Click here to register for this Zoom mystery book club discussion. If you would like to be added to the book club mailing list please let us know at contact@owlsnestbooks.com

"Roll over, Maigret. Commissaire Dupin has arrived."—M.C. Beaton

Commissaire Georges Dupin, a cantankerous, Parisian-born caffeine junkie recently relocated from the glamour of Paris to the remote (if picturesque) Breton coast, is dragged from his morning croissant and coffee to the scene of a curious murder. The local village of Pont-Aven—a sleepy community by the sea where everyone knows one other and nothing much seems to happen—is in shock. The legendary ninety-one-year-old hotelier Pierre-Louis Pennec, owner of the Central Hotel, has been found dead.

A picture-perfect seaside village that played host to Gaugin in the nineteenth century, Pont-Aven is at the height of its tourist season and is immediately thrown into uproar. As Dupin delves into the lives of the victim and the suspects, he uncovers a web of secrecy and silence that belies the village's quaint image.

A delectable read, Jean-Luc Bannalec's Death in Brittany transports readers to the French coast, where you can practically smell the sea air and taste the perfectly cooked steak frites in an expertly crafted, page-turning mystery for fans of Martin Walker.

Click here to register for this Zoom poetry event!

sWordPlay is a fun-filled poetry collection for the young at heart. Children will enjoy many of the 66 selections, and so hopefully will the adults who read the poems to them. There is lots of humour and whimsy to be found, as well as a thoughtful dash of philosophy from time to time. The format is a soft-cover 9x6" with many colour photos and illustrations.

Natural selectionS is a book by local angling guide and musician, Paul Grindlay, containing over 50 poems about birds, animals, fish, mountains, rivers, trees, wild places and his relationship to them.

 

Click here to register for this Zoom event with author Kerry Gladue in conversations with Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett*.


Kerry Gladue is a second-generation residential school survivor as well as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Kerry works now in the field of Addiction and Mental Health and uses his experiences to provide hope and healing to others. After waking up in a prison cell and realizing his mother and baby sister had died he realized he would need a Second Chance to turn his life around. Kerry is now a father and husband who works on breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Kerry’s story is attracting national attention for his methods in captivating his readers through his book and experiences and is now on his journey in helping others.
 
“Kerry Gladue’s personal and family history is as raw painful and gritty as it gets. From it he has found transformation and yes, redemption-- an inspiring affirmation that we all deserve and can have second chances and new chances,so long as we live."

 ~Gabor Mate M.D. Author, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction

*Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett is an Organizational Psychologist and serial entrepreneur based in Calgary, Alberta. She is a sought-after thought leader on workplace psychology and career development in Canada. For more information on her work and popular podcast, check out her website. 


 

Click here to register for this Zoom poetry event!

Espresso Poetry Collective, a group of Calgary-based women poets, met in an AWCS workshop led by WGA member Laurie Anne Fuhr just before the pandemic. Their energy and experience collided into hot sparks and new stars on the page; they started a poetry workshopping group, meeting online during 2020 to polish poems and support one another, writing their way through difficult times. Uncommon Grounds is a first anthology of their work. Join Collective members Sharon Christie, Kimberlee Jones, Linda Hatfield, and Laurie Anne Fuhr on Monday June 28th for a reading and celebration hosted by Owl's Nest Books and MC'd by  wonderful fellow poet Anne Sorbie.

Click here to register for this Zoom event!

In this explosive finale to the Nix Trilogy, a demon named Nix and her hunter allies confront their toughest adversaries yet. Faced with the looming threat of the Order of the Ram’s ascension to ultimate power, Nix must join forces with friends and enemies alike to have any hope of bringing them down.
But battling a supernatural army is harder than Nix expected. Her allies despise her, and mistrust runs rampant through the ranks. Then there’s the problem of her host body’s insatiable cravings. The hunger crept in slowly, as an ache in the pit of her host’s belly. Like most annoyances, Nix ignored it until it spiraled out of control. One minute she was fantasizing about revenge against her oldest archdemon foes, and the next she found herself with a mouthful of human flesh and little recall of how the pizza boy’s throat ended up between her teeth.
Can Nix keep this unholy alliance together long enough to save the world? Or will the Order of the Ram unleash hell on earth?
 

Click here to register for this Zoom event! Bring 5min of work to share or just hang out and listen in a safe and supportive environment.

