The Chieftain, August 1, 2001

by Sandra Lee Johnston, staff reporter

Maggie Wheeler has been able to create a tale that will captivate the reader almost from the very beginning. Seldom does a book hold your attention as well as Wheeler's “A Violent End” does.

Not only does this skillful writer bring together the mystery of a murder, but she also entwines it with the history of the Lost Villages, and so well that it truly grabs a hold of ones imagination and holds it steadfast until the final chapter is concluded. Thus there is the idea of a novel; a mystery, creative imagination tossed with enough actual, factual history concerning a curve in the life paths of many people shared with fictional characters in a setting that is chill binding enough for the most accomplished reader. This book is a must read for everyone who enjoys the written word. It has a lot of items that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. It is indeed a good read!

“A Violent End” takes us to Ault Island where this new author presently resides with her husband and three young daughters (including a set of twins). Having lived in the Seaway Valley since the late sixties, her home on the shores of the St. Lawrence affords her the luxury of nature at her finger tips; Canada Geese and deer, as well as the occasional whisper from the Lost Villages. Deciding to write a novel is not small undertaking, but this lady has the credentials.  Having earned an English degree from the University of Ottawa, and working as both editor and correspondent for local media outlets, she was literally waiting for the opportunity to write a book . Her freelance articles have appeared in national publications and she established her own company five years ago, specializing in editing and business communications. The next natural step was to key out a book...and after reading it twice, I can say that she has nothing to worry about. Her first attempt has certainly set a high standard for her future writing.

As Linda Wiken of Prime Crime Books in Ottawa notes on the cover of Maggie’s book, “A drowned village and a Seaway in the making.. .a great place to hide a body!” Following the death of her mother, university professor, Farran (strike any memory cords?) Mackenzie begins searching for a past she never knew. Starting with her parents’ past in the Lost Villages which the St. Lawrence claimed through the construction of the Seaway project, her arrival surprises the oldtimers and stirs up memories former villages might rather leave dormant. Many are upset and disturbed by a recent find beneath the waters of the St. Lawrence...when Farran’s father’s body has been lying in state since the flooding of the Seaway some forty years before. When a friend of her parents dies under suspicious circumstances , Farran is forced into utilizing her research skills in a new way, before the murderer finds her. Sound yummy yet?

Well, speaking to Maggie at her dining table overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence gave me some insight into the writer. Her love affair with mystery was cultivated ever since she bumped into Nancy Drew some years ago. Graduating to Agatha Christie who remains her number one favourite mystery writer, she decided that it was time for her to try writing a mystery. “You just take your stab and see how you do," explains an ever smiling novelist. She continues telling me that she was satisfied with the book, ”As far as you can be on the first try.” She has no illusions about her ability and yet was willing to take the chance. “The responses I have received from the most part have been positive, readers seem happy with it.”

She grows serious and tells me that she lost her parents when still a young woman, and then lost her grandparents one after another. The magnitude of her personal loss left her shell shocked. “What was left of life as I had known wasn’t very much. Once a very closely knit core family was gone, and after such losses, the extended family quickly loses touch. Gone were our holiday gatherings, letters slow and then are no more..suddenly all that was; was gone. At 28, I found myself pretty much alone, except for my sister and her family, it is tough.”

Utilizing a unique, but very effective way of clearing up the time line for the reader, as the story hops back and forth, Maggie adds details from newspaper headlines of the time, what the rest of the world was doing, the international implications of what a certain flashback would suggest filled in gaps for readers from out of the Seaway area. “Anyone without a background of theSeaway can enjoy the book, it works for them and cuts down on any confusion that could erupt.”

As Jim Brownell of the Lost Villages Society explains in his Forward to the book, “Life was all the same along the front, no matter what villages Maggie chose to include in her novel, they could be envisioned as anyone in actuality.”

The research for the novel took 18 months and then it was her task to sit with the Seaway time frame and the story time frame and knit them together so they would work. She recalls in particular when she heard, read or learned about certain dramatic moments during the Seaway project, she knew immediately they “had” to be included in the book. “Take for instance the moving of the Christ Church, I just could not let it go without mention. People told me over and over that the bell in the steeple tolled as it was transported down the road.”

It took Maggie three months to write the actual book after the bits of information and ideas had been pieced together. “I was tempted to go back over the entire thing with a fine toothed comb, double check facts, but realized that I had gone as far as humanly possible, it was as close as I could get to what I wanted it to be.” She explains how when you look at actual facts and include them in a fictional story, you have to be fair and look at all aspects of the situation. There was the moving of village people, some homes, relocation, immediate impact on them and the environment when the Seaway went ahead and the long term effect shad to be looked at as well. “Sure it helped the country, but what did it do here, to the people who were uprooted? The spiral moved ever outward as I delved deeper and deeper. I began with the idea of a mystery, but it continued to grow. I was planning to focus on a focal point in time that was when the Seaway project cut through the area. You can look at it in a number of ways as you look back over peoples’ lives. The culture shock was something to look at as well. The post war era was progressing well, but the people are still shoveling out from the Seaway project. Then too there are modern challenges being faced due to the project...the book just continued to extend itself and nothing I came upon could really be left out if I was to give the reader a true and fair assessment of what it did and is still doing.”

