Sylvia Maultash Warsh

Sylvia Maultash Warsh was born in Germany to Holocaust survivors. Her family immigrated to Canada when she was four. Sylvia grew up listening to her mother's stories about how she fled from the Nazis in Poland, then survived the brutality of the labour camps. These stories sparked an interest in history, especially of the war, that has influenced Sylvia's fiction.

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She earned a BA from the University of Toronto, then decided to postpone entering the real world by going for a Masters degree in Linguistics. There, she learned elementary Chinese, dissected the Zulu language, and discovered that she was not cut out to be a scholar. While raising two children, she began having her poetry and

short stories published. Her first novel appeared in 2000. She teaches creative writing to seniors.

 

She writes the Dr. Rebecca Temple historical mystery series, published by the Dundurn Group. The first book, To Die in Spring,  (Avocet Books, U.S.) was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award by the Crime Writers of Canada for Best First Novel. Find Me Again, won an Edgar Allan Poe award from the Mystery Writers of America. It was nominated for 2 Anthony Awards. Find Me Again was published in Japan. Season of Iron was short-listed for a ReLit Award.

Her fourth book, The Queen of Unforgetting, published by Cormorant Books, is a departure from the mystery genre. In it she explores the question of identity with a beautiful grad student who leads a double life in 1973. The Queen of Unforgetting was chosen for a plaque installation by Project Bookmark Canada.

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Best Girl is a Rapid Reads novella published by Orca Books.

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Her new novel, The Orphan, an historical mystery, will be published on May 15, 2024.

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Sylvia belongs to Sisters in Crime Toronto, Crime Writers of Canada, The Writers Union of Canada, The Short Mystery Fiction Society, and the Mesdames of Mayhem. 

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