Born in Tillsonburg, Ontario, event rider, therapeutic riding instructor and Equestrian Canada coach Julie Johnson now adds mystery novelist to her resumé.
Writing under the name J. Ivanel Johnson, the New Brunswick-based author’s second novel Just A STALE MATE was published this June and is a prequel to her first mystery, Just A STILL LIFE. The titles are part of Johnson’s ongoing Just (e)State series set at a fictional therapeutic riding centre, and follows homicide detective Philip Steele and his elderly godmother P.J., who helps him solve mysteries. Fans of “Golden Age whodunnits” such as the works of Agatha Christie will enjoy Johnson’s cozy mysteries.
As for setting a series of mysteries in a therapeutic riding centre, Johnson has spent years developing and working with such programs across Canada. While she rode from a young age, at 13 Johnson was diagnosed with a spine condition called spondylolisthesis and began volunteering for SARI Therapeutic Riding in London, ON when she was 14. As an adult she became a certified instructor for therapeutic riding and helped develop a few centres in Ontario. She also became an EC Eventing Coach, running her own stable in the Ottawa Valley from 1988 to 1996. Johnson currently lives on a small farm in the Appalachians of New Brunswick, writing full-time.