7th Canadian Book Challenge Roundup (Part I)

Almost a month after the close of the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog this post will list the books I read for the Challenge from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014:

1.) Stranglehold by Robert Rotenberg;

2.) The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault;

3.) Diefenbaker for the Defence by Garrett Wilson and Kevin Wilson;

4.) The Shaman's Knife by Scott Young;

5.) The Gifted by Gail Bowen;

6.) How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny;

7.) Fire on Ice by Darrell Davis;

8.) Furies by D.L. Johnstone;

9.) A Cold White Sun by Vicki Delany;

10.) Frisky Business by Jill Edmondson;

11.) Open Secret by Deryn Collier;

12.) Kill All the Lawyers by William Deverell;

13.) Gold Web by Vicki Delany;

14.) Presto Variations by Lee Lamothe;

15.) Walls of a Mind by John Brooke;

16.) Miss Montreal by Howard Shrier;

17.) An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James; and,

18.) The Hero of Hopewell Hill by Barbara Martin.

Other years I have participated in the Challenge I barely fulfilled the Challenge to read 13 books by Canadians during the 12 months from Canada Day to Canada Day. With 18 for the 7th Challenge I expect I have reached my maximum. I doubt I will read as many during the 8th Challenge.

Out of the 18 books read during the 7th Challenge 4 were part of the shortlist for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. I have now finished the 5th book on the shortlist and next week will have a post discussing the shortlist and stating which one I liked the best.

My next post will examine the books I read for the 7th Canadian Book Challenge.

The Hero of Hopewell Hill by Barbara Martin

25. – 772.) The Hero of Hopewell Hill by Barbara Martin – Richard Bennett, Canada’s 11^th Prime Minister, grew up on a farm near Hopewell Hill on the coast of New Brunswick. He is featured in the 4^th book of the Leaders & Legacies series. Each book is about a future Canadian Prime Minister involved in an adventure when he or she was 12 or 13 years of age. Bennett is 13 in 1883.

Making a living by the 1880's has become a challenge for the Bennett family. The once busy shipyard of Bennett’s grandfather is a lonely place of memories as steel hulled ships have replaced the elegant wooden ships his grandfather built to sail the oceans.

Bennett and his friend, Len Tilley, like all young teenage boys, crave some excitement in their lives and are intrigued by mystery. One night they venture on to the cliff above the Hopewell Rocks to see if a local Indian legend can “be true – that the rocks were the trapped spirits of Indian warriors, waiting to be released”. While no spirits appear they hear sounds of men moving something on the side of the cliffs.

When he returns home, Bennett’s father, Henry, is upset over this foolish escapade. He wants Richard to start working full time on the farm as he is busy as a blacksmith. His mother, Henrietta, is more understanding. Trained as a teacher she understands Bennett’s desire to go to Normal School so he can become a teacher.

In town Bennett encounters the broad shouldered and surly Michael Killian who has been making inquiries about the local militia.

Despite the threat of punishment Bennett and Tilley return to the cliffs by rowboat to find out what has been happening there. Living on the Bay of Fundy they must be wary of the largest tides in the world which rise and fall 2-3 meters an hour to a total of 16 meters.

What they encounter leads them to realize there is a new Fenian threat. Memories are still fresh in Hopewell Hill of the attempted Fenian invasion at Campobello, New Brunswick 17 years previously. The Fenians remain confident Irish Canadians will rise to join them and they can take over New Brunswick. Bennett is determined to do his part to thwart the Fenians.

In challenging the Fenians Bennett displays several character traits that will serve him well as a lawyer and businessman in Calgary and then as Prime Minister. (Bennett, Prime Minister from 1930 – 1935, had the most difficult time to be Canadian Prime Minister as the nation struggles during the Great Depression.)

The teenage Bennett is caring of others. He is quick and decisive in making decisions. He is physically brave and not afraid to take on a tough situation.

As always in the series I learned something of both the future Prime Minister and of aspects of Canadian history. I had not realized the Fenian threat had reached as far east as New Brunswick. I had thought the Fenian attacks on Canada were limited to Upper Canada (Ontario) just after the end of the American Civil War.