Click here to register for this Zoom author event with Dr. Kaplan, Dr. Rucklidge, and special guest Irena Karshenbaum!
​​​​​​​
A paradigm-shifting approach to treating mental disorders like anxiety, depression, and ADHD with food and nutrients, based on the original, groundbreaking research of two leading scientists.
 
We are in the midst of a mental health crisis. An estimated one in five American adults suffer from some form of mental illness. Despite the billions of dollars spent in pharmaceutical research and the rising popularity of antidepressant drugs, we are more depressed and anxious than ever before.

What if we’re looking for solutions in the wrong places? What if instead of treating mental illness with prescriptions and medication, we changed what we eat and how we feed our brains?

Leading scientists Bonnie Kaplan, PhD and Julia Rucklidge, PhD have dedicated their lives to studying the role of nutrition in mental health. Together, they have published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, many of which reveal the healing power of nutrients in the form of vitamins and minerals, and the surprising role they play in brain health.  

In this paradigm-shifting book, Kaplan and Rucklidge share their groundbreaking research, explaining how to feed your brain to stabilize your mood, stave off depression, and make yourself more resilient to daily stress. The Better Brain uncovers the hidden causes of the rising rates of depression and anxiety, from the decrease of nutrients in our soil to our over-reliance on processed food, and provides a comprehensive program for better brain health, featuring
 

• The ideal diet for your brain: a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
• More than 30 delicious, mood-boosting recipes.
• Crucial advice on when to supplement and how.

The Better Brain is your complete guide to a happier, healthier brain.

Click here to register for this Zoom event with Nekesa Afia, Robyn Harding, Hannah Mary McKinnon, Roz Nay, Eddy Boudel Tan, and P.J. Vernon.


 

Click here to register for this Zoom author event!



A gripping tale of fear, longing and determination as one woman tries to survive the world of human trafficking in hopes of finding her sister.
 
In The Perilous Road to Her, N.L Blandford takes us on a woman’s harrowing journey to find her missing sister. Olivia Beaumont, a Detective in the Toronto Police Service, finds herself dreading calls from her older sister Claire. Olivia’s attempts to help Claire fight her drug addiction have only been met with refusals. Ready to walk away, and let Claire hit ‘rock bottom’, Olivia is drawn back when she learns Claire is missing. 
 
Determined to find Claire, Olivia goes on the hunt for those who have taken her. However, the perpetrators have other plans. Suddenly, Olivia feels the prick of a needle in her neck and her world goes black. When she wakes up she has been transported into the underworld of human trafficking. Greed and sex surround her as she is forced to work for the monsters who have built an empire on the desperate and unlucky.
 

Click here to register for this Zoom author event with special guest Shea Proulx. 

A deeply moving tragicomic graphic memoir about a single woman's efforts to conceive in her forties.A few months after Myriam Steinberg turned forty, she decided she couldn't wait any longer to become a mother. She made the difficult decision to begin the process of conceiving a child without a partner. With her family and friends to support her, she picked a sperm donor and was on her way.But Myriam's journey was far from straightforward. She experienced the soaring highs and devastating lows of becoming pregnant and then losing her babies. She grappled with the best decision to make when choosing donors or opting for a medical procedure. She experienced first-hand the silences, loneliness, and taboos that come with experiences of fetal loss. Unafraid to publicize her experiences, though, she found that, in return, friends and strangers alike started sharing their own fertility stories with her. Although the lack of understanding and language around fetal loss and grief often made it very hard to navigate everyday life, she nonetheless found solace in the community around her who rallied to support her through her journey.Through it all, Myriam remained hopeful and here she unflinchingly shares her story with wry humour, honesty, and courage. Beautifully illustrated by Christache Ross, Catalogue Baby is one woman's story of tragedy and beating the odds, and is a resource for all women and couples who are trying to conceive. Catalogue Baby is a compassionate portrait of fertility and infertility that hasn't been seen before.

SAVE THE DATE! Venue for this Calgary book launch TBA!

A hit-and-run driver kills a pedestrian one cold winter’s night in Calgary, Alberta. The car’s owner insists he wasn’t driving. Insurance investigator Paula Savard sympathizes with the elderly man until she discovers his disturbing history and connection to the victim.  
Paula unearths family secrets that go back thirty years. The elderly man blames the dead woman for tearing his family apart. But others had access to his car and reasons to wish the victim dead. Paula becomes convinced the hit and run was murder, but who was driving?
A startling confession leads the police to make an arrest. Paula fears they will convict an innocent person. She digs deeper, unaware she’s on a collision course with a desperate killer consumed with vengeance and rage.