House of James hosts a book signing on Saturday, Oct. 17 for two new books by Abbotsford author James R. Coggins.
Springtime in Winnipeg is Coggins’ fourth John Smyth Mystery. It features John Smyth, a diminutive editor living in Winnipeg who solves murder mysteries in his spare time.
The character is loosely based on Coggins himself, who spent seven years working as a magazine editor in Winnipeg, a period he remembers as “the coldest winter of my life.”
The second book, 1995: Je me souviens, is a political novel. In it, narrator Jean Tonnerre looks back 20 years to the 1995 referendum which almost separated Quebec from Canada.
But in his version, Quebeckers do vote to leave Canada. Coggins says the book allowed him to look at “what conditions and actions could have made it possible for the Separatists to win that vote and what could have followed as a result.” This month marks the 20th anniversary of that vote.
Both books have been published by Coggins’ own Mill Lake Books, which has published six books in the past two years.
The book signing runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.at the House of James bookstore, 2743 Emerson Rd.