It is a good book though I liked the earlier books in the series better than The Hero of Hopewell Hill. I would have preferred a more rounded portrayal of the young Bennett and further information on his family. He is abit too perfect. No flaws beyond stubbornness are set out. I wish his mother, obviously a very important person in his life, had a greater role in the story.

I am glad the series continues to bring to life historic adventures of future Prime Ministers. As the series builds in number young Canadian readers are getting a chance to see how our Prime Ministers have come from many different backgrounds.

My next post will discuss R.B. Bennett's later life and my family connection to his ongoing heritage in Calgary.
 

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The Hero of Hopewell Hill is the 15^th of 13 books I have read during the 7^th Canadian Book Challenge which ends at midnight on next Monday evening. Canada Day, July 1, starts the 8^th annual Challenge for reading Canadian authored books.

 

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

49. – 738.) How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny – The clash between Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Superintendent Sylvain Francouer of the Surete for the province of Quebec is reaching its climax. Gamache, weary from the conflict, receives a call from Myrna Landers, the bookstore owner in the village of Three Pines that her friend, Constance Pineault, has not arrived for a scheduled pre-Christmas visit.

The book develops the character of Myrna. The former psychologist is a skilled listener. While retired she is always willing to listen.

Gamache and his trusted agent, Isabelle Lacoste, go to Pineault’s modest Montreal home where they find her dead. While a case in the jurisdiction of the Montreal police they are quite ready to turn over the investigation to Gamache and the Surete.

There is no forensic evidence pointing towards a killer. Gamache is grateful to have a reason to travel to Three Pines to renew his friendships with the villagers. I am glad that the series returned to Three Pines. The books are at their best in the village. Three Pines and its residents provide a haven from the trials and troubles of the big city.

While Myrna is the closest to Pineault all are surprised that the flinty abrasive foul mouthed poet, Ruth Zardo, and her pet duck, Rosa, have a good relationship with Pineault.

The murder investigation threatens to become a public sensation when Gamache learns that Pineault is the surname of the mother of the murdered woman. She is actually the last member of the famed Ouellet quintuplets. Born to a poor Quebec farming family in the 1930’s the girls were raised by the government as a tourist attraction. Their highly public upbringing left the Quints intensely private and struggling to form meaningful personal relationships.

Who would want an intensely private 77 year old woman dead? Can her connections with Three Pines have brought about her death?

Penny sets out that the Ouellet quintuplets were inspired by the story of the real life Dionne quints. Born to a poor rural Ontario family in the 1930’s the Dionne girls were raised with equal publicity. Penny emphasizes that she chose not to learn of the actual lives of the Dionne Quints as she thought it would intrude upon their privacy.

As Gamache is looking into the murder he is being ever more isolated by Francouer and his supporters. It is clear they are planning something major but Gamache cannot find evidence of their plans.

He has one senior ally in the Department, Therese Brunel, a museum curator who entered the police force in her 50’s and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Superintendent. Her husband, Jerome, is a retired doctor and skilled computer hacker.

With their aid Gamache seeks to penetrate the secrets of the conspirators.

A few years ago I might have found a conspiracy of corruption and violence at the highest levels of Quebec’s provincial police force lacked credibility but the current public inquiry into Quebec’s construction industry has produced revelation after revelation of corruption involving Quebec municipal politicians, administrators and construction companies.

I liked the book better than The Beautiful Mystery. This book did not have a glaring lack of credibility concerning a major premise of the book.

I did find the conspiracy within the Surete a distraction from the murder investigation. In this book the effort to penetrate the conspirators takes over from the murder investigation as the major theme. I am thankful that the internal Surete battle is concluded in this book. I thought the series was better when it focused on murder mysteries. There was a great story in Constance and her sisters but it became secondary to the drama of the Surete story.

The ending makes this book well suited to a Hollywood North movie. I expect I am being paranoid in feeling this book was written with a movie in mind. Still there is a real surprise at the very end of the book for readers to discover.

