Local author pens third mystery novel

It’s time to breathe a sigh of relief as Agnes Carroll, the septuagenarian amateur sleuth, is back in the release of St. Albert author Patricia Trudeau’s new book.

Breathless at St. Bride’s is the third in the light mystery series that makes readers wonder if Trudeau fancies herself as a bit of an Agatha Christie of the prairies. Did anyone else notice the coincidence with the initials between those of her main character and the famous British author?

The 79-year-old former teacher denies all but still enjoys contemplating the comparison even though she doesn’t think Agnes has Miss Marple’s cunning wit.

“No, I just saw her as this friend I used to have on Belmont Drive. I had thought about writing a story using her as a character … but then that’s not her. There’s something of her in there, and a few other people,” she laughed.

Trudeau said that was the genesis of her first book, Bodies on Belmont Drive, published in 2003. She started with the character in mind and a simple writers’ circle prodded her to keep plugging away on fresh pages for the group to enjoy.

“Five or six of us used to gather a couple of times a month and read our work to each other. Some wrote poetry, others wrote articles or stories. [Bodies] started out as a story but it ended up as a novel. Each time I’d try to have a chapter ready to read and finally, they said, ‘Why don’t you do something with that? You should send it to a publisher.’

“That was my first book. It wasn’t published right away. It has to go through the process but eventually it was, and then I wrote another one (Select-A-Part in 2006) with the same character. And then the same character again because I keep thinking of things she might do.”

That means that there’s probably a fourth one in the plan for the future, I asked her.

“I have one drafted already, but it’s not ready to send to the publisher,” she says, pleased with the satisfaction of creating art through words. “Sometimes I don’t know exactly what’s coming right ahead. I know where I want it to go but I have to write what comes in between to get it there. It’s fun thinking up those things.”

Trudeau also noted fans of her work have given her some fairly positive — and anxious — feedback.

“They’ve enjoyed it. As soon as they read one they want to know when the next one is coming!”