The Origins of The Game Warden’s Match 

Renée Gendron

In late spring 2020, I hit a wall with editing and tweaking my fantasy series (The Nearer Realm Tales). I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet. But I will… eventually. 

I turned to a genre I thought I would never write—contemporary romance in July 2021.

The Game Warden’s Match was an experiment to see if I could write humour, change how I wrote world building, and create contemporary problems for my characters. I wanted a book based in Canada because I use British spelling and the turns of phrases and humour I use, are Canadian. 

I strive to create unique stories with unique plots. Yes, they are romances, and the main characters will end up together. But I seek to make the world around them, their individual and interpersonal struggles, and the problem(s) they need to address, unique and memorable.  

I also wanted to write a law enforcement book but not with the usual law enforcement agencies. If I say law enforcement and Canada, many will say the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Some might mention the police departments in Toronto or Vancouver. And if you’re an Ontarian or Québécois, you might mention provincial police services. 

By focusing on a police force that wasn’t the obvious choice, I also selected an unusual crime. The start of the story begins with the male lead and his partner investigating the bizarre deaths of a family of moose.  

I did something different with this book. I normally write straight through and then edit. With The Game Warden’s Match, I wrote, and before writing the next day again, I edited what I wrote the day prior. I’ve stuck to this method ever since. I seem to have cleaner drafts, I layer in more nuance as the story is fresher, and I can tie in more subplots and backstory. 

I was surprised by how well the dialogued flowed. The story takes place in eastern Ontario, Canada, in a mid-sized city called Kingston. Kingston was chosen as a location because it is large enough to have several industries, close enough to forests and federal and provincial parks for James to work in, close enough to larger cities such as Ottawa (two hours away), Montréal (two hours away), and Toronto (three hours away) for Mirabelle to prospect for clients. Still, Kingston’s small enough the characters can reach one another in a reasonable amount of time. 

A personal irritation is a story in which the characters live at opposite ends of a large metropolitan city such as Toronto or New York and never encounter travel difficulties and everything is only five minutes away. By basing my story in Kingston, the characters can go to work, go home, run errands, and still make it to their date for seven or eight in the evening. 

Inspector James Acker is the male lead and works for a specialised Environment Canada police force investigating environmental crime. The police force does exist, but none of my characters or the crime itself is based on real events. Maya Gladstone is Acker’s law enforcement partner. It’s not quite a buddy-cop dynamic between them, but they have excellent chemistry as police partners. I was able to create that dynamic because I made Gladstone extremely observant and, despite being James’ junior by fifteen years, calls him out on many things. There’s a raw honesty between the characters that leads to humour and insight. 

The dynamics between James and Mirabelle were unique. It’s not quite a slow-burn romance. It’s a patient, getting-to-know-you-without-dumping-all-my-baggage-on-you romance. The book stands out in part because the main characters are mature. James is fifty, and Mirabelle is forty-five. 

Mirabelle owns a translating company. She’s had two relationships that fell apart for the same reason. Once it happened to her, and the second time, she did it to someone else. And no, she didn’t cheat. As with James, I gave Mirabelle a unique career. Throughout the story, Mirabelle supports James in finding the killers of the moose and solving the larger mystery. 

I kept things realistic. Mirabelle is a civilian and isn’t a consultant with the police services. Her help with the case is strategic. I enjoyed writing her because she showed me the various ways a person can be strong without becoming a bully or dying inside (brave face and all that). 

The Game Warden’s Match is a high heat (explicit sex) contemporary mystery romance that contains swearing. It’s also a slow-burn love story between two people who want to make a relationship work. There’s also a ton of jokes in it, domestic terrorism, and murder. Yes. Absolutely. All those items can coherently fit in one book. 

The Origins of The Game Warden’s Match
Renée Gendron

In late spring 2020, I hit a wall with editing and tweaking my fantasy series (The Nearer Realm Tales). I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet. But I will… eventually.
I turned to a genre I thought I would never write—contemporary romance in July 2021.
The Game Warden’s Match was an experiment to see if I could write humour, change how I wrote world building, and create contemporary problems for my characters. I wanted a book based in Canada because I use British spelling and the turns of phrases and humour I use, are Canadian.
I strive to create unique stories with unique plots. Yes, they are romances, and the main characters will end up together. But I seek to make the world around them, their individual and interpersonal struggles, and the problem(s) they need to address, unique and memorable.
I also wanted to write a law enforcement book but not with the usual law enforcement agencies. If I say law enforcement and Canada, many will say the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Some might mention the police departments in Toronto or Vancouver. And if you’re an Ontarian or Québécois, you might mention provincial police services.
By focusing on a police force that wasn’t the obvious choice, I also selected an unusual crime. The start of the story begins with the male lead and his partner investigating the bizarre deaths of a family of moose.
I did something different with this book. I normally write straight through and then edit. With The Game Warden’s Match, I wrote, and before writing the next day again, I edited what I wrote the day prior. I’ve stuck to this method ever since. I seem to have cleaner drafts, I layer in more nuance as the story is fresher, and I can tie in more subplots and backstory.
I was surprised by how well the dialogued flowed. The story takes place in eastern Ontario, Canada, in a mid-sized city called Kingston. Kingston was chosen as a location because it is large enough to have several industries, close enough to forests and federal and provincial parks for James to work in, close enough to larger cities such as Ottawa (two hours away), Montréal (two hours away), and Toronto (three hours away) for Mirabelle to prospect for clients. Still, Kingston’s small enough the characters can reach one another in a reasonable amount of time.
A personal irritation is a story in which the characters live at opposite ends of a large metropolitan city such as Toronto or New York and never encounter travel difficulties and everything is only five minutes away. By basing my story in Kingston, the characters can go to work, go home, run errands, and still make it to their date for seven or eight in the evening.
Inspector James Acker is the male lead and works for a specialised Environment Canada police force investigating environmental crime. The police force does exist, but none of my characters or the crime itself is based on real events. Maya Gladstone is Acker’s law enforcement partner. It’s not quite a buddy-cop dynamic between them, but they have excellent chemistry as police partners. I was able to create that dynamic because I made Gladstone extremely observant and, despite being James’ junior by fifteen years, calls him out on many things. There’s a raw honesty between the characters that leads to humour and insight.
The dynamics between James and Mirabelle were unique. It’s not quite a slow-burn romance. It’s a patient, getting-to-know-you-without-dumping-all-my-baggage-on-you romance. The book stands out in part because the main characters are mature. James is fifty, and Mirabelle is forty-five.
Mirabelle owns a translating company. She’s had two relationships that fell apart for the same reason. Once it happened to her, and the second time, she did it to someone else. And no, she didn’t cheat. As with James, I gave Mirabelle a unique career. Throughout the story, Mirabelle supports James in finding the killers of the moose and solving the larger mystery.
I kept things realistic. Mirabelle is a civilian and isn’t a consultant with the police services. Her help with the case is strategic. I enjoyed writing her because she showed me the various ways a person can be strong without becoming a bully or dying inside (brave face and all that).
The Game Warden’s Match is a high heat (explicit sex) contemporary mystery romance that contains swearing. It’s also a slow-burn love story between two people who want to make a relationship work. There’s also a ton of jokes in it, domestic terrorism, and murder. Yes. Absolutely. All those items can coherently fit in one book.