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The Charles Lauchlan Mystery Books by Catherine Macdonald

If you like old fashioned mysteries in the amateur sleuth tradition with touches of humour and romance, you’ll like Charles Lauchlan.

Charles has no intention of turning detective. His life as a young Presbyterian minister in turn of the 20th century Winnipeg has enough complications, thank you. Yet his calling gives him advantages for crime investigation, not the least of which is seamless access to both the most squalid slums and the best appointed ballrooms of his divided, young city. The plight of a friend accused of murder forces Charles to use this advantage plus his pastoral skills in decidedly unorthodox ways.

Put on the Armour of Light, the first Charles Lauchlan adventure, will be available from Dundurn in bookstores and online November 29, 2014.

Catherine Macdonald

Catherine Macdonald lives and writes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During her career as an archivist and freelance historian, she encountered all sorts of otherwise useless historical details and stored them away in the back cupboard of her brain, like odd pieces of cloth for a quilt. Then one morning, she woke up with an idea for a mystery novel and began pulling out the contents of that cupboard. Put on the Armour of Light was the result. She blogs at “Portage and Slain” and is hard at work on the second Charles Lauchlan adventure.

Put on the Armour of Light published by Dundurn, will be available in bookstores and online Nov. 29, 2014

In June of 1899, a puzzling summons to the police station knocks the Reverend Charles Lauchlan’s industrious life as a young Presbyterian minister off the rails. At the station he finds his former university roommate, Peter McEvoy, who has been arrested for murder.

The chief of police says it's an open and shut case but Sergeant Andrew Setter—labelled as a misfit by his brother officers—disagrees. Charles and Setter become uneasy allies in a search that takes Charles from the sleaziest bars to the most sumptuous drawing rooms of turn of the century Winnipeg. On the way, he uses his pastoral skills in ways never anticipated in the seminary. He must risk everything as time runs out, even his heart, in order to find the real killer.



Put on the Armour of Light is available in Winnipeg at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Chapters, Whodunit, and all three Costco locations.

Find it in on the web in hard copy or as an e-book at these locations:

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Chapters Indigo

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Put on the Armour of Light

News

The launch, November 30 at McNally Robinson Bookstore, was amazing. I had no idea so many people would actually come. And some brought friends! There was a very good feeling from the crowd.

I don't know how to account for it except that a number of factors must have coincided. The beginning of the Christmas season; a cold day better spent indoors; a good review in the Freep; a feeling of loyalty toward me and my family; people who hadn't seen each other for a long time; free wine and nice pastries.



I welcome any opportunity to talk about my books, the writing process, the Manitoba crime writing scene, the intersection between fiction and history or anything else about which I could pretend to be an authority.

And if you read my blog you will see that I am fascinated by the very idea of book clubs. Invite me to speak at yours and I will come running.

For dates and times of other talks and appearances, please visit the News page on Catherine Macdonald’s blog.

Catherine Macdonald

Use the Contact page at my blog to send me a message...