Ocean Drive by Sam Wiebe
“He walked out of Kent on statutory release, with three years of parole to look forward to. Reading over the regulations, the timetable of visits with his PO, he thought about staying inside. Serve the full ten and come out clean, clear, beholden to no one.”
Say hello to Cameron Shaw, convicted killer and soon to be a reluctant private eye. Released from prison and on parole, Shaw just wants to lead a quiet life, stay out of trouble, finish his sentence, and maybe return to somewhat of a normal life.
Fat chance with that.
Shortly after getting out of jail Cam meets up with a couple of people who want him to go undercover to get the goods on a gang of miscreants working out of the British Columbia west coast border town of White Rock, just north of the Washington/B.C. border. These folks are involved in all sorts of misdeeds, from smuggling and gun running to maybe a gang war. An RCMP officer and Cam get involved in more ways than one, and as the violence and confusion escalates, Cam is left to wonder how he ever got into this mess, and is there any safe way out?
Ocean Drive is just one of many crackling good yarns churned out by Sam Wiebe, who lives and writes in New Westminster, B.C., is also the author of the acclaimed Wakeland detective series.
Ocean Drive is from Harbour Publishing, at www.harbourpublishing.com., with a 2024 list price of $24.95. And you can learn more about the author by visiting www.samwiebe.com .
Mr. Good Evening by John MacLachlan Gray
“Inspector Calvin Hook perches on the corner of Ralph Tucker's desk and stares glumly at the bloodstains on the cream Bigelow rug, for the removal of the corpse had left a clearly defined splatter outline, one that could be seen two ways --- the unstained part as Mr. Tucker's shadow in a film negative, and the stain about the head as a map of Europe.”
The chief suspect in the case of the murder of Ralph Tucker is a woman named Dora Decker, but did she really stab the victim twenty-five times with one of her high-heeled shoes?
Set in 1920s Vancouver, this mystery novel takes us in to the world of the police officer, the suspect, and a guy named Ed McCurdy, who switches from a newspaper career to that of Canada's first radio personality, hence the moniker of Mr. Good Evening.
But the Ralph Tucker murder mystery is just part of the story. McCurdy thinks he might be the next victim. The suspect becomes known far and wide as the Fatal Flapper, and along the way we wind up 小蓝视频 connected to Al Capone, Winston Churchill, and a strange mystical cult that has set up a secret compound on one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. Whew!
The author does a masterful job of combining all these ingredients into a tale well worth the reading. Mr. Good Evening came out in 2024 from Douglas and McIntyre, with a hard cover Canadian price of $34.95. And if the name John Gray sounds familiar it is because he first burst onto the national scene with his collaboration with acclaimed Canadian actor Eric Peterson in the award-winning play called Billy Bishop goes to War. The author's home website is www.johnmaclachlangray.com .
Hollywood Eden by Joel Selvin
“The water ricocheted off the walls and floor of the locker room shower like BB's in a barrel. A couple of dozen high school football players heckled and joked around with each other after practice as they washed up and showered off. Their youthful bodies glistened with soap and water.”
Selvin's Hollywood Eden is a story about electric guitars, fast cars, and the myth of the California paradise. The narrative is a literary time machine that takes us back to the late fifties and early sixties, when surf-rock stars such as Jan and Dean, Bruce and Terry, The Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, and dozens of others were searching for that perfect wave of teen pop music that would earn them immortality.
This was the time after Elvis and before the Beatles, when California dreaming was a reality. Hollywood Eden tells us about music, madness, mayhem, kidnapping plots, girls, crew cuts, recording studios, serious musicians, record charts and good vibrations. There's even pictures!
Hollywood Eden came out in 2021 from House of Anansi Press with a Canadian list price of $32.95 for the hard back edition. An e-book is also available. Selvin has authored a number of music lore books, including tales centering around The Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones. The author is based in San Francisco with a website of www.joelselvin.com.
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