About Ann Shortell
A best-selling, award-winning author & former journalist and media commentator. Ann lives in Toronto and maintains family ties to the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland. Ann’s debut novel, CELTIC KNOT A Clara Swift Tale, has received 18 award honors, including the Canadian Authors Association-judged 2019 Whistler Independent Book Award for Fiction. Whistler judge Evelyn Lau says “…in addition to its compelling heroine… I was engaged by the polished writing and the finely-chosen details… breathtaking revelations… made for a satisfying, wholly-unexpected conclusion to this engrossing mystery.”
Ann has presented at festivals, libraries, schools, book clubs & to writing organizations. She’s now writing the first sequel, & marketing translation & film rights to her Clara Swift Tales.
Says Ann of her story’s inspiration: “I dreamed of a girl, writing, by candlelight, the words ‘I was on the other side of the door when Mr. McGee was shot.’ I was but a girl myself when my father told me how our fellow Irish-Canadian had been assassinated in the middle of the night—on the very spot on Sparks St. In Ottawa where we were standing that long-ago day. The descendants of the man hanged for Mr. McGee’s murder still believe their ancestor innocent of the crime. What really could have happened, in this history with a mystery? The Irish maid of my imagination had her own ideas. Therein lies the Clara Swift Tale.
