Standing Room Only at Wine Bar Book Launch

An enthusiastic audience crowded into the Mad Hatter Wine Bar in Annapolis Royal on September 30, 2025. They came in droves to hear author Paul Rapsey read selections from his newest book, "A Market for Mystery". The word "read" is a misnomer as Paul performed the five selections by memory. The audience was captivated.

The Annapolis Royal Town Crier, whose namesake appears in the novel, was at the book launch. She participated with great humour in the opening selection.

There were forty-seven people in attendance for the first reading and a smaller group of eight were there for the second reading. The two readings each lasted about 20 minutes.

Paul signed over thirty copies of his book and took a number of questions about his works and his method in writing them.

He is now working on his sixth mystery novel and has a novella coming out in the early spring of 2026.

Comments

One's Company Now a Film

I am not a filmmaker. But Covid has forced me to become one, to a degree. I decided to turn this stage play into a one-hour film in the "talking head" genre. I have not decided what if anything I will do with this film other than make it available to my few fans on YouTube. I am not sure exactly how to categorize this film. At 61 minutes, it seems too long to classify as a "short", and too short to classify as a "feature". As was Fiddelity , the film is made with no budget and very basic equipment. I am, essentially a story teller in the old sense. It is the words and the way I use and express them that are intended to ignite the imagination of the audience, rather than reliance on pyro-technics and the like. I was particularly touched by this comment by one viewer: " I watched One’s Company last night and loved it. A graceful insight into alone-ness. Am I not being understood….or is it I who misunderstands? Small worries looming large. The growth...

"Deadly Sea Weed" Now Available

BOOK RELEASE: Paul Rapsey’s fourth mystery novel, Deadly Sea Weed , has just been released. Like his first three novels, the story takes place in sleepy, small-town Nova Scotia. It is as much about the delightful characters in it as it is about the mystery that slowly unfolds. Although the tale involves some serious issues, it is written in the author’s easy conversational style and in a lighthearted manner. One can feel his love of Nova Scotia and its people. The book is available from Amazon Books as both a soft cover and as an e-book. However, because of Paul’s busy schedule, (he is starring in Eugene Ionesco’s “Exit the King”) the formal book launch in Nova Scotia will be on April 8, 2025 at the Mad Hatter Book Store in Annapolis Royal from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Play is the Thing

I was cast as King Berenger in Ionesco's "Exit the King". When I first read this script through, I thought immediately that it was about the end of all things. The end of the world. My character was an everyman: the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity. And in a sense, I think, that is a correct assessment. But, even more, it is about our fear of death. And our unwillingness to accept its eventuality. Because we don’t come to terms with it, we often waste our lives. I think it was Mark Twain who wrote that “Youth is wasted on the young”. Sometimes I think life is wasted because we fail to recognize how short it will be. As my character says when informed early on in the play about his impending death, “But I know that. Of course I do. We all know it. Remind me when the time comes.” Yes. We do all know it somewhere in the recesses of our mind. But it stays there as our life unfolds. However later on, Berenger exclaims: “I fear that what is to end one day, is end...

One Actor - Another Show

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