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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 30, 2013 | 4 Jennings turning a page from mystery to war by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver It's no mystery Oakville residents enjoy the works of acclaimed author Maureen Jennings. This fact became clear last week as more than 100 people packed St. John's United Church to hear Jennings discuss her life's work and what inspires her tales of war, murder and mystery. The Oakville Historical Society hosted the event. Jennings is renowned for her Murdoch mystery novels and consultant work for the adapted TV series, Murdoch Mysteries. Born in Birmingham, England, Jennings moved with her mother to Windsor, Ontario in 1956. One of her memorable moments growing up in England was her teacher's telling of the Battle of Dunkirk during the Second World War, she recalled. "It was a terrible disaster redeemed by the fact that, miraculously, (more than) 300,000 men were rescued from the beach. (My teacher) is sitting there talking to us and he said, `For those four days, the channel was calm,'" said Jennings. "If you know anything about the English Channel, you know it's notoriously rough." K a r a s t a n A r e a "As young children we felt this was a miracle and this was a sign that England was in the right. Somewhere I knew that I was going to go back to that whole episode," she added. Years later, Dunkirk appeared in, Seasons of Darkness, a trilogy based on the character Det. Tom Tyler. It takes place in Shropshire, England during the Second World War. "For those few months (in the) summer of 1940, the country was gripped with fear and paranoia. Anyone who was considered an enemy alien was gathered up and put into an internment camp," said Jennings. While researching for Seasons of Darkness, the author discovered the existence of an internment camp in Prees Heath in 1940, she said. "It held about 1,500 men, who were held there until they moved to the Isle of Man. One of the things we now look back on is 90-95 per cent of these men and women who were interned were Jewish," said Jennings. "The word was you were German first and Jewish second. Many of these people ended up in these camps." Research is a "wonderful side of writing," Jennings said, adding it's similar to being on a journey. "One of the things I had no idea R u g s · M i r a g e The Oakville Historical Society recently hosted Maureen Jennings, author of the Murdoch Mysteries TV series, at St. John's United Church, to speak about her work. photo by Eric Riehl ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog) about (happened) after Dunkirk. Things were so precarious, there was a very real possibility that (Adolf) Hitler and his Nazis would invade England. He was apparently planning to do that," said Jennings. For Jennings' latest novel, Beware This Boy, she moved back to her hometown because it was important for her, the novelist explained. "It was very important for me to really study what had happened to Birmingham during the war. There were (more than) 2,000 civilian ca- sualties. It was heavily bombed for a long time," said Jennings. While home, she also wanted to write about the notorious English fog, she said, which is "actually just pollution." "In those days there was no pollution control, so all of the pollution would fall into the fog. It was yellow , stinking and thick. You could not see anything," said Jennings. "I remember being really young, maybe seven or younger, going to school in the fog." Jennings' first novel was published in 1997, entitled Except The Dying. She wrote six more books under the Murdoch mystery banner before the franchise was adapted for TV as Murdoch Mysteries in 2007. The writer provided her Oakville audience an update on Murdoch Mysteries and confirmed season seven will begin filming shortly. The show was picked up by CBC after being dropped by Citytv. Jennings is also working on her third novel in the Season of Darkness series, entitled No Known Grave. On whether she'll return to writing mystery novels, Jennings replied, "I don't know, honestly. I've learned to trust the creative intuition, so I will know when it's time to go back to it." H a r d w o o d Peerless Carpeting · Buyers Edge Guarantee · 200 Store Buying Power Alert: Your ash trees may be at Persian NOW ON SALE AREA RUGS 5' x 8' starting at $ THIS WEEK'S 99 $ *Selected styles risk from the Rugs · Peerless Emerald Ash Borer ® TruGreen, Canada's leading lawn and tree care company, has been contracted to treat ash trees on public lands in the Town of Oakville from June through August. SUPER DEAL! 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