I will continue to read the series. As stated it is my hope that the next book will concentrate on a murder mystery. (Oct. 10/13)

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How the Light Gets In will be the 5th book I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge at the Book Mine Set blog.

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Penny, Louise – (2005) - Still Life; (2006) - Dead Cold (Tied for 3^rd Best fiction of 2006); (2007) - The Cruelest Month; (2009) - The Murder Stone (Maybe ____ Best fiction of 2009); (2010) - The Brutal Telling; (2011) - Bury Your Dead; (2011) - A Trick of the Light; (2012) - The Beautiful Mystery (Part I) and The Beautiful Mystery (Part II); (2013) - "P" is for Louise Penny - Movie Producer and Review of the Movie of Still Life

 

The Gifted by Gail Bowen

48. – 737.) The Gifted by Gail Bowen – The 14^th Joanne Kilbourn mystery is one of the best in the series. I was smitten by the end of the first sentence:

"As my husband, Zack, slipped into the roomy yellow silk pyjamas that would transform him from a Saskatchewan trial lawyer into Rex Stout’s brilliant, food-loving, orchid-growing detective hero, Nero Wolfe, he was one happy guy."

Joanne accompanies him to a Halloween birthday party dressed as Archie Goodwin.

The party is to celebrate the reluctant 45^th birthday of Lauren Treadgold. The former model remains gorgeous but can only see she is not as beautiful as she was at 16 on the cover of Vogue.

The guests have been requested to come as famous couples. The hosts, Lauren and Vince, are outfitted as Anthony and Cleopatra.

The fissures in the Treadgold marriage are made publicly clear at the party. Lauren is resentful when Vince, a surgeon, receives an emergency call and must leave for the hospital.

After his departure Lauren wraps herself around Julian Zentner, “tall and delicately boned, with blue-black ringlets worn long enough to curl on his graceful neck” and costumed us Narcissus. The 19 year old former art student is looking for a patron to help him establish an art gallery.

In her studio Joanne and Zack’s 14, almost 15, year old daughter, Taylor, has been painting a portrait of Julian called BlueBoy21, her take on the famed Gainsborough painting. Julian has made regular visits to the condo to pose for the painting which, together with another painting Two Artists, will be auctioned for charity. Taylor has refused to let Zack and Joanne see BlueBoy21.

At the auction Joanne and Zack are stunned when they see BlueBoy21 is a full frontal painting of a nude Julian. The painting instantly brings back memories to Joanne of the mural Taylor’s mother, Sally Love, had painted 11 years earlier that was filled with images of the penises and vaginas of men and women who had been Sally’s lovers. (More details of Sally’s life and art are in my review of Murderin the Mendel, the second book in the series.) BlueBoy21 creates a sensation which is heightened by the identity of the purchaser.

It is clear to all that Taylor and Julian are developing a romantic relationship. While never the parent of a daughter I can empathsize with the dread within Joanne and Zack as they contemplate their 14 year old daughter with a 19 year old boyfriend.

Julian presses that Taylor needs their relationship to produce great art. It is too close for Joanne to Sally Love who, when she was a 14 year old, had a 45 year old lover and proclaimed sex had inspired her art.

Family issues are occupying Joanne’s daughter, Mieka, who has been living with Riel Delorme. There are major tensions in their relationship as Riel deals with personal demons.

Outside the family Joanne is keeping busy in retirement helping her husband, Zack, who has taken leave from his law firm to be the CEO of the Racette-Hunter Centre, a large community building, that is to be the focal point of a huge redevelopment project in the North Central district of Regina, best known in Canada as the most dangerous neighbourhood in the country. Construction of the Centre is progressing well under Zack’s guidance.

Meetings involving the Centre are begun with a prayer from an Indian elder:

            Great Spirit – Grant us strength and dignity to walk a

            new trail.

The book portrays a vivid picture of life in Regina. Our province has yet to handle well the relationships between a large urban, disproportionately poor, indigeneous population and the majority white residents.

