David Russell

Teacher nominated for book award
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Tri-City News, May 9, 2007, pg. 34
(Copyright (c) 2007 Black Press Group Ltd.)

A Dr. Charles Best secondary school teacher has been shortlisted for an excellence award in crime writing for his debut novel Deadly Lessons.

David Mushens -- who uses the pen name David Russell -- was nominated in the best first novel category for the Arthur Ellis Awards. He was the lone B.C. nominee.

Deadly Lessons centres on Winston Patrick, a defence lawyer turned Vancouver high school teacher.

In his first year in the classroom, Patrick's past life catches up with his present when a teaching colleague seeks his legal counsel after a student threatens to expose a love affair.

In an interview last year with The Tri-City News, Mushens said the characters and crimes aren't based on his own experiences, rather, he uses the setting and people he knows best as inspiration.

A Deadly Lessons sequel, and plans for a third, are already in the works.

The Arthur Ellis Awards will be handed out June 7 in Toronto. See www.davidrussellwrites.com.