It's a mystery

By Patty Mintz

A puppet-making, cop-dating, back-to-the lander may seem like an unusual choice for the protagonist in a mystery novel, but author H. Mel Malton likes her lead characters a little off the beaten track.

“They’re a bit edgy and satirical in some ways,” says Malton, referring in particular to her Polly Deacon series of mystery books for adults, in which even the titles suggest eccentricity, for example Dead Cow in Aisle Three and One Large Coffin to Go.

Malton, who moved to Woodville from Ontario in August, has been a mystery fan all her life, but when she began to write in the genre nearly a decade ago, she was bent on an honest approach. “I wanted to break the stereotypical portrayal,” she says. “My books are more character driven than plot driven. I’m more interested in character development and how serious events effect real people.”

As Malton, who has worked as a government forms designer, a newspaper reporter, a waitress, a receptionist, a clerk in a candy store, a singing teacher and a church secretary points out, “when you’ve worked in a number of jobs in your lifetime you acquire all kinds of interesting stories and characters.”

Her latest offering for kids, Pioneer Poltergeist – geared for ages nine and up – is also infused with quirky characters, including 11-year-old Alan Nearing and his two same-age friends who are spending the last of their summer vacation working as costumed helpers at a pioneer village. When things get weird at the tourist attraction, the Alan Nearing Detective Agency starts to investigate.

“One of the big points about my kids’ series is that a lot of kids’ books are black and white. What I’m striving to do is base it more on reality; the villains are not really all bad and the good guys are not all good.”

She says she’s happy that kids like her books and send their comments by e-mail.

Malton considers schools a great place to connect with her audience and she’s eager to do school visits in the region now that she’s settled in an old farmhouse with her mother and father, a retired Anglican minister.

“My parents had vacationed here when I was in (Acadia) and loved it,” she says.

Malton’s books earned a following in Ontario, but she is just getting her name out in Nova Scotia equipped with impressive credentials.

She has published short stories, poems and articles in numerous periodicals and literary journals, including the Toronto Star, Chatelaine, The Malahat Review and Grain.

She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and her first mystery novel, Down in the Dumps (Rendezvous Press, 1998) was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel.

Malton is currently working on the third in her series for kids and another adult volume with Polly Deacon in the lead.

Besides her work as a writer and illustrator, Malton is heavily involved in the Anglican Church, including as a lay reader and as a parishioner at St. James in Kentville. She is also involved at the national church level in anti-racism activities.

The author was born in England and emigrated with her family to Canada in the 1960s. She grew up in Bracebridge, Ontario. After studying at the Ontario College of Art, she moved on to theatre studies at Ryerson Polytechnic University, followed by a year or two of English at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Mel spent the next 10 years touring North America in the professional theatre business as both actor and stage manager, but eventually gave up "the security of working for under-funded arts organizations" for the comfortable safety-net offered by a writing career.

On Saturday, Nov. 3, Malton makes her first public appearance in Nova Scotia at Box of Delights bookstore in Wolfville where she’ll sign copies of Pioneer Poltergeist from 2-3 p.m.