Laurali Wright (1939–2001)

L.R. (Laurali Rose) Wright, née Appleby, was born in Saskatoon, Canada and worked as a reporter for the Calgary Herald on the education and politics beats in the 1970s. When she and her husband moved to Edmonton for his work, she began writing her first novel, Neighbours, published in 1979. She wrote literary fiction before publishing The Suspect (1985), her first mystery novel, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. After that, she concentrated exclusively on the mystery genre except for the novel Love in the Temperate Zone (1988).
She's best known for her series featuring detective Sgt. Karl Alberg of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, set in the fictional small town of Sechelt, British Columbia, the "Sunshine Coast" of Canada. She died of breast cancer at age 61 in 2001.