New Releases by Kevin Major

Crime in Canada - Synards dritter Fall in Neufundland. When Sebastian goes undercover in the theatre to find a killer, things get... dramatic. In Three for Trinity, the third book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series, offbeat humour meets suspense as a nefarious crime unfolds. Trying to run a tour business in COVID times is tough, especially when you''re home- schooling a teenager. But with the creation of the Atlantic bubble, Sebastian can offer a tour of the scenic, historic Bonavista peninsula to a small group. On the last night of the tour, an actor collapses at a socially distanced theatre performance. Sebastian rushes to help, but Lyle Mercer has been poisoned. When Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, he''s taking a risk in more ways than one. Will it upend his romantic relationship with police inspector Ailsa Bowmore? »Major motiviert Leser*innen in seinem amüsanten Krimi zum Mitraten – und selbst wenn man dem Täter auf die Schliche gekommen ist, dann lassen einen die guten Dialoge und interessanten Charaktere mit Freuden weiterlesen.« Bookcase | Jean Craham

Crime in Canada - Synards zweiter Fall in Neufundland. Vom puren Naturerlebnis in ein mörderisches Abenteuer stolpern – typisch für Synard, diesen lässigen, aber nie nachlässigen Ermittler. In den neufundländischen Tablelands gibt es viel zu sehen: malerische Natur, jahrtausendealte Gesteinsschichten und – eine Leiche. Schnell wird klar, dass es sich bei dem toten Studenten um ein Mordopfer handelt. So stürzt Sebastian Synard, mittlerweile zugelassener Privatdetektiv, in seinen nächsten Fall. Doch er ist nicht der Einzige, der an der Aufklärung interessiert ist: Die Tante des Opfers kommt mitsamt heißer Spur aus Mexiko angereist. Sie besteht darauf, dass der Stiefvater der Täter sein muss. Mit Entschlossenheit und luftiger Kleidung im Gepäck nimmt Synard den nächsten Flieger vom windzerzausten Neufundland ins warme Mexiko. Doch was ihn dort erwartet, bringt ihn einmal mehr in große Gefahr. »Major motiviert Leser*innen in seinem amüsanten Krimi zum Mitraten – und selbst wenn man dem Täter auf die Schliche gekommen ist, dann lassen einen die guten Dialoge und interessanten Charaktere mit Freuden weiterlesen.« Bookcase | Jean Craham

Award recognition for Two for the Tablelands: ***THE HOWARD ENGEL AWARD FOR BEST CRIME NOVEL SET IN CANADA 2021 - SHORTLIST*** ***ATLANTIC BOOKS TODAY STAFF PICK 2021 - SHORTLIST*** Award Recognition for Three for Trinity: ***THE HOWARD ENGEL AWARD FOR BEST CRIME NOVEL SET IN CANADA 2022 - SHORTLIST*** The fifth book in the Sebastian Synard mystery series takes our intrepid tour guide/private detective on a jaunt across Newfoundland and into Labrador, in pursuit of those towers of intrigue--lighthouses! The final stop on Synard''s lighthouse tour is the one at L''Anse Amour, Labrador, the highest in all Atlantic Canada. It''s a long climb into the lantern room, and a long fall from its catwalk to the ground below. Dead is photographer Amanda Thomson. Who is the scoundrel that nudged her past the railing? The RCMP in Forteau are pointing to one of the tour groups, but Sebastian and his partner Mae have other ideas. They retrace the excursions of Amanda and her vagabond boyfriend back to a section of northern Newfoundland called the French Shore. Could the recent bizarre vandalism at its historic sites hold a clue? What is it about the French Shore that leads them back to murder at L''Anse Amour?

The Illuminating the Mysteries of Light is a captivating and enlightening book that delves into the fascinating world of light, authored by a brilliant quartet of scientists and scholars: Lucky Singh, Kevin Major, William Anderson Travis, and Adam Mark Jordan. In this groundbreaking work, the authors take readers on an extraordinary journey through the intricate wonders and profound secrets of light.

