Catherine Astolfo is an award-winning writer of short stories and the author of seven novels and two novellas.
Catherine won the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence (formerly Arthur Ellis Award) for Best Crime Short Story in 2012 for "What Kelly Did" (set in Toronto, Ontario) and again in 2018 for “The Outlier” (set in Newfoundland). The Outlier is included in the Mesdames of Mayhem Anthology, 13 Claws. “What Kelly Did” is available in Uncle Tom’s Gabbin’, a collaboration with Catherine and her Uncle Tom Sullivan.
Her four Emily Taylor Mysteries (The Bridgeman, Victim, Legacy, and Seventh Fire) are all set in a fictional town based on Merrickville, Ontario. All centre around a female amateur sleuth who gets caught up in small town murder through no fault of her own.
The novellas feature Kira Callahan and a gang of pot-smoking older hippies who solve a couple of murders. They’re combined in Twice the Chit, named after the (once again) fictional town of Chittendom Creek in Vermont, USA.
Sweet Karoline is a standalone, set in a fictional town near Burford, Ontario, about a woman who claims to have murdered her best friend.
The Grand Art of Murder is once again set in a fictional town, this time near Brantford, Ontario. The Grand Art of Murder has a humorous touch with an irreverent ghost and her artist daughter. And of course, murder.
Catherine’s most recent book is Auntie Beers. With a historical twist and quite different from her other novels, this one is a collection of short stories as described. Published by Carrick Publishing, Auntie Beers is available everywhere!
Founded in 1982 by mystery reviewers Derrick Murdock and Doug Marshall, editor John Pierce and mystery and thriller authors Tony Aspler, Howard Engel, Tim Heald, and Larry Morse, Crime Writers of Canada is now a national, non-profit organization. Established in 1984, the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence (formerly Arthur Ellis Award) recognize the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. https://crimewriterscanada.com/
Catherine is a member of les Mesdames of Mayhem, nineteen dedicated Crime Writers and one Mme Emerita, Rosemary Aubert, who share one deadly mission: to thrill readers with our passion for Crime Fiction. https://mesdamesofmayhem.com
Sisters in Crime and Sisters in Crime Toronto are parent and child of a writing organization focused on increasing equity and inclusion for women crime writers within the publishing industry, founded by Sara Paretsky. Catherine has been a member of both for several years.
Auntie Beers is a collection of short stories based mainly on tales told to Catherine by her mother and uncle. They centre on a woman whose experiences in her homeland of Ireland and in her adopted country of Canada are heartbreaking. Yet she maintains her humour and passes on her decidedly quirky perspectives on life to her grandnieces and nephews. The narrator becomes an author, so some of the stories are hers. Throughout the book, the reader acquires a glimpse into the darker histories of both countries as well as the inspiring strength of the human spirit.
