Career Solution

Before Ventura author Catherine Dain became a mystery writer, her resume listed actor, television newscaster and play reviewer. She added novelist in 1992 when “Lay It On the Line” was published by Berkeley Prime Crime. Other books soon followed.

Dain will appear at Ventura Barnes & Noble on Tuesday to discuss and sign her latest novel, “Angel in the Dark,” a New Age mystery published by Five Star Mysteries. “The Death of the Party” is due out this summer.

Although Dain never started out to be a crime novelist, her father’s love of mysteries influenced her childhood reading--everything from Nancy Drew to Dashiell Hammett, she said.

When she was 10, her father took her to hear a dinner speech by Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of the Perry Mason series.

“What I remember most about that was what a good time Gardner was having,” Dain said.

“He made being a mystery writer seem like the most fun that anyone could ever have.”

She later pursued a degree in theater arts from UCLA and worked as a television newscaster and play reviewer at KHY-TV in Los Angeles.

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But she decided to make a career change when she figured she would never be Barbara Walters. While Dain was pursuing an MBA at USC, a professor told her she was a natural writer.

Then an article she wrote got published. But her life fell apart soon after, she said.

“I lost a job in a budget cut and the guy I was seeing dumped me,” she said.

“I was unemployed, had the time to write and had a plot, which was that I wanted to kill him.”

Doing it on paper was the only way to avoid prison, so she wrote a book that never got published.

Undaunted, she wrote “Make Friends With Murder,” published by St. Martin’s Press.

It sank to the bottom of the publishing ocean without making a ripple. Meanwhile, she wrote “Lay It On the Line,” her first book in the Freddie O’Neal series and has published six more since.

‘One of the absolute high spots in my life was walking into the Private Eye Writers Conference in Milwaukee as a private eye writer nominated for the Shamus Award,” she said.

In fact, she received two nominations for the Shamus Award, one for “Lay It on the Line” and the second for “Lament for a Dead Cowboy.”

Dain doesn’t think it takes a certain mentality to be able to write mysteries--so many do it, and they are all different.

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Edgar Allen Poe said that you don’t have to be a genius to solve a puzzle you create for the purpose of solving it, she said.

“I also agree with Dorothy Sayer, who said that mysteries are the morality play of our time,” she said.

“It’s how we deal with the questions of right and wrong, truth and lies, justice and injustice.”

Dain lives with her Siamese cat in midtown Ventura in a sunny apartment she found three years ago.

If she isn’t home writing or editing, you might catch her at a local metaphysical store reading Tarot cards.

HAPPENINGS

* Sunday: 7:30 p.m. Poetry Night. Group discussion at 6 p.m., followed by a featured poet at 7 and an open mike at 8. Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159.

* Monday: 11 a.m. Celebrate Leap Year with stories and art. Borders, 497-8159.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. Author Catherine Dain will discuss and sign her New Age Mystery, “Angel in the Dark.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., 339-9170.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. Authors Russell and Kathryn Spencer will discuss “How to Publish and Market Your Travel Book” at the monthly meeting of Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. Contact Carol Doering at 493-1081 or e-mail at cdoeringgte.net for more information. Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. The Monthly Reading Group focuses on “Eleven Days” by Donald Harstad. Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 374-0084.

* Wednesday: 7:30 p.m. The Friendly Book Discussion Group will focus on “The Dead” by James Joyce, with the discussion led by Dennis Pomeranc. Books are available at the rental collection at the Grant R. Brimhall Library. Contact Jules Miesler at 373-1228 for more information. Grant R. Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks.

* Thursday: 6:45 p.m. Authors Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson will present their new book, “Discover Your Child’s Learning Style,” and answer questions from parents and teachers. Refreshments and book signing will follow. Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura, 650-9688.

* Saturday: 10:30 a.m. Read Across America storytime celebrates the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 160 W. Westlake Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 446-2820.

* Saturday: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meet local authors Mike Bolyog (“Aiden’s Cauldron”), Terri Siegel, (“Low Cholesterol Desserts”), Marilyn Wedge, (“In the Therapist’s Mirror”) and Adrienne Anderson, (“Firefighter-Read Me A Book!” and “Medieval Knight-Read Me A Book!”) Book signings and refreshments. Oak Park Public Library on the Oak Park High School campus, 899 N. Kanan Road, Agoura. For information, call 818-735-3300, ext. 101.

* Saturday: 11 a.m. “Reading 2000” will celebrate the joy of reading with stories and prizes. Borders, 497-8159.

Note: On Saturday, the keynote speaker at Creative Options for Women will be Marcia Ann Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine. For details, call 493-3345 at the Women’s Resource Center of Cal Lutheran University.

Information about book signings, writers groups and publishing events can be e-mailed to anns40aol.com or faxed to 647-5649.