Give Out Creek by J.G Toews Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 2018 $24.95 / 9781771613057 Reviewed by Bill Engleson First published August 27, 2018 * Judy Toews’ first novel concerns Stella Mosconi of the Nelson Times as she struggles with two murders, a failing marriage, a budding romance, ethical dilemmas, and a suspect writers’ group. *…
Read more #355 Murder in Nelson
Seaweed under Fire by Stanley Evans Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2017. $25.95 / 9781771711920 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve First published May 6, 2018 * A hiker and his dog find a corpse in Beacon Hill Park. Two cops find another corpse in an Italian restaurant. Before long our provincial capital is littered with more dead bodies…
Read more #299 The tough love of Seaweed
First published March 29, 2018. No Dog Barked: Who Killed the MacLauchlans? (Archives New West $30) by Rob Drown and Ken McIntosh 978-1-7750952-1-7 reviewed by Beverly Cramp * Last year John Gray gained wide approval for his novel about Vancouver’s most infamous unsolved murder with The White Angel, a retelling of the perplexing 1924 murder…
Read more #275 Unsolved murders revisited
First published March 28, 2018. The Haunting of Vancouver Island: Supernatural Encounters with the Other Side by Shanon Sinn Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2017. $20 / 9781771512435 Reviewed by Carol Anne Shaw * No matter our age, or whether or not we believe in the supernatural, there is something compelling about a good ghost story. Shanon…
Read more #274 Spooks, not kooks
Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver’s First Forensic Investigator by Eve Lazarus Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017 $21.95 / 9781551526850 Reviewed by Bonnie Reilly Schmidt First published Nov. 8, 2017 * In Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver’s First Forensic Investigator Eve Lazarus rescues one of…
Read more #198 Inspector Vance, I presume?
2050: A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery by Michael Kluckner Vancouver: Midtown Press, 2016 $19.95 / 9781988242187 Reviewed by Mark James Dunn First published May 30, 2017 * Vancouver historian, artist and illustrator Michael Kluckner has turned his eclectic talents in recent years to graphic novels, starting in 2015 with Toshiko, a remaking of Romeo and Juliet…
Read more #132 The demise of Vancouver
First published April 17, 2017 REVIEW: Speakeasy by Alisa Smith Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2017. $22.95. 978-1-77162-066-6 Reviewed John Douglas Belshaw With her partner and co-writer James MacKinnon, Alisa Smith recounted their year-long attempt to eat only foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. Their collaboration, The 100-Mile Diet: A…
Read more #121 A 100-mile crime novel
Invisible Dead by Sam Wiebe Toronto: Penguin Random House 2016 $22 / 9780345816276 Reviewed by Maansi Pandya First published April 5, 2017 * Soon to be released in the United States, Sam Wiebe’s Invisible Dead is a gritty journey into Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside crime world of biker gangs, drugs and suspicious characters against a backdrop…
Read more #116 Wakeland in the DES
The Rise and Fall of Emilio Picariello by Adriana A. Davies Fernie: Oolichan Books, 2016 $19.95 / 9780889823181 Reviewed by Lynne Bowen First published Nov. 16, 2016 * When authorities charged Emilio Picariello and Filumena Lassandro with the murder of Alberta Provincial Police Constable Stephen Lawson on 21 September 1922 in the Crowsnest Pass town…
Read more #45 The bootlegger and the maid
First Published: February 17th, 2015 * They called him Crazy Eddie in the Okanagan Valley. Eddie Haymour complained constantly that powerful forces were conspiring against him, plotting to steal his land and his dreams, ruining his life. The provincial government, police, and bureaucrats were part of the conspiracy, he’d tell anyone who would listen. By…
Read more #12 BC Crime Stories: Rattlesnake Isl.