Frustrations with municipal politicians have Zack considering a candidacy for mayor of Regina. Knowing his wilder younger days will become public fodder Joanne cautions Zack about running for office. He replies “I have committed many sins but no crimes” to which Joanne responds “There’s a campaign slogan with traction”.

As friends and family move on and the R-H Centre rises from the muck a murder occurs and Zack is back to being a defence lawyer as much as the Centre CEO.

The book flows beautifully as Joanne deals with family and murder while sharing joyful times with her granddaughters, Lena and Madeline.

It is a book to be savoured. Set yourself time for reading. I read it in just over a day eager to know what would happen in the book. My next post will be Q & A with Gail. The Gifted will be the 4th book of 13 I plan to read for the 7th Canadian Book Challenge. (Oct. 2/13)

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Bowen, Gail – 2011 Questions and Answers with Gail; 2011 Suggestions for Gail on losing court cases; The author's website is http://www.gailbowen.com/ - (2011) Deadly Appearances; (2013) Murder at the Mendel; The Wandering Soul Murders (Not reviewed); A Colder Kind of Death (Not reviewed); A Killing Spring (Not reviewed); Verdict in Blood (Not reviewed); (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2012) - "B" is for Gail Bowen; (2012) - Kaleidoscope and Q & A on Kaleidoscope;  

“Y” is for The Shaman’s Knife by Scott Young

“Y” is for The Shaman’s Knife by Scott Young (1993) – The second Matteesie Kitologitak mystery is a brilliant trip into the far North of Canada.

Matteesie has just arrived home in Ottawa from a trip to Labrador when he receives a call that a double murder has taken place in Sanirarsipaaq and his 90 year old mother, Bessie Apakaq, has been injured. She has been medivacked to Yellowknife.

On the difference in surnames Matteesie explains:

The Inuit system of more or less picking our own surnames baffles some people, especially the whites, but it’s one of our traditional ways that we’ve been able to hang onto. It’s not based on patronymics, like in Russia, or matronymics, if that’s a word, but simply allows the individual to take the name he or she wishes.

It is one of but many lovely little examples of Inuit life.

As Matteesie finishes the call advising he is on his way to Yellowknife his wife, Lois, overhears the conversation and makes a rude remark about “the bloody North” not realizing the trip is to go to his stricken mother and then fly to Sanirarsipaaq to investigate the murders. It is a painfully awkward moment when Lois learns about her mother-in-law being injured, a woman she met early in their 20 years of marriage and has not seen again. Matteesie says Lois “apparently didn’t really warm to a toothless old Inuit woman with a tattooed face and only one eye”.

In the North, Aunt Bessie is a much loved woman who loves to travel from one family group to another, the nomadic spirit still strong in her.

On arrival in Yellowknife Matteesie finds his mother gravely injured but stable. She had been knocked aside by the killer fleeing the house in which the murders were committed.

Matteesie receives long distance comfort from Maxine, the Inuit woman with whom he has had an affair almost as long as he has been married.

Matteesie finds himself content to continue both relationships.

After Bessie stabilizes he travels to Sanirarsipaaq on the Arctic coast. The case gains widespread publicity when there is a suggestion that there are shamanistic aspects to the murders.

Even though it is officially spring in southern Canada it is still winter in the Arctic. For a snowmobile trip out of town he readies himself in case the weather changes:

Most of my heavy-duty cold wear had flown with me from Labrador last Monday. The rest I’d borrowed from Bouvier. I had on a thermal shirt next to my skin, down vest, pants of caribou hide with rubber bottoms, winter parka, fur hat and googles …..

Northerners learn to respect the weather.

Once in the small Arctic community he returns to the life of his youth where the residents make their living from the land hunting and trapping.

Comfortably settled into the local hotel Matteesie commences his investigation with the aid of Corporal Bouvier.

The deceased, a young man and his mother, have been brutally knifed to death. There is blood everywhere.

Forensic examination shows several types of footprints – some in the blood and some prior to the killings. I could not help but think they needed Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte to help them study the footprints.

