Book Reviews

2021 Author EVENTS

All events cancelled due to Covid-19.

2020 Author EVENTS

RESCHEDULED due to COVID-19. DATE/TIME TBA. (Old Time: Thursday May 14, 2020.) Author Talk & Signing at Koffee House Reads (affiliated with Meaford Public Library), MEAFORD, ON. Time & Venue TBA. Directions | Website

RESCHEDULED due to COVID-19. DATE/TIME TBA. (Old Time: Friday May 15, 2020. 3:00 PM.) Author Talk & Signing at Midland Public Library, MIDLAND, ON. 320 King Street. Directions | Website

RESCHEDULED due to COVID-19. DATE/TIME TBA. (Old Time: Thursday May 21, 2020.) Author Talk & Signing at Ansley Grove Public Library (Branch of Vaughan Public Library), WOODBRIDGE, ON. 350 Ansley Grove Rd. Directions | Website

RESCHEDULED due to COVID-19. DATE/TIME TBA. (Old Time: Sunday May 31, 2020. 2:00 PM.) Author Talk & Signing at Blue Mountains (L.E. Shore) Public Library, THORNBURY, ON. 173 Bruce St. S. Directions | Website

CANCELLED due to COVID-19. Thursday June 18, 2020. 3:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Probus Club of Collingwood, Collingwood, ON. Members Only. Website

RESCHEDULED to 2021 due to COVID-19. DATE/TIME TBA. (Old Time: Thursday July 2, 2020. 6:30 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Cottage Dockside Reads (affiliated with Parry Sound Public Library) at the Carling Township Recreation Center (15 minutes north of Parry Sound), CARLING, ON. Directions | Website

2020 EVENTS: All 2020 events moved to 2021 due to COVID-19

Author Talks & Signings at bookstores and libraries in the following locations: Orillia, Barrie, Collingwood, Owen Sound, Kimberley, Stayner, Angus, Caledon, and more.

2019 EVENTS

Thursday June 20, 2019. 7:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Ginger Press Bookshop, OWEN SOUND, ON. 848 2nd Avenue East. Directions | Website

Sunday July 7, 2019. 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM. Author Event & Signing at Chapters Indigo Bookstore, BARRIE, ON. 76 Barrie View Drive. Directions | Website

Thursday July 25, 2019. 2:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Port Elgin Public Library, Port Elgin, ON. 708 Goderich St. Directions | Website

Monday August 12, 2019. 7:30 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Wasaga Beach Public Library, WASAGA BEACH, ON. 120 Glenwood Drive. Directions | Website

Tuesday August 13, 2019. 2:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Tobermory Public Library, TOBERMORY, ON. 22 Bay Street. Directions | Website

Thursday August 15, 2019. 2:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Wiarton Public Library, WIARTON, ON. 578 Brown Street. Directions | Website

Monday August 19, 2019. 1:00 PM. Author Talk & Signing at Lion’s Head Public Library, LION’S HEAD, ON. 90 Main Street. Directions | Website

Saturday August 24, 2019. 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM. Author Event & Signing at Chapters Indigo Bookstore, HILLCREST MALL, NORTH YORK, ON. 9350 Yonge St. Unit Y010. Directions | Website

Saturday October 12, 2019. 11:00 AM – 4:30 PM. RETURN ENGAGEMENT. Author Event & Signing at Chapters Indigo Bookstore, HILLCREST MALL, NORTH YORK, ON. 9350 Yonge St. Unit Y010. Directions | Website

The Color Red Anniversary Edition Giveaway

To celebrate the release anniversary of THE COLOR RED, Detective Bourque Book One, North Noir is giving away 5 signed anniversary edition ebooks. To win an ebook, simply send an email to amp-northnoir@outlook.com with ‘WIN TCR Ebook‘ in the subject line.

Contest closes April 16, 2026. Winners selected at random.

A.M. Potter Interview: Literary Noir and Modern Publishing

Author Interview from WriteStats, March 22, 2026.

INTERVIEW OPENING:

“In a publishing industry often driven by speed, trends, and algorithms, A.M. Potter represents something increasingly rare: a writer grounded in discipline, literary tradition, and narrative restraint.

A Canadian author with three published novels — Bay of BloodThe Color Red, and Silver Moon Rising — Potter writes within the literary detective and noir fiction space, where atmosphere matters, but clarity matters more.

Published by Stark House Press and Black Opal Books, A.M. Potter’s work reflects a core philosophy that becomes clear throughout this interview:

“You control your literary touches… and put the narrative arc first.”

This single insight encapsulates not just Potter’s writing style but a broader truth about what keeps readers engaged in modern fiction ….”

See full interview at: https://writestats.com/a-m-potter-interview/

Small Things Like These

I was travelling for much of Fall 2025 and let my book reviewing lapse. Now that I’m back in Canada, here’s a favourite read from the past six months.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, 2021. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Irish Times Readers’ Choice for Best Irish Book of the Century.

Small Things Like These delivers storytelling at its finest. Not a wasted word.

Keegan’s 2021 novella is a masterpiece of tone and fidelity, powerfully evocative of life in Ireland. The tale is reminiscent of The Dead, a short story in James Joyce’s Dubliners. Both are Irish gems.

Sit in front of a hearth with a loved one and read Keegan’s book out loud to them.

Detective Bourque’s Hometown

FALMOUTH, CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS

Detective Ivy Bourque’s hometown in The Color Red & Silver Moon Rising.
(The photo shows the tidy side of Cape Cod. The dark side? It’s in the telling. To download free previews, click the links below.)

Michael Crummey’s Newfoundland

Anyone who’s been to ‘The Rock’ knows Newfoundlanders love to tell stories. I can’t think of any Newfoundland and Labrador author more accomplished than Michael Crummey.

Over a span of six novels, from River Thieves (2001) to The Adversary (2023), Crummey has wrangled and harnessed Newfoundland English, transforming an ever-changing spoken vernacular into prose – a difficult task, one he’s discharged with flying colours.

Each of Crummey’s novels is both a haunting tale and a feast of words. He spins splendid descriptions and memorable dialogs. If you want to hear Newfoundland and feel it too, pick up a Crummey novel.

Crummey’s latest, The Adversary, winner of the 2025 International Dublin Literary Award, catapults the reader to the fishing port of Mockbeggar, Newfoundland. It’s the late 1700s. One year the Atlantic is choked with cod; the next, it’s barren. One day the sky is clear; the next, it’s a howling grey wolf. The novel delivers an evocative tale, an unsparing story of two warring siblings.

PS: List of Michael Crummey novels in order of publication: River Thieves (2001); The Wreckage (2005); Galore (2009); Sweetland (2014); The Innocents (2019); The Adversary (2023). Crummey has also published poetry, short stories, and non-fiction. For further information, see the author on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crummey.