A Niagara-on-the-Lake author has had his first published book make the shortlist for the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian crime writing.
T. Lawrence Davis, known locally as Terry Davis, has recently published The Pale Horse, a mystery that draws on the many years' experience he had working as a groom at thoroughbred race tracks, running his mother’s thoroughbred horse farm, and a time as a breeder of thoroughbreds, until he could no longer see that being his future. “I finally realized horse farming was not the long-term career for me,” he says.
He has travelled several educational and career paths since then, eventually retiring to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but he says writing has always been in his blood. He began his first novel more than 50 years ago, although that is not the one that would eventually be published. Despite spending a lot of time on it over the years, “when I finally sat down and finished it, I realized I could do better.”
The Pale Horse was started in retirement, and took about two years to write and another year to refine, working with an editor at Friesen Press, a self-publishing company that offers levels of expertise of which Davis took advantage. He also relied on the help of several readers to produce the most polished book possible before releasing it to the public, he says.
While waiting for feedback from those who will read the book is nerve-wracking, he admits, making the shortlist for the best first crime novel has helped calm those nerves somewhat. “It certainly makes all the effort of writing it worthwhile, from the first draft through to when it was published,” he told The Local.
Davis was also pleased to receive a positive review from Kirkus, an online review journal, which called The Pale Horse “a winner . . . an intense, gripping racetrack drama.”
In addition to his time working with horses in various capacities, Davis obtained a bachelor of science in agriculture at the University of Guelph, but was not accepted to the veterinary medicine program as he had hoped. So instead he went back to work as a groom before returning to school, earning a bachelor of arts degree from McGill University in Montreal with a major in history and political science.
After five years of working in “all aspects of running the farm, from foaling mares and preparing yearlings for the horse sales in Toronto and Saratoga, to making hay and caring for the farm’s 26 horses and small herd of beef cattle,” Davis decided to pursue his true passion — writing — and applied to the journalism program at Sheridan College.
“I decided being a journalist offered more possibilities in terms of a pay cheque than creative writing,” he says.
That was in 1984, and just days after being accepted at Sheridan, he was on the road, driving a panel van packed full of his belongings from Victoria, B.C., where he had been about to enter a creative writing program, to Oakville, in time to start classes at Sheridan.
“It worked out well for me. I still enjoy writing,” he says.
Davis lists the jobs he has tackled in addition to his work with horses: news reporter, editor, photographer, darkroom specialist and layout artist for a weekly newspaper in Alberta; managing editor of magazines and association newsletters; jobs in communications; and manager of strategic communications with Parks Canada.
But the most recent years, which included retirement in Niagara-on-the-Lake to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren, and seeing his novel come to fruition and receive positive affirmation from the Crime Writers of Canada, may be the most rewarding. That, he says, “felt really good, to look at that list and see my name at the top of it.”
Some very successful authors have been on that list, including his favourite, Louise Penny, whose books are set in the beautiful Eastern Townships of Quebec, a place Davis knows well from his horse-training days.
The whodunit is set in locations familiar to Davis, including Woodbine Race Track. As described on his website, the plot involves a thoroughbred trainer brutally murdered in his Oakville apartment on the same day that one of the thoroughbreds he was training died at the track. The trainer’s wife becomes the primary suspect.
As the case is being investigated by a detective and her husband, the vet at Woodbine, another murder is discovered similar to the first one, and the couple rush to solve the crime before the killer strikes again.
With The Pale Horse published, Davis says his next step will be to promote the novel, starting with a book signing last week at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library.
Also in his future is a sequel to The Pale Horse, he says, although he has been distracted recently by also trying to write down his family memories, and those passed down through other family members.
The book will be available to purchase at the Niagara-on-the-Lake library, $20 for a paperback and $30 for a hardcover. It is also available in hardcover and paperback formats through Friesen Press, Amazon, book stores and e-book retailers. Davis says the easiest way to purchase it is to visit his website at tlawrencedavis.ca/bookstore.html.
