Jewogle - Howard Engel

Biography:

Howard Engel (born April 2, 1931) is a Canadian mystery writer and CBC producer who resides in Toronto, Ontario. He is well known to Canadian readers for his series of Benny Cooperman detective novels, set in the Niagara Region in and around the fictitious city of Grantham, Ontario (which strongly resembles the real city of St. Catharines, Ontario, where Engel was born). Engel is a founder of Crime Writers of Canada.

From 1962 to 1978 he was married to Marian Engel, a noted Canadian writer of literary fiction who died in 1985. They had two children, twins Charlotte and William, born in 1965. Charlotte currently is with Bravo Canada, and William works for Reels 4 Realty. Engel subsequently married Canadian novelist Janet Hamilton. The couple have one son, Jacob Engel, born in 1989.

In 2000, Engel suffered a stroke that left him with alexia sine (Latin for without) agraphia, a condition which prevents him from being able to read written words without a major effort, while retaining his ability to write. His most recent novel, Memory Book (2005), in which his character Benny Cooperman suffers a blow to the head and is similarly affected, is largely based on personal experience. "The Man Who Forgot How To Read" (2007) is a memoir of the time he spent recovering from the stroke. Afterword by Oliver Sacks.

In February 2007, Engel was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, receiving it at the 100th investiture.

Bibliography:

Novels:

The Suicide Murders (1980), ISBN 0-7720-1304-7
The Ransom Game (1981), ISBN 0-7720-1364-0
Murder on Location (1982), ISBN 0-7720-1384-5
Murder Sees the Light (1984), ISBN 0-670-80304-9
A City Called July (1986), ISBN 0-670-81268-4
A Victim Must Be Found (1988), ISBN 0-670-82298-1
Dead and Buried (1990), ISBN 0-670-83116-6
Murder in Montparnasse (1992), ISBN 0-670-84068-8
There Was an Old Woman (1993), ISBN 0-670-85259-7
Getting Away With Murder (1995), ISBN 0-670-86078-6
Mr. Doyle and Dr. Bell (1997), ISBN 0-670-87755-7
My Brother's Keeper (2001), ISBN 1-55278-327-8 (with Eric Wright)
The Cooperman Variations (2001), ISBN 0-14-029744-8
Memory Book (2005), ISBN 0-14-301665-2
"The Man Who Forgot How To Read" (2007), ISBN 987-0-00-200714-6

Non-fiction:

Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind (1996), ISBN 1-55013-704-2
A Child's Christmas in Scarborough (1997), ISBN 1-55013-922-3
Crimes of Passion: An Unblinking Look at Murderous Love (2001), ISBN 1-55263-355-1

Anthologies:

Criminal Shorts: Mysteries by Canadian Crime Writers (1992), ISBN 0-7715-9160-8 (ed. with Eric Wright)