Matteesie is a dogged investigator. He neither has brilliant deductions or swift insights into the evidence. He carefully proceeds with assembling the evidence.

He considers the local shaman, Jonassie Oquataq, a famed Inuit carver and sculptor. Matteesie thinks of the role shamans have traditionally taken in the North.

As the investigation proceeds the reader is fully taken into the life of an Inuit village far above the Arctic Circle.

There is little doubt about the killer but can Matteesie build a case?

The Shaman’s Knife is an excellent book. I was left regretful at the end that Scott Young wrote no further mysteries featuring Matteesie and the people of northern Canada. It would have been a memorable series. (Sept. 24/13)

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Last year my entry for “Y” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog Mysteries in Paradise also featured Scott Young in the following posts:
 
(2012) - Murder in a Cold Climate;  (2012) - "Y" is for Scott Young; (2012) - Traditional Outdoor Journeys in Cime Fiction

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My connection to the book comes from its setting in Canada and the author being a Canadian. My next post will contain some further observations on life focusing on modern travel in the North.

Batoche and The Third Riel Conspiracy

I think it is fitting that my 500th post on this blog is about Saskatchewan. Batoche is my favourite historic place in Saskatchewan.

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault, which I reviewed in my last post, is focused on the major battle of the Riel Rebellion at Batoche in 1885. Batoche was at the heart of the Metis community in the Northwest Territories of that time. (In 1905 the province of Saskatchewan was created out of territory that included Batoche.)

The Metis settlement around Batoche had grown up in the 1860’s and 1870’s. The settlers created long narrow farms moving away from the Saskatchewan River in the style of early Quebec farms. The Metis of that era were great hunters and annually went south for buffalo until the buffalo were almost exterminated.

The Metis people were the descendants of intermarriage between French fur traders and the Indian inhabitants of the prairies.

A variety of grievances, including the fear their farms would not be recognized by the Government of Canada because they did not conform with the grid being surveyed, caused the Metis, led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont to rise in revolt.

The Rebellion did not last long mainly because the Metis political leader, Riel, would not allow their military leader, Dumont, to fight when and how Dumont wanted to take on Canada.

The founder of Melfort, Reginald Beatty, had just homesteaded in 1884 in the area that would become Melfort. During the Rebellion he was a scout for the Canadian forces and a negotiator persuading Indian communities not to join in the Rebellion.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is excellent at describing Batoche and the surrounding area. It is a beautiful spot on a bend in the South Saskatchewan River.

The site is almost unchanged in the past 128 years. There is no development around the site. To travel there is to go back in time.

The church and rectory have remained intact with some bullet holes in the rectory to mark its role in the battle.

The photograph above shows the view from the cemetery on the riverbank looking towards the church and rectory.

I first visited the site 45 years ago. My father had a keen interest in 

An aerial view showing the Saskatchewan River in the background

Western Canadian history and knew men who had participated in the Rebellion.

Over the years I have made many visits to Batoche with my family and visitors to our area. Each visitor has said going to Batoche made history come alive for them.

In 1985 my Dad and I attended the centennial celebration of the battle. At the official event the Red Cross donated the flag flown by that organization during the battle. It was the first time the Red Cross had raised their iconic flag on a battleground.

I am glad that Legault set his second book in the Durrant Wallace series at Batoche. Every NWMP of that time had some participation in the Rebellion.

For any reader crossing central Saskatchewan in the summer a trip to the National Historic Site of Batoche will be a worthwhile stop.

While a place of battle and death it is now a serene site. I feel a sense of peace whenever I visit Batoche.

"T" is for The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault - It is 1885 in Western Canada when the Riel Rebellion, equally referred to as the Northwest Rebellion is under way in the heart of what is now Saskatchewan and then was part of the Northwest Territories.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is my entry for "T" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise.

NWMP (Northwest Mounted Police which is the original name of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Sargeant, Durrant Wallace, is on duty in Calgary.

He has just returned to duty after losing part of a leg and having a hand severely injured.

