He approached James Carrier's body, not so much to ensure he was dead - the gaping hole in the chest pretty much confirmed that - but because Ray Owens always liked to inspect his handiwork.
So starts The Killer Trail, the first novel to be penned by Tri-City resident Derrick Carew that spins the web of gunman Ray Owens and his entrapment of social worker Chris Ryder.
Ryder, like Carew, is a social worker at the local psychiatric institution who likes to go for runs.
Carew based his novel after picking up a lost cell phone in Mundy Park about five years ago. Carew had always wanted to craft a book and it was while he was trying to connect the phone to the owner that his tale started to take shape.
"I kept thinking, 'Who did this belong to? Why was it here?' My imagination really took off."
Carew cultivated his passion for the arts after he moved to B.C. from Newfoundland. He lived in a house full of musicians and his creative juices flowed, too, though more toward literature.
Carew, who has a master's degree in social work from Dalhousie University, read books, took classes, joined literary groups and learned from professionals who advised: "Write what you know."
And so he took elements from his 15-year career at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute at Colony Farm and fictionalized them for the thriller, with the aim to shed light on the complex side of mental illness.
Carew's work, which comes out May 15 through NeWest Press, has already received recognition: It made the shortlist for the Debut Dagger at the 2013 Crime Writers' Association Awards - which "really gave me a big boost to my confidence," Carew said - and it has been praised by established writers like Robin Spano (Death's Last Run) and Garry Ryan (the Detective Lane mystery series).
As for his next move, Carew wants a trilogy and has already started writing the second and third books for The Killer Trail, which will be released in time for the 2014 Bloody Words conference in Toronto.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
Hot off the press
Jeff Leitch, a math teacher at Port Coquitlam's Terry Fox secondary, has co-authored a novel with Roy Dimond, a retired Coquitlam youth worker, called Saving Our Pennys. Released by Grey Gate Media, the story revolves around a student named Penny who makes an impact on a teacher's life.
Former Tri-City News' columnist Margaret Gunning, a PoCo resident, will launch her third novel, The Glass Character, on June 7 at 2 p.m. at the Tri-City Wordsmiths writers' group at Terry Fox Library (2470 Mary Hill Rd., PoCo). Published last month by Thistledown Press, the narrative is about a woman's obsession with the silent film star Harold Lloyd.
Port Moody's Anita Love has penned a short story for the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles Happen edition, The Multitasking Mom's Survival Guide, out last month.
