Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Escape to Havana
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Ottawa
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
https://www.dundurn.com/authors/Nick-Wilkshire
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2005022917
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2005022917
HEADING: Wilkshire, Nick, 1968-
000 00566cz a2200169n 450
001 6499902
005 20050513110224.0
008 050329n| acannaabn |a aaa
010 __ |a n 2005022917
040 __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |d DLC
053 _0 |a PR9199.4.W543
100 1_ |a Wilkshire, Nick, |d 1968-
400 1_ |a Wilkshire, Nicholas, |d 1968-
400 1_ |a Wilkshire, Nickolas, |d 1968-
670 __ |a Wilkshire, Nick. Sleeper, 2004: |b t.p. (Nick Wilkshire) Can. CIP hdg. (Wilkshire, Nicholas, 1968-)
670 __ |a NLC Amicus database, Mar. 29, 2005 |b (Wilkshire, Nickolas, 1968-)
953 __ |a lk50
PERSONAL
Born 1968, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
EDUCATION:Graduated from Memorial University (St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada), and Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and attorney.
AVOCATIONS:Traveling.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Nick Wilkshire is a Canadian writer and attorney. He holds degrees from Memorial University, located in his hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Osgoode Hall Law School, in Toronto.
Sleeper and Foreign Affairs
In 2004, Wilkshire released his first novel, Sleeper. It begins with the murder of a lawyer in Bannerman Park in St. John’s. The incident disturbs the residents of the usually-quiet city. St. John’s police officials charge Tom Fitzgerald with the murder. Tom is known for his difficult past and for his drinking problem. A young lawyer named David Hall is assigned to represent him. David’s colleagues are initially jealous that David has the opportunity to be involved in such a high-profile case. As he learns more about the case, David becomes convinced that Tom was not responsible for the murder. He begins searching for the real killer, which leads him into various dangerous situations.
In Foreign Affairs, Peter Verdun is representing a Canadian diplomat who has been accused of killing someone while stationed abroad. Peter, who is based in Ottawa, believes that sinister forces may have been involved in the murder. An attractive reporter has been covering Peter’s client’s trial. She reveals that the person who was killed may have been involved with members of the mob in Montreal. As the case becomes more complex, Peter realizes that his life may be in danger.
Thin Ice and Escape to Havana
An investigator with the Ottawa Major Crimes Unit works to solve the murder of hockey star, Curtis Ritchie, in Thin Ice. The investigator, Jack Smith, is aware of the hype surrounding Ritchie and the upcoming draft. Jack discovers that Ritchie was keeping dangerous secrets and had many enemies. Jack goes through his long list of potential suspects, determined to find Ritchie’s killer.
Escape to Havana is the first book in Wilkshire’s “Foreign Affairs” series, which features a protagonist named Charlie Hillier. In this volume, Charlie has been working as a Foreign Affairs agent in Ottawa, Canada for many years. He has also been helping to care for his wife’s mother, who has had serious health problems. Charlie’s wife cheats on him, and the two divorce. Around the same time, his employer offers him his first posting abroad. Charlie has been selected to manage the Canadian Embassy’s consular office in Havana, Cuba. He is thrilled to get away from the turmoil surrounding his marriage and looks forward to island life. However, Charlie is disappointed when he arrives in Cuba. He is unhappy with his new job and is irritated by problems with the electricity in the basement at his house. Charlie begins working on a case involving a hotelier named Tate Martin. Tate was extorted by local officials. When he did not hand over a sufficient bribe, he was thrown in jail. Meanwhile, Charlie takes it upon himself to investigate his electrical problems. When he lifts up the floorboards, he discovers a large quantity of cocaine. He fumbles the package of drugs, and the contents fall into the swimming pool. Charlie worries that the Labrador he’s dog sitting for his boss will drink the water and become sick. However, Charlie’s involvement with the drugs has more serious consequences. He begins receiving threats from dangerous people. Another plot line follows Amirjit Saini’s murder. Amirjit had been serving as an official at the Indian Consulate in Havana.
In an interview with a contributor to the Booktrail website, Wilkshire discussed the setting for Escape to Havana and the other books in the series. He stated: “I’ve set the books in places that I find personally interesting and where society functions very differently from what the Canadian protagonist is used to. Different cultures, bureaucracies etc. present Charlie with challenges he wouldn’t find in more familiar surroundings and I like playing with the fish out of water theme.”
