A Castor-based author has released a new book and will be hosting a book signing in the community.
Nancy M. Bell, a recent transplant to the Town of Castor, has just released The Tom Thomson Mystery.
Thomson was a Canadian painter involved in the group known as the Group of Seven before it was even formed, says Bell. Thomson disappeared while at Ontario's Canoe Lake in 1917.
While Thomson's body was recovered eight days later, the cause of death has always been speculation and Bell, through her research, gives a fictional perspective on what might have happened to the painter.
"There's so many rabbit holes," said Bell. "It's kind of a what-if type scenario, nobody knows in reality how he died. Was it an accident or was it murder?"
According to Bell, Thomson went out onto the lake to go fishing, and he never returned; that was the last he had been seen until his body was discovered.
At the lodge where Thomson was staying on the lake was a cast of characters, including German Americans and their son dodging conscription in the United States and "sketchy" proprietors of the accommodation.
"They (the German Americans) apparently saw his overturned canoe about 3 p.m. that afternoon and didn't report it," said Bell.
Bell notes that no record of anything involving the boat was actually recorded until the next morning when it was towed back to shore.
Continuing, Bell notes that the lake is shallow, only about 30 feet, and it was warm, so there is no way that Thomson's body should have remained hidden for eight days unless it had help. Bell also notes that there was fishing line wrapped around one of his legs.
"There was no water in his lungs, which means he didn't really drown," said Bell. "And there was blood on his left ear. Dead people don't bleed, so that happened before he died."
Pushing the mystery even further into the bizarre, after the Thomson family noted that they were coming for Tom's body, the owner's of the lodge had him buried without telling anyone.
While reports are that the body was eventually recovered by the family, after spending eight days in the water followed by 24 hours buried before his family arrived, all of which would make identifying the body challenging, if not impossible, Bell says one rumour is that Thomson is still buried near the lake.
"Nobody knows, right?" said Bell.
While Bell's tale takes into consideration the facts that she found about the case, the story is considered historical fiction and does introduce some fictitious characters, creating a hypothetical explanation for how the painter died.
For the full story, people need to read the book, which will be available for sale at Castor's The Purple Platypus beginning on Nov. 16, the day Bell is holding a book signing at the store. The book signing will be taking place from 1-3 p.m.
The Tom Thomson Mystery is the latest of many books that Bell has had traditionally published over a two-decade writing career and is part of the Canadian Historical Mysteries series published by BWL Publishing Inc.
Bell has around 24 other published books.
