Latvian-Canadian writer and artist Ilze Berzins is switching from mystery to biography for her next book, which is due out Nov. 30.

Titled Portrait of a Latvian Beauty, the book through text and photographs will tell the story of her mother, Ilze Henriete Bērziņš (née Beldavs).

“The book centres on Bēķi, her grandparents’ country homestead near Talsi which she took over when her grandfather died,” Berzins said in an e-mail. “She has a degree in agronomy from the University of Latvia as does my father Voldemars Bērziņš who predeceased my mother. Bēķi was a romantic idyll for my mother and affected how I saw Latvia back in 1995 when I too longed to savour the enchantment of Bēķi.”

The family, inlcuding the author, left Latvia in 1944 during the Second World War and eventually settled in Canada.

“Most photos were taken by my father who was deeply in love with his Greta Garbo look-alike bride,” Berzins said of the book.

Berzins’ mother died in June 2008.

“This is not an obit,” Berzins said, “but a testament of lasting beauty and the enduring courage of the Latvian spirit.”

Berzins penned the autobiographical Happy Girl in 1997, reporting on her impressions on attempting to repatriate to Latvia. She then turned to mysteries, writing a series of books either set in Latvia or involving Latvian characters. Her most recent book was Freedom, published in 2008.

Portrait of a Latvian Beauty will be published by Albert Street Press and will be available from Ilze Berzins, 30 Mount Pleasant Ave., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 0L8. For ordering details, contact the author at ilzeberzins@hotmail.com.

For more on Berzins and her books, visit ilzeberzins.com.

Alternative rock band Tribes of the City, which began life six years ago as The Movies and has recorded three albums, is suspending its work for an indefinitive time. The band has one more concert planned Sept. 25 in Rīga, according to recording company Platforma Records.

Much creative strength was spent on the latest album, Recipe of the Golden Dream, which was released earlier this year, lead singer Ksenija Sundejeva said in a press release. Now it is time to rest, charge their batteries and consider where they want to go further, Sundejeva said for herself and her bandmates.

“We have a lot to think about,” she added.

As The Movies, the group broke into the Latvian market with a distinctive style patterned after British “shoe gaze” bands. The first album, Running to the Sun, was released in 2004.

The sophomore recording, …for the sleepy people, came two years later, by which time the band had renamed itself as Tribes of the City.

Besides Sundejeva, the band includes Ints Barkāns on drums, Sergejs Jaramišjans on guitar, Juris Justs on bass, Mihails Sergejevs on synths and Andrejs Vasiļevs on guitar.

More about the band can be learned on its MySpace page or on the social network draugiem.lv.