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Small Towns, Big Crimes: Stig Abell & Roz Nay

Stig Abell and Roz Nay
It's the quiet ones you have to watch for...
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About

Join authors Stig Abell and Roz Nay as they visit once serene small towns and the countryside, only to be disturbed by murder. In Abell’s A Twist in the River, former detective Jake Jackson goes to the country to find peace only to end up on the case when a young woman goes missing. Nay’s cozy mystery, All Rise for Murder, follows a court clerk in a quirky small town in BC where a young man is being framed for murder. Together, they’ll explore how quiet communities can conceal dark secrets—and why these unsettling mysteries continue to captivate readers.

Moderated by Heidi Reitmaier

Former London detective Jake Jackson finds his new life in the country threatened when women start disappearing in this beautifully written and deeply immersive novel that will challenge even the most diehard mystery lover’s deductive skills. A beautiful summer’s day When young nurse Claire Davidson goes missing on the riverbank, the only clues left behind are her phone and shoes. A mystery that sweeps the nation People disappear all the time, but this case sparks an online frenzy. Amateur investigators descend on the rural idyll.
cover of A Twist In The River

A truly Canadian cozy mystery, All Rise for Murder finds three generations of Kirby women suddenly under one roof in charming West Elk—just as the peaceful town seems to become the centre of a devious plot to frame an innocent young man for murder. Maude Kirby has recently been dumped by her diplomat husband and has moved back to her quirky hometown of West Elk, BC, to live with her ever-optimistic, fashion-forward mother, Val. On the ropes financially, and with her confrontational fifteen-year-old daughter, Rhette, to look after, Maude applies for a clerking job at the local courthouse, and to her surprise, gets it.
cover of All Rise for Murder: A Madam Clerk Mystery

Image of Stig Abell
Stig Abell believes that discovering a crime fiction series to enjoy is one of the great pleasures in life. His first novel, Death Under A Little Sky, introduced Jake Jackson and his attempt to get away from his former life in the beautiful area around Little Sky, which was followed by his second, third and fourth novels.

Image of Roz Nay
Roz Nay is the author of four bestselling and acclaimed thrillers: Our Little Secret, which won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for best foreign thriller in France, and was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery and the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award; Hurry Home and The Hunted, which were both shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada Best Crime Novel award; and The Offing, which has been optioned for TV. All Rise for Murder is the first book in Roz's new Madam Clerk mystery series. Roz has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, the US, and the UK.

Dates & Times

This event has ended.
Fri, June 5, 2026
6:30pm
7:30pm
A book signing will follow this event

Passes

3-Day Pass
Early Bird
$70 + HST
(Available until April 30)
Regular
$79 + HST
Under 30
$39 + HST
Friday Pass
Regular
$24 + HST
Under 30
$15 + HST

Venue

Victoria College Chapel
91 Charles St W, Toronto, ON M5S 2C7

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