Thursday, October 21, 2004
Another Hint!
The time is getting shorter!
The nights are getting darker!
The leaves are falling turning the trees into grotesque shapes.
The wind seems to call to the shadows to come dance in the mist.
The house is filled with Molly running the stairs, crawling into the windows,
and standing guard over all!!
Doug Allyn
On October 10th I attended an event at the Lapeer, Michigan Public Library. It featured award winning mystery author Doug Allyn who resides here in Montrose , Michigan. Mr. Allyn has written eight novels and over 80 novelettes and short stories. His first publication ‘Final Rites’, in 1985 won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He has won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Short Story Mystery, two Derringer Awards for Novellas, the International Crime Readers’ Award, and the Ellery Queen Readers’ Award.
I first became acquainted with his work through the Ellery Queen and the Alfred Hitchcock mystery magazines but had never read any of his novels. The attraction for me was being able to place myself in some of the locations he writes about because I live in this area. At this event I was able to speak briefly with Mr. Allyn and purchase his latest novel, ‘The Burning Of Rachel Hayes’. This story features his character, David Westbrook, a small town veterinarian who is starting over in a northern Michigan community. The reason for starting over and the trouble he faces makes the novel as spellbinding as Mr. Allyn many short stories.
During the evening Mr. Allyn described his early life, his military duty, and how he finally began writing as a career. He discussed his time spent with the writer’s club in Clio, Michigan and how they helped him develop his technique. He urged the members of the gathering to join a writer’s club if they had aspirations to write. Mr. Allyn discussed the business end of a writing career such as getting an agent and different ways of getting published. He took questions throughout the evening also.
Before the evening ended I had decided that I would pick up two more of his novels. To my delight ‘All Creatures Dark And Dangerous’ is a collection of short stories that had been published previously in the Ellery Queen magazine so I can revisit some of them and read the ones I have missed. The third novel was ‘A Dance In Deep Water’ featuring his character ‘Michelle Mitchell’. Once these are read I will start my search to find the other five novels.