It may seem that the inspiration for Detective Lane, the single-named obsessive cop who has been the hero of five mystery books by Calgary author Garry Ryan, came from an unusual place.

Over his five adventures, Lane has uncovered all sorts of murder, violence, corruption and malfeasance, usually while prowling the curiously mean streets of Calgary.

But Ryan, a retired high-school teacher and grandfather, says it was the bullying and alienation that he witnessed in the hallways and classrooms that first led him to create a gay detective.

“At the time, I was teaching and I had seen some things happen to some students of mine that I had gotten to know,” he says. “I caught two kids harassing two girls. And their only crime was to love each other. I started to see things in a different way. They were my students and I had a responsibility to say something and not to let it go.”

So Detective Lane was born, an investigator with more than a few secrets and what occasionally seems like an unhealthy drive to hunt down wrongdoers.

In his newest mystery, Malabarista (NeWest, 204 pages, $18.95), Lane is being investigated by the Calgary police. His partner, Arthur, is diagnosed with cancer. He has to deal with the body of an Eastern European war criminal, a determined bomber and a malabarista, or street performer, accused of murder.

For fans who have gotten to know Lane, Malabarista may be his most revealing outing yet, Ryan says.

“You learn why he is always looking for killers,” Ryan says. “There’s an experience in his childhood that has shaped that in him. He’s a hunter. So it goes against the stereotype of a gay person. He’s really good at tracking down people. There’s reasons why he has this sense of fairness.”

By the time Ryan had retired in 2009, he was already deep into the Lane mysteries. He taught both junior high and high school, often creative writing.

Ryan says he took direct inspiration from many of his students, deciding he needed to take the same fearless approach that many of them did.

“I set myself a goal to have a novel published by the time I was 40 and it happened when I was 50,” he says.

“It’s been a long-term thing. As a teacher, you’re asking your kids to take risks with writing. It just seemed to me (I should) take the same risks they were taking.”

Ryan’s work has been recognized, both by his mystery-writing peers and the gay community, for its sharp plotting and depth of character.

The second Lane novel, Lucky Elephant Restaurant, won the 2007 Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery.

Smoked, released this year, was shortlisted for the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award.

Since Malabarista, Ryan has finished three more as-yet-unpublished Lane mysteries and is working on a novel of historical fiction.

Initially, Ryan said he had envisioned only two or three novels for the protagonist. But Lane, and perhaps more importantly the characters who surround him, continue to keep him interested.

While his character’s sexual preference may have initially sprung from a sense of social conscience, Ryan says he hopes readers relate to Lane’s universal qualities and struggles.

Like most, he’s driven by a need for family, belonging and a home.

“This is nothing to be afraid of, he’s just a human being and he has the same kind of problems you’ve got,” Ryan says.

“He has the same things he has to live with and deal with.

“There is really no reason to make a fuss.”