Cock-A-Doodle-Doo
What to do when your fictional sleuth refuses to die? A detective writer's attempts at writing his masterpiece.
A very successful detective fiction writer, Leo Basilius, decides to bring his popular crime series to a close and take a sabbatical on the Greek island of Nysa where, as a young man, he wrote his first books - poetry and short stories. He returns there intending to write his master piece. The one he knows he has in him. Surrounded by his wife and new island friends, he settles in to write. But unexpectedly his main character, Detective-Sargeant Vass Levonian, appears demanding that Basilius resurrect him. The hauntings multiply and inspiration doesn’t come. Leo Basilius wants to find fulfilment as a writer. But can he? Is it too late? Can you leave a mark? And what should that mark be? What do we leave behind? What is our legacy? And … Is there still time to do something about it?
Pan Bouyoucas is a Montreal prize-winning writer, playwright, and translator whose novels and plays have been translated into several languages. Two of his novels were written originally in English: The Man Who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea, which was selected by France’s FNAC as one of the 12 best novels of 2005, and The Tattoo, which was longlisted for the 2012 Re-Lit Award.
Maureen Labonté is a translator, dramaturge and programme coordinator. She has translated over fifty Quebec plays. She lives in Montreal.
