Downriver author Steven Spaeth, writing as Steve Rhinelander, displays his recently published second novel, “Death on Lake Winnipeg.”
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
BROWNSTOWN – Set in an alternative universe in which the French won the French and Indian War, “Death on Lake Winnipeg” is Downriver author Steven Spaeth’s second novel writing as Steve Rhinelander.
A sequel to his first novel, “Poutine and Gin,” Spaeth said the books are set in an alternative reality in which the French and their Native American allies won the French and Indian War.
“Death on Lake Winnipeg” is set in 1940, about six months after the first book ended.
“One of the results of the French winning that war in my alternative history is Manitoba becomes a separate country, and this mystery takes place in that country,” he said. “I have not found any other writers who have thought about the possible effects of a different outcome to the French and Indian War.”
A longtime history buff, Spaeth said the French and Indian War is an important turning point in history that is often overlooked.
“It is the events that determined whether Canada was going to be part of the British empire or the French empire,” he said. “When you think of the American Revolution, and it was ‘no taxation without representation,’ and the taxes that the British were imposing were to pay for the French and Indian War that happened 10 or 15 years earlier.”
Spaeth said the Manitoba in his book is very different from the province people are familiar with today.
“It is an independent country, it is much smaller than the province of Manitoba, roughly one-eighteenth of its current size, a little square in the southeastern corner of what we think of as Manitoba,” he said. “It is a glamorous destination point for the celebrities of the time, the summer playground of the stars.”
Spaeth said his story is set in Winnipeg Beach, which in reality is a small town with about 1,400 people.
“In my alternative history it is almost like a North American Monte Carlo,” he said.
In addition to the story being set in an alternative history, Spaeth said the book is a traditional detective story or mystery in the style of Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler.
He will be appearing at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Flat Rock Public Library, 25200 Gibraltar Road.
Spaeth can be reached at [email protected], and his books are available on Amazon.com.