Garry Ryan is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer. Best known for his Detective Lane series of

mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

s,"Murder and mayhem in Calgary; Author has always favoured reality over polite facade". '' Calgary Herald'', November 14, 2013. he has also published works of historical fiction."Heroic female war pilots fly in the face of gender roles; Women flew dangerous WWII allied missions". '' Calgary Herald'', November 10, 2012. Ryan studied education at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

, and worked for over 30 years as a teacher in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

's public school system. He retired from teaching in 2009. Although heterosexual,"Gay detective challenges stereotypes; Former teacher addressed discrimination creatively". '' Calgary Herald'', November 6, 2011. Ryan was inspired to make Detective Lane, the lead character in his mystery novels,

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

after witnessing the discrimination and bullying that two of his students faced after coming out as gay. He has published ten Detective Lane novels to date. His novel The Lucky Elephant Restaurant won a Lambda Literary Award in the Gay Mystery category at the 19th Lambda Literary Awards in 2007. In 2009, Ryan was awarded Calgary's Freedom of Expression Award. He was a nominee for Smoked at the 23rd Lambda Literary Awards in 2011, for Malabarista at the 24th Lambda Literary Awards in 2012 and for Foxed at the 26th Lambda Literary Awards in 2014. Ryan has also published two novels to date in his ''Blackbirds'' series, a historical trilogy about Sharon Lacey, a female aviator serving in the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Ryan teamed with Pages Books on Kensington to publish Corporation's First Annual Sausage Festival - (2018 - )

Works

Detective Lane Mysteries

*''Queen's Park'' (2004, ) *''The Lucky Elephant Restaurant'' (2006, ) *''A Hummingbird Dance'' (2008, ) *''Smoked'' (2010, ) *''Malabarista'' (2011, ) *''Foxed'' (2013, ) *''Glycerine'' (2014, ) *''Indiana Pulcinella'' (2016, ) *''Matanzas'' - (2017- ) *''Sea of Cortez'' - (2018 - )

Blackbirds Trilogy

*''Blackbirds'' (2012, ) *''Two Blackbirds'' (2014, )

Pages Books

*''Corporation’s First Annual Sausage Festival'' (2018 - )

References

External links

Garry Ryan
Canadian male novelists Canadian mystery writers Canadian historical novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Writers from Calgary Lambda Literary Award winners Living people University of Calgary alumni 21st-century Canadian male writers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Canada-writer-stub