Award-winning crime novelist Rick Mofina signs copies of his new book Vengeance Road.
It was pouring rain and cracks of thunder and lightning rattled the building. The weather definitely fit the mood as Rick Mofina sat in a holding cell at a Texas execution facility.
The guards took him through the standard process for an execution – he could have access to a phone to call anywhere in the world. Have the best food an execution facility can offer and receive spiritual guidance if he wanted it. Right before the call came to end Rick’s stay at the facility, the warden would tell him that all legal routes have been exhausted and to go out honourably. Execution guards walked Mofina to the door; they are prepared for a prisoner to attempt an escape or collapse out of fear. And as Mofina entered the lethal injection room he felt a sense of eeriness – many people have died here and many more will.
Fortunately for Mofina, he wasn’t one of them.
As Mofina leaned against the execution table the guards explained how a doctor would perform an injection of deadly fluid using IVs. Right about now, Mofina had researched enough about life on death row and it was time to get back to the real world of crime reporting.
* * *
As a crime reporter for the Calgary Herald, Rick Mofina lived and breathed a hybrid life of a reporter and police officer. Now as an award-winning crime novelist, Mofina passes on his cosmic life experience as a crime reporter to his readers.
His dedication to detail and careful primary research made Mofina a great reporter and has now helped shape his novels.
Mario Toneguzzi, one of Mofina’s crime desk colleagues with the Herald says that kind of research is typical of a crime reporter, as well as useful – but Mofina was more methodical than most.
“He was very thorough and meticulous. One thing about Rick is that he has the mind of a police officer. He would stick his nose into learning a lot of techniques that police would learn.”
That is probably why Mofina thought it might be useful to have his contacts at the execution facility take him on a tour to learn about the process, considering he interviewed murderers awaiting death row more than once.
“That was very beneficial in his career that he got into that mindset of how police work,” adds Toneguzzi.
However Mofina says sometimes there wasn’t much to do during the night as a crime reporter, other than shoot the breeze with police.
“When the crime beat was quiet at night, the editors wanted you to go down to the divisions and talk with cops and get to know them . . . I did that and I loved it and I learned more about the job from those guys.”
A literary technique that Mofina borrows from his journalism career is the tight, to-the-point writing that appears in newspapers. In fact, Mofina says he would often watch the news wires during his free nights at the Herald and thought that the reporter-style of writing would work well in a novel.
“Stories would come in from all over and I would study them,” Mofina says. “I really liked the style and I thought it would be nice to write a novel that way, in that voice.”
Mary Jane Maffini, another Ottawa-based crime writer, says Mofina brings a polished style to his books because of many years honing his writing as a journalist.
“He knows how to hook a reader instantly and keep them hooked,” Maffini says.
While many journalists move into a career as authors, Mofina has been writing creatively his whole life. Growing up in Belleville, he enjoyed making up stories since he was in Grade 2.
As a 15-year-old, Mofina sold a short story to a U.S. magazine – his first publication.
"Before university, I knew I would write. I just didn’t know where I was going to go with it. I was from a small town and I didn’t have many experiences,” Mofina says.
Not knowing what to write provoked one of Mofina’s most interesting life choices – a hitchhiked trip to California in his final year of high school – something few would do today.
After his trip, Mofina decided on journalism and attended Carleton University thinking a career as a reporter might get him experience to help his creative writing.
Coincidentally, after being hired at the Herald, Mofina did not want to be on the crime beat, but it was what his editor needed.
“I was just coming out of school and I wanted a more institutional beat, like labour or city hall. I was sort of dragged kicking and screaming into it.”
But soon after, he realized crime reporting might fit as he started to cover interesting stories.
This is when the idea of a crime novel began to circulate in his head.
“He got very close to some amazing stories, he has perspective from people he met and the tension and the situations that most people don’t have,” says Maffini.
Some tense situations from Rick’s career on the crime desk?
How about a ride along with two Mounted Police Officers in Iqaluit – two weeks after the infamous Cape Dorset house call where an RCMP officer was murdered. While on the ride along, a house call was made in the same area – even though nothing happened, the mood before the officers approached the house is something Mofina will never forget.
Another night, while in the newsroom, Mofina received a cryptic call from a prison. It turned out to be a convicted murderer who proceeded to detail a gruesome attack he performed on two girls – one he let live, and one he didn’t.
These kinds of experiences form the loose foundation for some of the stories in his books. With the foundation set, Mofina is free to let his imagination wander while he writes the rest of the story.
While switching from the plain style of writing seen in journalism to the detail oriented style required for novel writing would be tough for most, Mofina says the combination helps him as a writer.
“I tried to apply the best of both in my writing . . . I wanted to use both of them, rather than a challenging transition, I think it made for better seasoning on both sides,” Mofina says.
Mofina’s unique style has paid off. His 10 books are popular in Canada and are beginning to gain international attention. In 2003, he won the Arthur Ellis Award for best novel from the Canadian Crime Writers Association.
For Mofina, success was contingent on his ability to combine journalism and creative writing.
Those who know Mofina well spot this reciprocal relationship better than anyone – they see his skills as a reporter shine through in his writing; it’s what makes him so effective.
“He was extremely thorough on everything; you can see it in his writing even now,” Toneguzzi says.
“I sometimes chuckle when I read his books because I can see him in them. Some of the finer points that catch people’s eye in the books also caught his eye as a reporter.”