A Publishers Weekly reviewer described Escape to Havana as “a highly entertaining, fast-paced mystery.” The same reviewer suggested: “Wilkshire makes good use of Cuba’s vivid local color.” A critic in Kirkus Reviews noted that the book featured “a bit of romance, a bit of gentle humor, several bits of official corruption and drug-related violence, and a chance for the … hero to rise to an impossible challenge.” “Readers who stay the course, whether drawn by curiosity or Wilkshire’s masterful prose … will get their reward,” asserted Don Crinklaw, contributor to Booklist. Jim Napier, writer on the Ottawa Review of Books website, remarked: “Escape to Havana is immensely readable and great fun. Author Nick Wilkshire has a genuine flair for capturing the atmosphere of his settings, and portraying the nuanced relationships in the diplomatic world. He has woven a fast-paced, entertaining, and cautionary tale about the glamorous life of the diplomatic set.” “There is a kind of wry humour to Escape to Havana, as the bumbling protagonist succeeds and in the process becomes the hero of his own story,” commented Susan Hoover on the ReviewingtheEvidence.com website.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 2016, Don Crinklaw, review of Escape to Havana, p. 28.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2016, review of Escape to Havana.
Publishers Weekly, October 24, 2016, review of Escape to Havana, p. 59.
ONLINE
Booktrail, http://www.thebooktrail.com/ (November 21, 2016), author interview.
Crime Writers of Canada Website, http://www.crimewriterscanada.com/ (July 24, 2017), author profile.
Dundurn Website, https://www.dundurn.com/ (July 24, 2017), author profile.
Ottawa Review of Books, https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/ (June 7, 2017), Jim Napier, review of Escape to Havana.
ReviewingtheEvidence.com, http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (August 9, 2017), Susan Hoover, review of Escape to Havana.*
Nick Wilkshire is a lawyer originally from St. John's, Newfoundland and now based in Ottawa. He is a graduate of Memorial University and Osgoode Hall Law School. Escape to Havana is his fourth novel and the first in the Foreign Affairs Series, featuring fledgling diplomat and amateur sleuth Charlie Hillier.
Nick Wilkshire is a lawyer originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland. He is a graduate of Memorial University and Osgoode Hall Law School. Escape to Havanais the first book in his new series featuring fledgling diplomat Charlie Hillier. Nick lives in Ottawa.
Nick Wilkshire
Nick Wilkshire is originally from St. John's, Newfoundland. A graduate of Memorial University and Osgoode Hall Law School, Nick is a lawyer and author based in Ottawa. He has published several mysteries to date, most recently Thin Ice (Dundurn – Fall, 2014). The first book in a series of mysteries featuring Canadian diplomat-turned sleuth Charlie Hillier, entitled Escape to Havana (Dundurn), will be released in November, 2016.
QUOTED: "I’ve set the books in places that I find personally interesting and where society functions very differently from what the Canadian protagonist is used to. Different cultures, bureaucracies etc. present Charlie with challenges he wouldn’t find in more familiar surroundings and I like playing with the fish out of water theme."
Escape to Havana with Nick Wilkshire
Submitted: 21st November 2016
Share this:
Straight from his latest posting to some far flung destination, there’s a very special writer on the booktrail today. Let’s Escape to Havana!
havana
A man who has travelled far and wide to so many destinations and has now woven them into a series of novels about a Canadian diplomat. Having worked in embassies myself, this really made me laugh for many reasons. I’d not read many books based in the world of embassies and diplomats…with this level of humour and adventure style plot!
Nick Wilkshire
What do you do when not writing?
I’m a lawyer by day and though I don’t practice criminal law, I’ve always been intrigued by crime, and I enjoy reading (and writing) mysteries. I’ve always loved travel and the experience of being somewhere foreign, so the idea of setting novels in foreign locales naturally appeals to me as a writer.
It’s the first in a series. What else can we expect?
Escape to Havana is the first in the Foreign Affairs series that will follow Charlie Hillier, a Canadian consular officer, from one posting to another. You’ll find Charlie in Moscow in 2017 and Tokyo in 2018. I’m currently writing the next book, which will find Charlie in one of my favourite cities – London. As the series progresses, Charlie will get a little better at using the skills he’s learned along the way to solve each new mystery.
