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Living in Vancouver, she won the 1988 Pulp Press 3-day Novel contest with Pawn to Queen (Arsenal Pulp, 1989), an open-ended murder mystery featuring a cynical but likeable detective, Chris Prior, who investigates a young Vancouver escort's murder.
[BCBW 1995] "Fiction" "3-Day"
[BCBW 1995] "Fiction" "3-Day"
Articles: 1 Article for this author
Pawn to Queen
Article
"I AM A BIT OF A CRIME-STORY JUNKIE," confesses Pat Dobie, author of Pawn to Queen, a mystery novel that won last year's Pulp Press International 3-Day Novel Competition, "Ever since I could read a whole book I've been reading them." Dobie, who works as a Vancouver word processor, used a 'nine-to-five' work schedule to compete in the annual Labour Weekend writing marathon. "The structure of mysteries is very clear to me and you can go wild within this structure!" Dobie continues, "I had a basic outline and knew the main character. I just went with what came to me. For example, I didn't know who did the murder until only one character was capable of doing it." Clues rotate around chess pawns and a blue dress, leading the main character from Vancouver to Toronto. "I only want to write crime stories," she says, "because I would rather deal with the structure of a puzzle than meandering with my thoughts about the universe."
[Summer/BCBW 1989]
