Meet The Team

Dave Sweet

Dave Sweet

Author, Investigator and Instructor

With 25 years of policing experience, Detective Dave Sweet (Retired) has been involved in some of Canada’s most infamous and heinous cases.

Dave has worked as a patrol officer, an undercover police officer and led several task forces targeting gangs and organized crime. In 2009 Dave joined the ranks of the homicide unit where he spent 14 years specializing in the area of homicide, missing person and suspicious death investigations.

Several of Dave’s most known cases have been featured in documentaries and podcasts including the CBC’s The Detectives, Global Television’s Crime Beat and Investigative Discoveries Murder Board and the Cases that Haunt Me.

In 2018 Mischievous Books published Dave’s first book, Skeletons in My Closet – Life Lessons from a Homicide Detective which was written in collaboration with his talented co-author Sarah (Kades) Graham. Dave is currently writing his second book with acclaimed author Susan Forest due to release in the Spring 2024.

In addition to a Distinguished Service Award in 2010, Dave earned the Chief’s Award for Investigative Excellence in 2017, the Governor General’s Exemplary Service Medal in 2021 and the Queens Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.

Dave lives by the mantra “love people” and his inner strength and mindfulness is rooted from that perspective.

Sarah Kades

SARAH

Author and Writing Partner

Sarah Kades writes eco-thrillers, and narrative nonfiction as Sarah Graham. Her writing is largely inspired by her previous careers as an archaeologist and indigenous knowledge study facilitator.

Sarah is a two time Energy Future Lab Banff Summit storyteller, a recipient of the Calgary Arts Development individual artist grant, and has presented at the British Society of Criminology conference on the application of using arts-based approaches to bridge the gap between the police and public.

When she’s not writing you can find her running, bumping into her next adventure, or trying to figure out where in the garden to put the makeshift wood fired pizza oven.

Susan Forest

Susan Forest

Author and Writing Partner

Susan Forest is the author of dual Aurora Award winners Bursts of Fire (2019) and Flights of Marigold (2020) as well as over 25 internationally published short stories (Analog), Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies).

She edits an award-winning anthology series for Laksa Media Groups, was Editor Guest of Honour at Keycon in 2021.

In addition, she has edited the biographies, Vertical Reference, about the life of pioneer helicopter pilot, Jeff Davies, and Fail to Win: Because of the Beatles, about music promoter Jeff Parry’s experiences staging shows on broadway and London’s West End. Gathering of Ghosts, the third novel of the Addicted to Heaven series confronts addiction issues in an epic fantasy world of intrigue and betrayal.

Why The Butterflies?

“For me the butterfly represents change and transformation. Therefore it is the perfect symbol to represent the takeaways or lessons that come through dealing with change, adversity, trauma or tragedy.”