Mystery stories by novelist L.R. Wright will be adapted for a live-action television adaptation filmed on the Sunshine Coast, thanks to a producer with roots in the long-running Beachcombers series.
From 1985 to 2000, Laurali Rose Wright published nine novels set in Sechelt that feature RCMP staff sergeant Karl Alberg. Alberg’s romantic interest, Cassandra Mitchell, is a bibliophile and librarian. Wright’s subsequent books revolved around a new protagonist but were also set on the Sunshine Coast.
The debut of the Alberg series, The Suspect, made Wright the first Canadian to win the Edgar Allen Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America, a prize that recognizes the best novel of the year.
It also attracted the attention of TV producer Nick Orchard. Orchard had worked on three seasons of the original Beachcombers series for CBC Television, and would go on to produce the New Beachcombers pilot (2002) and A Beachcombers’ Christmas (2004). He purchased the option to adapt Wright’s The Suspect as a feature film.
“It’s uniquely written,” said Orchard. “This isn’t just a standard mystery series about who did it. It follows how Alberg is able to put the pieces together and prove the case.”
Even following Wright’s death in 2001, her reputation as one of Canada’s preeminent novelists continued to expand. Orchard searched for financial backers for the movie. Ten years ago he opened discussions with Donald Sutherland to play a part. William Hurt was tapped to play Alberg. It ended up as another dead end for the murder mystery.
In 2019, Orchard adjusted his plan. He purchased the option for the entire Alberg collection with a view to turn the books into an episodic TV series.
“As a producer, you’re always pitching projects to networks and distributors and you’re used to things not working,” he said. “90 per cent of the time you just put them aside and say oh well, it wasn’t meant to be. But this book, The Suspect, is so good I just felt it had to be made.”
Orchard’s project attracted the interest of Jeff Wachtel, former president of NBCUniversal International Studios. Wachtel pitched it to the Fox Broadcasting Company. “They fell in love with it,” explained Orchard. “They really got it.”
The show’s first episode is due to start shooting in early 2024. Orchard spent the last week on the Sunshine Coast scouting locations assisted by Gibsons town councillor David Croal. Croal is a fellow Beachcombers alumnus who joined the pioneering series in 1979 as a production designer.
Although Wright’s story will remain set in a fictionalized version of Sechelt, the inaugural episode is set to be filmed in Gibsons due to the town’s proximity to ferries and availability of production infrastructure.
Orchard is now in talks with Donald Sutherland’s son, Rossif Sutherland, about a potential role.
L.R. Wright was born in Saskatoon and worked for newspapers including the Fraser Valley Record and Calgary Herald. She was mentored by W.O. Mitchell during a creative writing course at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts and published her first novel in 1979.
Wright is one of more than 600 writers with a literary connection to the Sunshine Coast who will be commemorated by the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society in its Literary Landmarks initiative.
Orchard is seeking housing for cast and crew during the production. Landlords and suite owners should contact accommodations coordinator Kellei Baker at [email protected].
