Buffalo Jump by Howard Shrier

20. - 533.) Buffalo Jump by Howard Shrier – An unusual Canadian mystery for the hero, Jonah Geller, is hard boiled in the sense most disputes are settled violently. He does not fit the classic American mould with his Jewish mother wanting him to settle down. He has learned how to fight as a volunteer in the Israeli military. Employed in a private Toronto security firm he is assisting in the investigation of a nursing home over the care of a deceased client when life becomes complicated. He is approached by a mob hitman reluctant to kill a pharmacist and his family. Jonah is drawn into the world of Canadian prescription drugs being sent south because they are so much cheaper than what Americans can get from their druggists. It is the dark side of a business of which I had only heard vaguely. I felt vaguely discomforted all book by the level of violence. It seemed so un-Canadian. I believe I would have found it normal if there had been an American hero. For a Western Canadian reader the title was misleading. It has nothing to do with Buffalo being stampeded over the edge of a bluff. It is the first mystery I have read involving the Canadian mob. They are as vicious as their fictional American counterparts. I expect to read the second to see whether the violence is as prominent and as bothersome. (May 8/10)