William Ian Hamilton is a Canadian mystery writer. A former journalist and civil servant, he has had his work published in Maclean's, Boston, the Regina Leader-Post, the Calgary Albertan, and the Calgary Herald. Hamilton is the author of the Ava Lee crime/mystery series. Ava Lee is a Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant who chases massive bad debts for a living. There are seven books in the series as of late 2014, with another three having been contracted. The books have won several awards.
Early life and career
Hamilton was born in Chirk, Wales, in 1946. His early education was in Scotland, and the balance and majority in Canada. He started his career as a journalist in Regina with the Leader-Post, and then worked at the Calgary Albertan and Calgary Herald before joining the Canadian government organization The Company of Young Canadians as Director of Communications. From there he worked at Information Canada, Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Fisheries and Oceans, and External Affairs. He left the governmentto go into business, and ran several companies including The Rhyn Company, Seafood Selections and The All Natural Seafood Company. He worked in more than 30 countries.
Writing
Hamilton is best known for his series of detective novels featuring forensic accountant Ava Lee, which are based in part on his experiences in various countries around the world, particularly in southeast Asia. Ava Lee is a Chinese Canadianlesbian forensic accountant, and the novels have been embraced by the Chinese Canadian community and by lesbian readers. As of 2012, the first book in the series, The Water Rat of Wanchai, was in the process of being adapted for film, with the screenplay written by Karen Walton.
Awards and honours
His first book, The Children's Crusade, was non-fiction and was the Canadian Book of the Month Club Main Selection. The Water Rat of Wanchai won the Arthur Ellis for best first crime novel.; it was a Quill and Quire top five novel of the year; an Amazon editor's pick and an Amazon top 100 book of the year; and a Toronto Star top five novel of the year. It was also short listed for the CBC Bookie Award. The Disciple of Las Vegas was short listed for the Barry Award as the best original paperback published in the United States in 2014. The Wild Beasts of Wuhan was short listed for the Lambda Award as the best lesbian crime/mystery novel of 2013. BBC Culture named Hamilton as one of the ten mystery/crime writers from the last 30 years that should be on your bookshelf. He has also written for magazines such as Macleans, Saturday Night and Boston.
Movies and TV
All of the Ava Lee books have been optioned for film, and a TV series is currently in development for a joint Canadian/American network partnership.