 Despite his physical restrictions Durrant is eager to participate in the Rebellion and feels stuck in Calgary, a boomtown of tents and new buildings, growing rapidly on the prairie. When the forces advancing on Batoche, the small community on the South Saskatchewan River at the centre of the Rebellion, are ambushed his superior sends Durrant a wire to come to help the Canadian forces.

The headstrong Durrant ignores a further wire saying he need not leave Calgary.

By the time he arrives at Batoche the final battle is over and the Metis forces have been routed. In the midst of that battle a Regina teamster, Reuben Wake, has been murdered in the zareba where the Canadian forces are camped. 

A captured Metis fighter, Terrence La Biche, has been arrested for the murder. He had in his coat pocket the Colt revolver used to shoot Wake.
 While Sub-inspector Dickenson is content to close the investigation Durrant finds the accusation implausible and starts an investigation. 

Thought it is a time when forensic science is very limited and there is not a lab in the territory Durrant applies the science of the day to the investigation.

Mainly he explores the lives of those involved and, in so doing, sets out the history of Western Canada that led up to the Rebellion. In my next post I will go into some of the history and my personal connections with Batoche. For those readers unacquainted with Canada it will provide a basic understanding of our past.

What is striking is how the investigation takes Durrant over a significant part of what is now Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta and northern Montana.

Participating with him is a young woman, Charlene Louise Mason, separated from an abusive husband. Their relationship feels more modern than late 19th Century.

The conspiracies are more plausible than the usual fictional conspiracies.

It is an interesting book. I liked the plot which deals with a time and place with which I am very familiar. The mystery is capably set up. At the same time the dialogue did not capture me. There was too much of the characters' personality and appearance in their actions and role in the plot. Wake is such a dark character it is hard to imagine how he could have survived in the real world. I wanted the book to be better because of its subject and location. In the end, I found it an average book. It is worth reading. I intend to read another Wallace mystery to see if the other book in the series is beyond average.

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My connection with the book comes from its location in Batoche which is about 120 km from Melfort and is my favourite historic spot in Saskatchewan.

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The Third Riel Conspiracy is the 2nd book of 13 I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog.

Q & A with Robert Rotenberg on Stranglehold

My last post was a review of Stranglehold, the new book by Robert Rotenberg. I appreciate Anneliese Grosfield  at Simon & Schuster providing me with a copy. I thought it an excellent book. I wrote Robert a letter with some questions that with Anneliese’s assistance I was able to get answered from me. My questions and Robert's answers in bold are below.

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To: Robert
 

I have enjoyed reading Stranglehold and will be posting a review on my blog Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan next week.
 

I have appreciated past email exchanges and would like to ask you a few questions:

 

            1.) In the book DiPaulo has a sign in his office 

            from Anatomy of a Murder:

A trial was after all a savage and primitive battle for

survival itself.

Do you also view Canadian criminal trials as bloody combat? In my experience in Saskatchewan criminal trials they can be intense but I would not characterize them as “savage”. While sometimes “primitive” I think most trials involve sophisticated work by the lawyers;

 

Savage might sound a bit extreme, but it is the perfect quote. (Hint, I used it at the front of my second novel, "The Guilty Plea," which in some ways was an homage to that novel and great film.)

 

But I do it is true. When we strip back all our civility in Canadian courts (and thank goodness for that civility) the core of what we are dealing with are the most basic…savage…of emotions. How else can you describe someone shooting, stabbing, or strangling another human being. (And thank goodness they do, or how would I make a living as a lawyer or a writer!)

 

2.) When Ari Greene reflects on the murder he thinks there is something about the murder scene that has been arranged to set him up for the murder. He is already suspicious over the timing of the 911 call. I do not recall reading about anything being done in the room to compromise him. Was there something I missed suggesting he was set up beyond the timing of the phone call?

 

I just emailed Ari a copy of your email. He's tough to get a hold of. So if you don't hear back from him about this, don't be offended. Half the time he never returns my calls either!