She admits the location of her home and office right along the river on Ault Island helped a lot as she headed to “the pit” to type more downstairs each day. When questioned about how difficult it is to write a book, she candidly says, “The hardest part is to show up every day at the keyboard. Basically as a famous writer once said, It just black on white, getting it done is often the kicker.”

Continuing to enquire on the actual writing of a book, she notes, “it was a real leap of faith for except for the research in which I engaged all kinds of help, I worked along. Writing alone you begin to question yourself.. That if no one cares? What if no one wants to read it?”  She admits first reactions are important when your work is published. “It is a real learning experience to have those you wrote it for absolutely tear it apart. You go through a lot of unnecessary pain throughout the process.”

“I knew and had used the facilities at General House Publishing in Burnstown, Tim Gordon had worked for me on jobs I was doing for other people,” notes Maggie as we continue to talk. “I wondered if the book was written to a level that was viable to publish and to market. You know, does it fly? Can you figure it out?” She admits that when the copy came back form GHP with a recommend for publishing attached, she had already been in contact with printers and gotten prices. “There was no editing done except for a bit of tweaking, actually very little was done as far as changing anything. She (The editor) questioned a few things, but no major changes were made after Maggie sent it for editing, this in itself is a coup on her part, attesting to her ability. She knows a graphic artist and was working with him on a cover, using clips of the crime scene as she imagined it in her mind, a creative interpretation of the crime scene.  Funny a cover would seem to be an easy part of a book, but GHP worried about the roadway going into the water on the cover...”What road would drive right into the river?” they asked. Only folks from along the Seaway would know!! It must be eye catching and not used by anyone else before you can use any depiction. The date of publishing was delayed due to GHP scheduling, and so it was spring of this year rather than last Christmas when the book hit the shelves. While the publisher usually markets the book, Maggie wanted to be involved at this stage as well. “I know and am known in the area and wanted to take care of the marketing in this area. I keep them (GHP) up to sped on what I am doing, what I need them to do for me. they are quick and most accommodating. Things are going well,” she says.

Using the words from a Jann Arden song to introduce a section of the book was a high point for Maggie. “Her people got back to me in less than two weeks, and after I explained how it would be used, where it would be placed in the book, how it would tie in with the focus of the chapter, it was okayed. I admire her work so much and now she likes mine! Wow! Jann received a complimentary copy of “A Violent end” and let Maggie know she enjoyed it.

Looking back, the author details how she looked at the issues involved in the book from more than one angle to ensure readers a good store. “It provided initiative and inspiration, as I learned about the economic repercussions of the Seaway, the on-going challenges that are unique to Ontario Hydro make for great fonder.”

Her love of her work shows through as we speak. “It is more than a river and the lives of the people. After all the river and the people remain and still deal with the issues from the project.”

Writing a mystery presents unique problems for the writer for when a mystery is assessed you wonder if you can construct good puzzles, you need to know that before you start. “When I was stitching in the clues I wondered: was I being too obvious? Would the killer be pinpointed by the reader too soon? Would everyone who read the book know the outcome before the final page?”

The hardest thing for Maggie in her own words when writing a book came at the end...”I wrestled with thecae of exactly how to end the novel, whether the victim should be killed at a tender age...it was difficult for me to end it as I finally decided to...I tried to leave loose ends at the end. Police never tie up all the loose ends, they get the bulk of an investigation finalized and go with it. Life does not tie things up neatly, rather there are loose ends, no silver platter with everything complete, so I finally let and and ended it.”

When asked if she was sympathetic towards the killer, she came back rapidly, “I do not hold with killing and feel strongly unless it is self defense, there is no excuse for killing. We all begin as decent people, some get off track and waste their lives too, but sorry for the killer, No!”

A good thing happened when “A Violent End” was picked up by Chapters after only two months on the market. “I am quite proud of this accomplishment, being in 24 of their stores simultaneously will help sales!” Add this to the fact that Coles in Cornwall has had the book in stock for 2.5 weeks and have placed their third re-order, and signings at Upper ‘Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary and Upper Canada Village, local libraries picking it up, and even a national bite with the Gazette carrying a story on the Seaway - a summer spent in Ingleside by a correspondent and roads that lead to nowhere, along with a story on Maggie and A Violent End along with reaction from local residents who read the book can only help her as well to n not only sell books, but become known in the literary field.; A reputation in the making!

When asked if she will write another, there was no hesitation, “Absolutely!” In fact she goes on to mention enthusiastically that four more novels have already taken root out of this one as it was being written. An Historical novel for young adult readers would seem to be on her agenda next. “A real piece of history I stumbled on when doing a Violent End will most likely be the focus of this one.”” There will be a multitude of readers anxiously awaiting the next novel by Maggie Wheeler, I have no doubts.

Site last updated January 9, 20010 Copyright © 2001, 2006-10 Maggie Wheeler. All rights reserved.