Where do you set your books and why?
I’ve set the books in places that I find personally interesting and where society functions very differently from what the Canadian protagonist is used to. Different cultures, bureaucracies etc. present Charlie with challenges he wouldn’t find in more familiar surroundings and I like playing with the fish out of water theme.
Nick Wilkshire
Do you have a personal link to the places in your novel?
I’ve been to all of the settings in the series multiple times and try to offer the reader a view of the main experiences that each has to offer, through Charlie’s eyes.
Why is your setting good for your genre?
Havana is the ideal place to launch the series, given the stark contrast from Ottawa and Charlie’s pedestrian life there. The concept of a series of diplomatic mysteries is perfect for my purposes because the setting is constantly changing from one posting to another. Also, being a consular officer means that Charlie has plausible reasons to become embroiled in different mysteries along the way.
How do you research your location?
I’ve spent some time on the ground in all of the settings featured in my novels – it’s the only way to really get a feel for a place (sights, sounds, smells etc.) If I need a refresher, I’ll do some online research or read novels by other authors set in the location in question. I always have a map of the city on hand when I’m writing my first draft.
Do you ever merge settings or fictionalize some if too violent a crime for example?
Unfortunately, violent crime isn’t beyond the realm of possibility in most places, especially at night when even the sunniest street can take on a more sinister character.
Your novels are dark – where do you really like to visit in your location?
The streets of any city at night are fertile ground for imagining how things could go wrong.
Why do you love where you’ve set your novel? Answers on a postcard please……
postcard review
Thanks Nick! Susan Booktrailer
QUOTED: "a highly entertaining, fast-paced mystery."
"Wilkshire makes good use of Cuba's vivid local color."
Escape to Havana
Publishers Weekly.
263.43 (Oct. 24, 2016): p59.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Escape to Havana
Nick Wilkshire. Dundurn (IPS, U.S. dist.; UTP, Canadian dist.), $15.99 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-4597-3448-7
The first in a new series from Wilkshire (Thin Ice) is a highly entertaining, fast-paced mystery featuring middle-aged diplomat and amateur sleuth
Charlie Hillier. Charlie has spent 15 years pushing paper in the Ottawa headquarters of the Canadian Foreign Affairs department, but when a
humiliating scandal disrupts his quiet life, he's desperate for an overseas assignment--anywhere as long as it's far from Ottawa and his ex-wife.
Despite his rudimentary Spanish and his lack of experience in foreign climes, he is posted to Havana. Coming to grips with the food, the manners,
and the nightlife is enough of a challenge for Charlie, but soon after his arrival, odd things start happening: attractive women turn up at the door
of his government-assigned house looking to party, he finds a package of drugs hidden under his bedroom floor, and his house is burglarized.
Before long, the intrigue escalates to kidnapping, bribery, and murder. Alongside the action, readers will enjoy seeing Charlie reinvent himself,
finding resources and a sense of adventure that he had forgotten. Wilkshire makes good use of Cuba's vivid local color, and readers can look
forward to a promised next posting for Charlie in Moscow. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Escape to Havana." Publishers Weekly, 24 Oct. 2016, p. 59. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468771808&it=r&asid=cf3633d548ec51048c3ddae692c7ef65. Accessed 9 July
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468771808
---
QUOTED: "A bit of romance, a bit of gentle humor, several bits of official corruption and drug-related violence, and a chance for the ... hero to rise to an impossible challenge."
7/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1499656010561 2/3
Nick Wilkshire: ESCAPE TO HAVANA
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Nick Wilkshire ESCAPE TO HAVANA Dundurn (Adult Fiction) 15.99 ISBN: 978-1-4597-3448-7
Wilkshire (Thin Ice, 2014, etc.) kicks off a new series by packing middle-aged pencil-pusher Charlie Hillier off to Havana as the Canadian
Embassys new Management Consular Officer.Charlie, whos worked for the Foreign Affairs department for many years without ever leaving his
ailing mother-in-law in Ottawa, is abruptly relieved of this responsibility by adultery (not his) and divorce. Hes ready to go
somewhereanywheredifferent, and, as he realizes soon after a friend arranges for him to join the Cuban legation, everything in Cuba was
different. How different? His new office is a serious comedown; the electricity doesnt work in his spacious houses basement; no official task is
too routine to be delayed or torpedoed; Tate Martin, the hotelier whose case he takes up, has been jailed for bribery when his real crime is
offering an insufficient bribe; and, oh yes, an impromptu excavation beneath the floorboards of Charlies new place discloses what certainly looks
like a kilo of cocaineat least in the brief interval Charlie has a chance to look it over before he accidentally drops it into his swimming pool.
