An investigation in Terminal City

The False Creek Murder: An Inspector Coswell Mystery 
by Roy Innes

Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2026
$23.95 / 9781774391389

Reviewed by Ron Verzuh

*

Crooked cops and drug lord enforcers keep this novel sizzling hot from start to finish.

There is a murderer on the run and it’s not clear that the forces of law and order are on the right trail. Vancouver’s homicide squad and the RCMP’s narcotics division team up to form a righteous force, but they face formidable killers.

I usually give a murder mystery 100 pages to capture my interest. Gabriola-based retired eye surgeon Roy Innes (Elderville) had me at page 33. 

For purely selfish personal reasons, I dedicated myself to learning more about Sergeant Alfred Robert Langford-Jones of the Vancouver PD.

He’s not a major player in this Vancouver-set police drama, but he’s featured as the VPD homicide liaison to Sergeant Jane Bostock. Is there a hint of love interest in the office? Bostock relies on Al and Innes’s star detective Inspector Mark Coswell to guide her through some rough patches as she navigates her new role.

I was instantly captivated when I learned that Langford hailed from my birthplace of Trail, BC. The burly sergeant with a slightly misshapen nose played hockey at the home of the world-famous Trail Smoke Eaters. 

I admit it. I’m a sucker for detective yarns that mention places I know. Iona Wishaw’s Nelson, BC, mysteries are another contemporary example. Most of the famous ones rely on place recognition; Oxford has Morse, Shetland has Jimmy Perez and Newcastle has Vera. Now I can take comfort from a home-grown mystery that connects me to the non-stop action in this fifth novel of Innes’s Coswell series.

I was familiar with most of the locations in this almost 400-page cop-killer-drug-pusher chase through downtown streets and alleys beginning with the False Creek docks where the kick-off crime occurs.

Langford returns to the action from time to time with Innes building in some sexual tension between him and Bostock. But Innes doesn’t dwell long on a possible romance. Instead, we are plunged into the story about Bostock’s investigation. Coswell, meanwhile, looks into the murder of a young constable who was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a botched drug bust. 

In the confusion, the drug smugglers get away. An inside job? Maybe. Bostock searches for a mole in her crew of undercover narcs. Further complicating matters, there’s a rogue undercover detective named McMoran whose loyalties are uncertain. Coswell will eventually need to manage the intrusion. 

In a cast that is almost too big to handle, we meet Constable Stanford Chew, who replaces Corporal Trevor James, another Kootenay lad, as Coswell’s trusty sidekick and dog’s body. The “short, stubby and slightly disheveled” Coswell has a serious cinnamon bun habit and Chew, “built like a brick shithouse,” is committed to feeding it on command.

We also meet Corporal Kathy Bunting, “a veritable giant of a woman,” who is assigned to infiltrate one of the city’s big drug operations and nuzzle up to its leader Conor Bonahan, a smooth-talking Irish crime boss. To do so, she buys a used Harley and rides with Bonahan’s gnarly biker gang as its members congregate in Nanaimo. 

Part of Innes’s appeal is his use of everyday habits and faults to humanize his characters and enrich their relationships. Recognizable businesses are also helpful. Starbucks gets a part as a regular cop stop. So does Gino’s coffee shop, and several pubs and hotels in the DTES that have seen better days. It colours Vancouver culturally interesting… as world-class crime hub.

The detectives all have good appetites and often meet in local restaurants where the food and drink are plentiful and apparently delicious with a preference for Italian cafes along Commercial Drive. At one Chinatown eatery, Yeung’s Noodle House, “crammed between a tattoo parlour and a convenience store,” readers witness a vicious incident right under Bostock’s nose.

In the end, the Mounties get their man, of course, and the various crimes are resolved but not quite as anyone would guess. Coswell gets the credit along with Bostock and their partners. Coswell no doubt continues to crave cinnamon buns in preparation for future challenges.

A quick online search of Vancouver-based detective fiction turns up several other Vancouver-based private eye mysteries. Sam Wiebe, J.T. Seimens, A.J Devlin, Elizabeth Bowers, and others are prominent. Regrettably, the online lists I saw were missing the creative pen of Roy Innes. A correction is in order.

[Editor’s note: in support of his book, Roy Innes will launch The False Creek Murder at the Gabriola Island branch of the Vancouver Island Public Library on May 30, starting at 2pm.]

Ron Verzuh is a writer, historian, and life-long crime fiction buff. [Editor’s note: Ron wrote about Tom McGauley and has reviewed recent books by Whit Fraser, Jim Harding [ed.], Steven Scanlan, Joline Martin, Patricia E. Roy, Lisa Anne Smith, Charles Demers, and Graeme Menzies for BCR.]

*

The British Columbia Review

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Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an online book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

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