It’s a Bookie for Revenge of the Lobster Lover. Published by The Acorn Press, Charlottetown, Revenge of the Lobster Lover is a mystery set on Prince Edward Island, published on the island, and written by Hilary MacLeod. Ms. MacLeod, a Professor of Media Studies at Loyalist College’s main campus in Belleville, lives in Prince Edward County and summers on Prince Edward Island.
The CBC Book Club, an online entity, launched the Bookie contest to celebrate the best in books in 2010. In early February 2011, readers were encouraged to vote for their favourites among eight genres. Revenge of the Lobster Lover was nominated and shortlisted in the mystery genre.
Hilary MacLeod’s winning mystery beat out Stieg Larsson’s The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Giles Blunt’s Crime Machine, and The Passage by Justin Cronin. She and her nearest competitor, Vicki Delany, author of Negative Image, were neck and neck over a week of online voting.
Revenge of the Lobster Lover, as the title suggests, is a light read. It’s what some call a cozy, a village or armchair mystery, set in a fictional PEI village called The Shores, and peopled by eccentric characters. It is cozy, but also “noir,” with some scenes that are anything but funny.
Sign of the Cross author Anne Emery says, “Hilary MacLeod is a terrific writer … with a sly wit.”
Globe and Mail crime fiction columnist Margaret Cannon says Revenge of the Lobster Lover is a “… light and lively tale, with a batch of eccentrics in a pretty place. It’s a formula that has been tried for a century and, in the right hands, it still works.”
In Hilary MacLeod’s hands, it worked well enough to win the Bookie award for Best Mystery!
Ms. MacLeod has taught announcing techniques and broadcast writing to Loyalist College students for 20 years. Loyalist President Maureen Piercy said, “We are always delighted when members of the Loyalist community are recognized for their talents. Receiving a literary award for a first novel is quite an accomplishment and we congratulate Hilary on her achievement.”
The author says, “What really knocks me out is the enthusiasm with which my friends, colleagues, students, former students and readers grabbed the chance to vote for me and take me to the finish line. They carried me on their shoulders most of the way. The only thing I did was write the book.”
Revenge of the Lobster Lover is available at local area bookstores and excerpts can be read at hilarymacleod.ca.
For more information, contact: Terrilee Bulger, Publisher, The Acorn Press, tbulger@eastlink.ca or Hilary MacLeod, author, Revenge of the Lobster Lover, macleod.hilary1@gmail.com
Media Contact: Edina Cappuccitti, College Advancement and External Relations, (613) 969-1913, ext. 2392; e-mail: ecappuccitti@loyalistc.on.ca