Although Charlie remains invincibly nave, savvy readers will know that this last episode is bound to have consequences beyond possibly
sickening Teddy, the golden Labrador hes babysitting for his boss, Michael Stewart, the absent ambassadorand that those consequences are very
likely to be linked to another incident that disturbs Charlies generally placid new life, the abduction and murder of Indian consular official Amirjit
Saini. A bit of romance, a bit of gentle humor, several bits of official corruption and drug-related violence, and a chance for the mild-mannered
hero to rise to an impossible challenge. It doesnt hold together any better than this summary suggests, but individual bites are tasty enough.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Nick Wilkshire: ESCAPE TO HAVANA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA465181851&it=r&asid=d13534509e27f7b555eee23084729985. Accessed 9 July
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A465181851
---
QUOTED: "Readers who stay the course, whether drawn by curiosity or Wilkshire's masterful prose ... will get their reward."
7/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1499656010561 3/3
Escape to Havana
Don Crinklaw
Booklist.
113.3 (Oct. 1, 2016): p28.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Escape to Havana.
By Mick Wilkshire.
Dec. 2016. 285p. Dundurn, paper, 515.99(9781459734487).
Typically, mystery authors build a frame story around the crime plot, which dominates the narrative. Wilkshire goes a different way; his crime
story sneaks in around the fringes of a novel devoted to other matters. Charlie Hillier thought he was doing fine as a functionary in the Canadian
government, but then he opened the wrong door and found his wife wrapped in the arms of a trade attache. A colleague helps him land a posting
in Havana's Canadian embassy, offering escape from humiliation, and the reader settles in to learn about Charlie's life. Charlie babysits his boss'
dog. He endures staff meetings. He negotiates with contractors about the new embassy building. Spicy stuff happens, too, like cocaine under
floorboards and steamy sex with mysterious women, but it's repairing a light switch that really claims his attention. Readers who stay the course,
whether drawn by curiosity or Wilkshire's masterful prose and sly humor, will get their reward. It's all been buildup for a rousing ending. Still, we
wish he hadn't made us sit through those meetings, but we're glad he fixed that light switch.--Don Crinklaw
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Crinklaw, Don. "Escape to Havana." Booklist, 1 Oct. 2016, p. 28. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA467147983&it=r&asid=77e27b7888bd54c6cd5fc13b44eae592. Accessed 9 July
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A467147983
QUOTED: "Escape to Havana is immensely readable and great fun. Author Nick Wilkshire has a genuine flair for capturing the atmosphere of his settings, and portraying the nuanced relationships in the diplomatic world. He has woven a fast-paced, entertaining, and cautionary tale about the glamorous life of the diplomatic set."
Escape to Havana by Nick Wilkshire
June 7, 2017
Reviewed by Jim Napier
Canadian bureaucrat Charlie Hillier has had better evenings. Attending a diplomatic function in Ottawa's tony neighbourhood of Rockcliffe Park he finds himself among a group of guests who are being treated to a tour of the residence when their guide opens a door and encounters a couple half-naked and clearly in the throes of passion. His embarrassment only grows when the woman in question singles Charlie out of the crowd and orders him to "close the goddamned door."
Charlie is understandably piqued, as the woman is his wife, Sharon.
Fast forward a few weeks, we find Charlie Hillier trying to pick up the pieces of his life. Sharon has informed him that their fifteen-year marriage is over, and this is followed by a settlement agreement from her lawyer that deprives him of whatever small vestige of manhood he had retained. Unwilling to be the butt of water-cooler jokes in his job in Foreign Affairs, Charlie applies for a posting abroad. The luck of the draw finds him heading to a three-year posting in Cuba. It is definitely not his first choice as he has only six weeks of Spanish and no great enthusiasm for the lack of creature comforts in Havana. But it was Cuba or an obscure post in central Africa, and suddenly Havana didn’t look half bad. The privations of his new posting will turn out to be the least of his problems.
