An Interview with Lynda A. Archer, author of Tears in the Grass

What was your first publication?

How did you come up with the title?

Fire in the Firefly is novel about the differences between men and women, which is another way of saying it's a book about sex. 

Stonechild and Rouleau are back for round 3, tell us about Tumbled Graves.

The book opens with the disappearance of a woman and her three year old daughter, an investigation that begins in Kingston, Ontario, but expands to Gananoque, Ottawa and a biker bar in Montreal. In addition, major developments take place in the lives of the main cops: Officer Kala Stonechild becomes guardian for her cousin’s teenage daughter while Staff Sergeant Jacques Rouleau must face the impending death of his ex-wife.

Black history is something that surrounded me every day as a youth. I grew up in North Buxton, a mostly black town in southwestern Ontario that was a popular destination for slaves escaping from the southern U.S. via the Underground Railroad. The original one-room schoolhouse from the Elgin Settlement still stands near the center of town. I can recall one year, during Black History Month, my class at the mostly white school I attended in nearby Merlin had arranged to visit North Buxton on a field trip.

All Inclusive is about a father and daughter who’ve never met, finding one another. It’s also about all inclusive resorts, ghosts, the Air India bombing and swingers.  Yes, all those themes somehow link together!

When I first learned there were over four kilometres of inter-connected tunnels running under my neighbourhood, my curiosity didn’t just pique, it exploded. Who builds a labyrinth under a city? In Scarborough, Ontario?

"At the risk of sounding like a horrible mother, I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking this would be a great starting point for a fun story..."

A conversation between All Inclusive author Farzana Doctor and Canadian singer songerwriter Vivek Shraya.