“The one talent I was born with is an imagination that never stops or shuts up, so I just kept writing and writing,” said actor and award-winning screenplay writer James Robin Gerus from Mono, commenting on his debut novel The Muskoka Murders.
“Writing the book began in 2020 during COVID. I challenged myself to write a 300-word story but kept going,” said Gerus. “It was sitting in my office drawer, so 2024 was the year I decided to get it out there.”
Two things influenced Gerus to write The Muskoka Murders: his love of the Muskoka Region, equalled by his love of murder mysteries.
“Stephen King is my favourite suspense author,” said Gerus. “My favourite novels are Salem’s Lot and Thinner. I also like Louise Penny who is a murder mystery novelist from Quebec. I chose Muskoka as the setting as I have travelled there almost every summer for years. The book is set in the fictional city of Muskoka City in the Muskoka Region. I think there’s a magic to the nature there. All the islands, the swimming, the tourist attractions and the naturalist Canadiana feel of it are combined with the crime and darkness of a murder mystery. And alliteration wise, I think Muskoka Murders just flows nicely.”
The story centres on a retired detective turned true crime novelist named Mickey Butt. Butt tried to catch the Muskoka Murderer for years, but without success.
“He retires and five years later he finds out that the Muskoka Murderer is back,” said Gerus. “And he wants to take his last crack at finding him. Just to make it clear, it’s not totally dark, there are moments of humour. It’s a whodunit, but it’s also like a thrill ride with some action scenes that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.”
As an actor, Gerus has appeared in several movies (& Cut, Slice of Pie, Silent Treatment, Crispy, Boomer Complaint Hotline) and ironically last year the “whodunit” novelist appeared in a Hallmark murder mystery movie.
“I played the role of Craig Mortenson in the Hallmark movie Jane Mysteries: Too Much to Lose,” said Gerus. “It starred Jodie Sweetin who played the role of Stephanie Tanner on Full House. I played a principal role in the movie—my aunt dies, and I work with Jodie Sweetin’s character to try to find the killer.”
Gerus has also acted in TV commercials and video games including a Staples commercial with Howie Mandell and in a Bubly drink commercial filmed in Vancouver in which he worked with Michael Bublé—well sort of.
“The funny thing is that when you watch the commercial it looks like Michael Bublé and I are talking to each other,” said Gerus. “But it was filmed during COVID, so what really happened is that we were filming in a house, and I could hear through the wall Michael Bublé saying his lines to me, and then he’d leave the room, and I would walk in and say my lines. I could hear him through a wall, but I never actually got to meet him.”
James caught “the acting bug” early in life when at age 13, he got his first professional acting role in The Giant’s Garden at Theatre Orangeville. He then studied acting while attending Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School in Orangeville and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre: Performance Acting from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Gerus won a Best Screenplay Award at the 2024 Dufferin Film Festival for his film called Hansy.
“I also just found out that a vampire movie I made with some friends got accepted into a film festival in Seattle, Washington,” he said. “If it wins that film festival it means that I could be going to the Cannes Film Festival in France and adding that to my resume.”
Luckily his non-stop imagination means this author and screenwriter has never suffered from writer’s block.
“Part of my process is that I like to go for walks and let my mind daydream. I find that’s when I get my best imaginative ideas for stories. Or I’ll do word dumps where I just write and write for five minutes and keep typing and look at my screen to see whatever my mind throws up. Those are my strategies, but I’ve never really had the problem of writing myself into a corner.”
Gerus has big plans for The Muskoka Murders.
“The long-term goal would be to see this on CBC or Netflix,” he states. “I think it would be a great modern day take on a Murdock Mysteries or a Hudson and Rex.”
Who does Gerus see playing the role of the detective?
“Well I am an actor, so…me, if they’d let me,” chuckled Gerus.
The Muskoka Murders by James Robin Gerus is published by Friesen Press, available at BookLore in Orangeville, as well as at Chapters/Indigo and on Amazon.