Murder in a quilt shop on scenic Fogo Island leads sardonic private eye Sebastian Synard from his quest for some R&R to a different kind of excursion altogether. Four for Fogo Island finds Sebastian Synard on a May 24th weekend getaway with his new significant other, Mae. (As he says, "what a difference a Mae makes.") When Sebastian and Mae arrive at a fabric shop, they discover the owner in a back room, lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with a pair of antique quilting scissors. This propels the couple along a sequence of occasionally bizarre investigative paths to track down the killer. Sebastian has more than murder to deal with. A family get-together involving his son and ex-wife (and her partner, Frederick, a police officer) goes awry as Frederick inserts himself into the investigation. Mae on occasion outsmarts Sebastian on the investigative trails, but our private eye is rarely without his trademark sense of humour.

Murder in a quilt shop on scenic Fogo Island leads sardonic private eye Sebastian Synard from his quest for some R&R to a different kind of excursion altogether. Four for Fogo Island finds Sebastian Synard on a May 24th weekend getaway with his new significant other, Mae. (As he says, “what a difference a Mae makes.”) When Sebastian and Mae arrive at a fabric shop, they discover the owner in a back room, lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with a pair of antique quilting scissors. This propels the couple along a sequence of occasionally bizarre investigative paths to track down the killer. Sebastian has more than murder to deal with. A family get-together involving his son and ex-wife (and her partner, Frederick, a police officer) goes awry as Frederick inserts himself into the investigation. Mae on occasion outsmarts Sebastian on the investigative trails, but our private eye is rarely without his trademark sense of humour.

Needing a change, Shannon Carew takes a job in the National Parks system in Newfoundland and Labrador. The journey brings her life full circle, returning her to the birthplace she abandoned years before. As she makes new connections, and unearths old ones, Shannon learns the land holds many memories, stories of Maritime Archaic, the Vikings, the Basques, the Beothuk, and the Europeans who came after. New Under the Sun is the work of a master storyteller.

On July 1, 1916, the best and the brightest of a generation of Newfoundland men were virtually wiped out. From every bay and cove and town, from fishing stage to merchant''s home, they marched off to the Great War, proud members of their very own Newfoundland Regiment, never suspecting what one terrible morning of treachery would bring. The Battle of Beaumont Hamel is considered the greatest tragedy in Newfoundland and Labrador''s history. Beyond the trenches were lovers and mothers and others who held them dear. The soldiers were part of the immeasurable turmoil of war, yet as they travelled to dangerous and distant lands they were never without the spirit and humour they brought from their homeland. Adapted for stage from the novel of the same name.

Aunt Olga shares Christmas postcards with Anna.

Faced with instability on many sides, and living in an outport community in Newfoundland, fifteen-year-old Chris gropes for direction in a family broken apart by unemployment. Even his easy-going, humorous attitude fails to steady him as he stumbles through the summer after grade ten. He''s failed his year, he can''t find a summer job, and he''s incredibly bored. So the first thing he heads for is trouble -- trouble that ends in a confrontation with the law. Work as a counselor at a summer camp offers the challenge of a fresh start, but it is here, amid new responsibilities, that he encounters his toughest test as a young man. Winner of the first Canadian Young Adult Book Award and named a Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal, Far from Shore was hailed as a unique and innovative novel when it was first published. As he has done throughout his career, Kevin Major broke new ground by tackling a multinarrative structure in a young adult novel -- an approach much imitated since but never more convincingly.

Michael turned fourteen in May. By June, both his parents are dead, victims of a car crash. And for Michael, who has lived all his life in a small Newfoundland outport community, this means being suddenly uprooted and sent to live with relatives in St. Albert, a city hundreds of miles away. Hold Fast is the story of Michael''s struggle to survive in his new environment. In vivid, honest prose, it depicts his fight against those who stand as threats to his pride in himself and his way of life -- the loud-mouthed Kentson who makes fun of the way he talks at school, and his uncle who tries to rule life at home with an iron hand. It is also the story of the friendship that develops between Michael and Curtis, his cousin, and of his new uncertain feelings for Brenda. Hold Fast has received many awards, and a panel of experts from across Canada named it the country''s second-best children''s book of all time (second only to Anne of Green Gables).

Words beginning with each letter of the alphabet accompany illustrations evoking the culture and heritage of Canada.

