Transiting through Toronto recently, I took a few photos of the bleak, grey, snowy landscape from the airport hotel. Toronto is a great city, but I’d rather spend the winter months elsewhere. I thrive on warmth, sunshine and being on or near water, whereas the protagonist of my adventure thrillers, Petra Minx, loves the snow almost as much as she loves the water!

When Petra Minx is at home, and not on an overseas mission to render assistance to Canadians in trouble, she takes up her normal duties as a Marine Unit Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Dead Man’s Legacy, Petra’s second adventure, gives readers an insight into these duties.

After flying to the Bahamas to meet the ageing Canadian diva Betty Graceby and her dysfunctional family, Petra rejoins her unit in November with mixed feelings. By January, she is back in the swing of things: 'She bent low over the handlebars of her Bombardier snowmobile. The biting wind whistled past her ears … behind her goggles, her eyes watered. … Despite the discomfort, Petra was in her element … skimming over the crisp surface of the trails between the trees, hearing the “plop” as heavy lumps of snow fell from the branches, watching for tree stumps and holes that might cause her to veer off into the icy undergrowth.’

In summer, she is posted to Little Current on Manitoulin Island, the gateway to the pristine waters of Lake Huron’s North Channel: ‘For the next few days, Petra was busy from daybreak to nightfall … With so many vessels in the area, the number of distress calls doubled … The Coast Guard was overwhelmed and the RCMP helped out where it could. When Petra wasn’t driving the Marine Unit’s boat, she was patrolling the town dock and local marinas on the lookout for terrorists, drugs, and other illegal activities.’

Petra Minx shares my love of boating and some of my other likes and dislikes, but she is by no means created in my image!