with the adage: write what you know.
She explains, “Frankly, what most of us know (and thus what we do in our lives) isn’t very interesting. I know all about designing computer systems for the banking industry, growing (and eating) tomatoes, driving long distances, and reading crime novels.”
Instead, she offers: Write what you want to know. Her prolific catalog is a testament to a very determined woman who began writing in her spare time while working full-time and raising three girls by herself.
She retired from her job in the banking system and bought a house in rural Ontario in 2007. Since then, she’s written her books and previously served as past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder of the Women Killing It crime writing festival. In 2019, she received the Derrick Murdoch Award for her Canadian Crime writing.
Here’s a look at one of her first series: the eight-book Constable Molly Smith Mysteries, a police procedural that takes place in Trafalgar, British Columbia.
The series features Molly grow into her police role with her veteran partner, Detective Sergeant John Winters with Molly’s former hippie mother, Lucky, getting herself into trouble.
In the Shadow of the Glacier
When a known Vietnam draft dodger passes away, he leaves money to the town with the stipulation that the town will build a Commemorative Peace Garden to honor Vietnam War draft dodgers. It’s not a popular decision.
However, rookie Constable Molly Smith discovers Reginald Montgomery, one of the outspoken opponents of the garden and builder of an unpopular resort, dead in the garden; her own mother, one of the many former hippies who came to the town, is one of the accused.
Molly has to get to the bottom of the crime to prove to herself and the town where she grew up that she is not a kid named Moonlight anymore.
Valley of the Lost
When Molly’s mother finds a young woman dead from an apparent overdose and a baby next to her, she calls her daughter Probationary Constable Molly Smith and Detective Sergeant John Winters to investigate.
Most people want to write the incident off as a drug addict who overdosed but the facts don’t add up to that story.
But the young woman gave a fake name so there’s not much to go on to find out more about her and notify family. For the time being, Molly’s mother takes home the infant to care for him.
At the same time, Sergeant Winters’ wife Eliza stirs up controversy when she agrees to model for the planned resort that is dividing the town.
Winter of Secrets
Christmas Eve should be a calm and happy time in the holidays. Constable Molly Smith has finished her one year as a probationary constable. But when a car crashes into the river, Molly arrives on the scene.
It seems like some young tourists had a tragic end to their holiday visit until the autopsy results with unexpected results, Constables Molly and her mentor Sergeant John Winters have to investigate.
Digging into the young people’s pasts and their connections to the town, the police may start to unveil a darker side to Trafalgar with drugs and sex abuse.
Negative Image
Sergeant John Winters’s wife is found at the scene of the crime. It turns out that in her past life as a supermodel, she was romantically entangled with the victim, making her suspect number one.
John has been pulled off the case and forced to work on a series of burglaries with Constable Molly Smith and everyone in town is angry. But things go from bad to worse when Molly’s stalker keeps escalating his threats at her, her father has an accident, and her love life is interfering with her professional life.
Will things end up okay for John and Mary?
Among the Departed
When Constable Molly’s Mountie boyfriend is called out to find a lost boy in the woods, he finds more than he bargained for. The child was fine but they stumbled upon human bones, which may be the bones of Mr. Nowak, the father of Molly’s childhood best friend.
He took a walk one morning when they were children and never returned. The loss of the father and husband wrecked the family. The bones may reveal answers to decades-long questions but it may open new wounds. Will Constable Molly get to the bottom of what happened to Mr. Nowak?
A Cold White Sun
A young teacher, Cathy Lindsay, was just enjoying the ski slopes when a sniper shoots and kills her. The only witness is Cathy’s dog. But why was the young mother and English teacher murdered?
Constable Molly Smith and Sergeant Winters start digging and start to learn that the teacher’s seemingly peaceful life is breaking at the seams. Even so, who wanted Cathy dead?
Under Cold Stone
Molly’s mother Lucky tends to get herself into scrapes but this one takes the cake. She’s dating the Chief Constable of Trafalgar, Paul Keller and they are taking a romantic trip to Banff Springs Hotel.
But things get dicey when Lucky takes on two bullies who try to shove her into the local coffee shop, she learns too late that one is her boyfriend’s estranged son, Matt, and his roommate Barry.
Later that evening, Paul gets a call from Matt that he has found his roommate dead in their apartment. When Matt flees the crime scene and goes missing, the local police think that Matt is the killer.
Lucky asks her daughter Constable Molly for help to find Matt and figure out who really killed the young ruffian.
Unreasonable Doubt
Sergeant John Winters and Constable Molly Smith are given the impossible task of solving the 25-year-old murder of Sophia D’Angelo. Walter Desmond was convicted of her death but just exonerated and returned to the town for answers.
That means that if Walter wasn’t the killer, the police had to figure out who was.
He may have been exonerated but the town still views him with suspicion, especially when several women are attacked after Walter returns. Can Constable Molly and Sergeant John Winters get to the bottom of the case and the perpetrator of the attacks?
