TOtimes Books: THE WHISKEY LEE by GTA author Brit Parker

Mystery, Intrigue, Romance, and Even a Few Spooky Ghost Sightings, Brit Parker’s debut novel “The Whiskey Lee” has it all

As the daughter of a retired captain of a charter fishing boat on Lake Ontario, it’s easy to see why author Brit Parker has a fascination with ships and lighthouses, and why both play a huge part in her debut novel The Whiskey Lee.

Here’s the premise of the story: A 55-foot fishing trawler and its captain, James Karl Moreland, go missing off Barney’s Cove in Ridgetown, Maine in 1989. The disappearance is shrouded in mystery—did the trawler succumb to a stormy sea or did something sinister happen? The plot thickens when the corpse of the local lighthouse keeper is found, and then a young woman mysteriously falls to her death near the same lighthouse. The case remains an unsolved mystery for two decades until journalist (and scuba diver) Brandon Summers meets his longtime friend in Maine for a dive vacation. A series of strange events and close calls doesn’t scare off Summers, but rather it inspires him to dig (or dive) even deeper to find the truth.

The Whiskey Lee is set in two different time periods and transitions back and forth as the page-turning tale unfolds. Brit Parker’s well-crafted novel has it all—mystery, intrigue, romance, history, and some spooky supernatural sightings.

“Much of the book is written based on my own experiences and family history—I learned how to scuba dive; my dad ran a charter fishing boat and the scene on a naval ship is inspired by my two grandfathers who both served in the Navy. I invited Mum to tour the HMCS Haida naval ship, with me, in Hamilton and used it as reference material. Although the book is based in Maine, it screams Ontario. Ridgetown, the setting of the book, is actually a town in Ontario, and it’s also the name of a sunken ship in Port Credit Harbour that was intentionally sunk for use as a break wall, to protect the boats in the marina.

Asked what inspired her to write a book, Parker says: “I was in a bookstore one day searching for a mystery novel with a lighthouse on the cover and couldn’t find one when I thought, maybe I’ll just write one. I have always had a vivid imagination and love the arts, so writing a book was a natural step for me.”

Parker studied Media Arts/Journalism at Sheridan College and formerly worked in TV media for several years. “I have a full-time job, so I was writing the book in my spare time. It took me almost 10 years to complete. I would jot down ideas on paper as they came to me—in the shower, eating breakfast…the book is like a few stories strung together.”

Parker calls the genre mystery/suspense/thriller. “I’m a huge fan of writers like Agatha Christie, David Morrell, Stephen King, Heather Graham and Tom Clancy.”

Readers are spellbound when the main character Summers realizes he has seen the ghost of the missing Captain Moreland.

“I am kind of into the supernatural and love reading a good ghost story or mystery,” states Parker. “Although I have never seen a ghost that I know of, I made the book a bit mysterious and creepy by adding a supernatural element which I think adds to the story and fits in quite nicely.”

With blue seas, fishing and sailing boats, and a mysterious abandoned lighthouse that flickers on and off at random, this book is a great summer beach read that you may not be able to put down.

“This is an adventure that I invite people to go on with me,” adds Parker. “Writing it helped me to send myself somewhere else for a while. I think that people will find this an escape from their everyday life.”

Keeping readers intrigued from the opening paragraph to the last page is not an easy task. Parker states: “You hook readers in the first few pages and then, to use a fishing analogy, hook them and reel them in. You keep throwing out bait, so the fish continue biting. There’s a hook at the end of each chapter to keep people reading. I gave the book to a few ‘non-readers’, and they loved it. My target audience is people 18 to 80. Since the book is set in both the past and the present, there’s something for everyone. What I am most proud of is finishing what I started. I set out to write a book and I did it!”

Asked what’s next for the author, Parker answers, “My dream would be to take a lighthouse tour in Atlantic Canada. That’s my ideal road trip.” (And possibly the inspiration for a sequel to The Whiskey Lee?)

The Whiskey Lee is written by Brit Parker with cover illustration from a painting by Michael S. Desjardins; published by FriesenPress. Available through Amazon Kindle, Kobo Store, Google Play, Nook Store and Apple Books, Friesen Press, Barnes and Noble.

Website: www.authorbritparker.ca

by Laurie Wallace-Lynch

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by Laurie Wallace-Lynch