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A fictional town with an excellent memory for the wrong things

CorkBay

Greetings from the edge of Lake Ontario, where the coffee is hot, the civic architecture is concrete and everyone knows a version of what happened.

Tour the evidence ↓
A professional 1973 atlas map of Cork Bay and District showing its harbour, streets, topography and important locations
Tap map to enlarge · Plate 12 · Cork Bay and District · Local atlas, 1973

The local collection

Postcards from
the local archives

Drawn by a celebrated local artist, Aubrey Lemire (1902-1993). The postcards are preserved in the museum archives. Reports circulate that the collection of Lemire's work used to be far greater than what remains at the museum today.

An aged local-artist sketch looking downhill through Cork Bay toward its harbour in summer 1973

CB / 01

Cork Bay

Summer 1973

“The fresh air felt good after a long, hot summer and she was enjoying a whimsical moment on Cork Bay’s first crisp fall day.”

Population: neighbourly. Memory: selective.

An aged architectural sketch of Cork Bay’s monumental Brutalist city hall

CB / 02

City Hall

Civic collection

“Cork Bay City Hall was a wonder of 1970s brutalist architecture.”

All made from cement. Even, somehow, the welcome.

An aged interior sketch of Stony’s café with wooden tables, large chairs and rock-inlaid walls

CB / 03

Stony’s

Near the courthouse

“A small café near the courthouse called Rockin’ Coffee. However, everyone in Cork Bay called it Stony’s.”

Ask for Stony’s. Maps are for out-of-towners.

An aged sketch of the lonely Maria Sartori memorial overlooking Cork Bay

CB / 04

Maria Sartori Memorial

Autumn 1974

“Alex stared into her eyes. But Maria just stared back at her silently.”

The view is lovely. The local history is complicated.

An aged streetscape sketch of repeating pale-blue Cork Bay townhouses known as Smurf Village

CB / 05

Smurf Village

Five or six blocks

“It was a townhouse in a subdivision of about five or six blocks, but all the houses were the same light blue colour.”

If you miss the house, simply try the identical house next door.

An aged dusk sketch of Cork Bay’s unfinished mall development and illuminated gala pavilion

CB / 06

The New Mall

Gala site

“The previously empty area was now buzzing with workers and gleaming piles of steel.”

Formal attire. Practical shoes. A recently cleared alibi.

End of the tour

Come for the view.
Stay for the alibi.

Cork Bay appears in For Maria, Lenore MacAdam’s debut mystery, arriving October 15, 2026.

Meet Maria