As Charlie begins settling into his new post in Havana as the new Management Consular Officer at the Canadian Embassy, things start to look up. By the luck of the draw he has been billeted in a sumptuous villa with its own swimming pool, and to his surprise, his new job handling the ambassador's assignments gives him satisfaction and growing confidence.
But "Foreign Affairs" turns out to have new meanings for the neophyte diplomat as he encounters a ravishing consular officer at the Indian embassy who suddenly disappears, two ladies of the night looking for the former resident of Charlie’s villa, and some ominous-looking thugs who seem to have a special interest in drugs. When the bodies begin piling up Charlie experiences the many nuances of culture shock, and before long his concern shifts from How do I do this job? To How do I survive this job?
Escape to Havana is immensely readable and great fun. Author Nick Wilkshire has a genuine flair for capturing the atmosphere of his settings, and portraying the nuanced relationships in the diplomatic world. He has woven a fast-paced, entertaining, and cautionary tale about the glamorous life of the diplomatic set, peopled with believable toughs and an engaging protagonist, and set against the colourful backdrop of a nation struggling to transform itself but saddled with old ways that will not go quietly into the night. A book that should be required reading for aspiring members of the consular corps, Escape to Havana is the first of a promising series.
Escape to Havana is published by Dundurn.
_______
Jim Napier is a professional crime-fiction reviewer based in Canada. Since 2005 his book reviews and author interviews have been featured in several Canadian newspapers and on multiple websites, and his own crime novel, Legacy, was published in April of 2017. He can be reached at jnapier@deadlydiversions.com
QUOTED: "There is a kind of wry humour to ESCAPE TO HAVANA, as the bumbling protagonist succeeds and in the process becomes the hero of his own story."
Charlie Hillier is a lowly bureaucrat in Ottawa's Department of Foreign Affairs. After being cuckolded by a Swedish diplomat he calls the Swedish Meatball, Charlie flees to his first foreign posting in, of all places, Havana. How unsuited for this posting he is, we quickly find out.
Charlie's job as Management Consular Officer (MCO) requires him to help Canadians who have somehow gotten themselves in trouble in Cuba. But before he can get started, he finds a stash of white powder in his official residence, and somehow manages to dump it accidentally in the residence's fancy swimming pool. Charlie is clearly a klutz but his next move defines him as a fool as well. The Cubans are death on drugs, and so Charlie decides to tell no one about what he has found and what he has done with his findings.
Back at work the very next day, Charlie finds himself inside a Cuban prison visiting a real estate developer who has been languishing there accused of bribery. Of course bribery is another serious crime in Cuba, but nothing can be accomplished without it. So poor Mr. Martin, who has run his hotel in Havana for ten years, has suddenly been imprisoned. And there really isn't much Charlie can do officially.
Next Charlie hears of the kidnapping and later murder of a beautiful Indian diplomat. And this is just the beginning. So far, this novel is pretty depressing, in what appears to be a police state, with an inept protagonist who is literally paralyzed by fear.
And it is not a fast-paced story. But slowly, as the novel progresses, old Charlie begins to "man up." Not that he tells anyone about the drugs or the mysterious visitors he keeps receiving late in the evening looking for "Javier," whoever that is. But he is making progress with the ambassador's pet project of a new Canadian embassy in Havana. He manages to develop a relationship with a beautiful Canadian lawyer who is on a mission in Havana.
Eventually he does unravel the mystery and the murder, even taking down the criminals in the process, accidentally of course. And he gets Mr. Martin out of prison to boot.
There is a kind of wry humour to ESCAPE TO HAVANA, as the bumbling protagonist succeeds and in the process becomes the hero of his own story. ESCAPE TO HAVANA is the first in this new series by Nick Wilkshire. Upcoming is MOSCOW CODE, the second, where Charlie once again finds himself in a country where the civilized Canadian legal system is but a distant dream and he must take courageous steps to save himself and those he is expected to protect. I look forward to following Charlie's adventures.
§ Susan Hoover is a playwright, independent producer and retired college English teacher. She lives in Nova Scotia.