Seventeen-year-old Ann Harvey is one of the great unsung heroes of maritime history. In 1828, off the Newfoundland fishing village of Isle aux Morts, Ann Harvey, her father and younger brother, came upon the wreck of the Despatch, an Irish immigrant ship originally destined for Quebec City. In thick fog and fierce wind it had run aground. Ann''s courage and strength at the oars of the rescue boat were largely responsible for saving more than 160 dirt-poor passengers stranded amid the raging storm, left "like seabirds clinging to the rocks." Ann''s courageous feat along the isolated south coast of Newfoundland has been all but forgotten. Ann and Seamus brings the remarkable story of Ann Harvey to today''s readers. In a poetic and powerful retelling, Kevin Major portrays the shy young woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances. It is the story of dramatic rescue, but it is also the story of dreams and fate, of a hard life and young love. For also at its center is Seamus, a young Irishman who had set sail with hopes of a new life in America. Ann and Seamus is historical fiction that sweeps across ages and nationalities. In rich yet accessible narrative verse, it draws the reader into the drama of sea rescue without losing the tender and impetuous voices of youth at the core of the story.

For three centuries after Europeans rediscovered it, Newfoundland was thought of as little more than "a great English Ship moored near the Banks during the Fishing Season."Labrador, dismissed as the "land God gave to Cain,"commanded no more respect. But for the people who made its coastline their home, including the Aboriginal peoples who first settled there 9000 years earlier, Newfoundland and Labrador was of considerably greater significance. In these people lie a fascinating history: Leif Eriksson, James Cook, Black Bart, Benedict Arnold, Brigitte Bardot, Mary Walsh, Joey Smallwood, Amelia Earhart, Shanawdithit, D''Iberville, Audubon and Marconi are but a dozen of the better known. The history of Newfoundland and Labrador is no genteel excursion. Scandal coexisted with extraordinary feats of courage; disaster with daring acts of the imagination. The ritual burial of a Maritime Archaic child several millennia ago, the Viking landings, the exploits of Basque whalers, centuries of military and religious strife, confederation with Canada and the collapse of the fisheries — all are brought to life by Kevin Major in exciting, vivid prose. As Near to Heaven by Sea was nominated for the 2001 Pearson Writers'' Trust Non-Fiction Prize.

Here is the dramatic and moving story of one child''s transformation from a normal, middle-class kid from the suburbs to an activist, fighting against child labor on the world stage of international human rights. Making headlines around the globe, Graig Keilburger and his organization, Free the Children, which he founded at the age of twelve, have brought unprecedented attention to the worldwide abuse of children''s rights. Free the Childrenis a passionate and astounding story and a moving testament to the power that children and young adults have to change the world, as witnessed through the achievements of one remarkable young man.

Jesse''s unemployed mother tries to make a new start for them by moving to a rural home where she hopes to foster a business carving figures for the Christmas season.

Terry knows Bruce Springsteen is on tour, so he doesn''t expect an answer to his letters. What counts is writing it all down, and wondering what Bruce would do if he had a weird life like Terry''s. Dad took off and Mom has a new boyfriend. Terry can''t change that, so he thinks instead about saving up for a guitar and organizing a benefit concert. Then he''ll meet a really cool girl. Maybe. As he pours out his feelings to his idol, Terry gradually sees how to manage his own life and become his own hero. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Set in Newfoundland, "Eating Between the Lines, is the story of Jackson, an adolescent, plagued with some very adolescent problems at home and at school. His parents'' marriage seems to have reached a low point, and he is infatuated with Sarah, a new girl at school who isn''t taking him too seriously. Other broader social issues perplex him too. When he discovers he can magically enter into the imaginary world of the books he reads, he fins solutions to his many dilemmas. Through a unique combination of realism and fantasy, Kevin Major succeeds in depicting the universal trials and tribulations of growing up.

During his last weeks in high school, Lorne finds his camera is no longer a shield but an instrument forcing him to focus on the events that seem to be racing out of control in his small Newfoundland town. Lorne suddenly finds himself the leader of a school strike and, while exploring his roots during a class project, he uncovers a disturbing secret about his family. His passionate feelings for his girlfriend Elaine threaten them both. And uncharacteristic wild times with his best friend Trevor have Lorne wishing things would just slow down and let him think. Finally, even amid this whirlwind of activity and emotion, Lorne finds himself in the history and people that nurtured him. "From the Trade Paperback edition.

"The Entrepreneur''s Compass: Navigating the Mindset for Growth" is a transformative guide that empowers entrepreneurs with the essential mindset and skills needed to thrive in today''s business landscape. From financial management to marketing strategies, this book provides practical insights and actionable steps for sustainable growth. Discover the key principles and mindset shifts necessary to overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve entrepreneurial success. Whether you''re starting a business or aiming to scale up, this compass will guide you towards long-term growth.