 

3.) Has it become perilous to be the Head Crown Prosecutor in your books with Ralphie Armitage going to jail and Raglan being murdered? Or is it perhaps a defence counsel author exacting a subtle revenge upon the Crown?

 

Crowns have a good life. No client calls in the middle of the night. Paid vacation. Pensions. Sick days. (I haven't had a sick day or a paid vacation ever.) So if one gets killed and another ends up in jail, I say: "suck it up."  

 

4.) The book has an interesting bail hearing but no preliminary inquiry. Have you decided to avoid prelims in your books? If so, I would be interested in knowing why the prelim, often held in most major criminal proceedings, is not in the books.

 

I try to switch things around. If I wrote a book with a bail hearing, a preliminary inquiry, a trial, an appeal, another appeal to the Supreme Court, a retrial…well you get the idea. Damn boring. 

 

Indeed, in "Old City Hall" the prelminary hearing is about to take place.

 

But the bottom line is a "prelim" as we call them is usually deadly dull. A judge once told me it was like baby-sitting a sleeping child.  

 

5.) On some websites it is now the Ari Greene series. How did that happen? I still think of it as a unique series with equally powerful police and lawyers.

 

Thanks. I agree. This is a marketing thing I guess that I have no control over. Note, none of the books use this phrase.

 

I have never thought of this as an "Ari Greene Series." I'd say for example, that the third novel "Stray Bullets" is really Nancy Parish's book. 

 

I've always been interested in writing about a whole cast of characters. In fact, Ari kind of appeared on the scene a bit by accident in Book One, "Old City Hall" and just kept hanging around.

 

But I do see him as the moral centre of the series. And knowing Ari as well as I do, I'm sure he wouldn't want his name on it. That's for sure. 

 

6.) There were issues raised in the story that received little attention during the book but were featured in the resolution. As an example, there was a letter received by Greene but never acted upon him. Were there subplots cut from the book?

 

Afraid I can't agree with you that Greene never acted on the letter. I think that's the whole point of how he handled himself. And the novel.

 

Beyond that I'd rather not say. I think it's pretentious when authors talk about the deeper meaning or real themes of their books. 

 

Suggestion: re-read the letter again. Then perhaps re-read the last chapter.

 

As for the plot and subplot. In this book they are extremely complicated. (That seems to be my way.). But in the end, I think they all fit together. That's the struggle of writing and the real fun of making it work. 

 

Thank you for considering my questions.

 

Best wishes.

 

Bill Selnes

 

Thank you. You are a very careful and interested reader.

 

Hey, get me invited to a literary festival out there some time.

 

Best and a safe summer.

 

Bobby

 

On Thursday I will have a post with Thoughts on the Q & A.

 

 

“R” is for Robert Rotenberg’s book Stranglehold

Stranglehold  by Robert Rotenberg – I consider Stranglehold, the fourth book in Rotenberg’s series featuring Toronto lawyers and police, the best in the series. Where earlier books had given the defence almost impossible facts to defend, Stranglehold has more complex balanced evidence.

As the book opens Toronto homicide detective, Ari Greene is on his way by scooter to meet Head Crown attorney, Jennifer Raglan. Each of them has been taking Monday mornings off to meet and love at one of the cheap motels on Kingston Road in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. They have resumed their affair with a level of secrecy, disguises and codes, which espionage agencies would admire for their spy craft.

Raglan, the organizer, choses and reserves the motel. She brings along mood music (Oscar Peterson), champagne, candles and fine pillow cases to bring some romance to the tawdry locations of their assignations.

When Greene enters the room to find Raglan strangled to death I was shocked. Raglan had been a strong character in earlier books. Few authors have an important continuing character slain.

A stunned Greene has his cell phone out to call 911 when he hears someone outside the room and tries, unsuccessfully, to catch who was there. About to call in the murder he hears sirens. Someone else has already called the police.

Greene, normally the most rational of men, neither stays nor calls a member of the homicide department. Assuming her husband has killed her, called 911 and is suicidal he decides to search the neighbourhood for the husband.

The story had grabbed me. I wanted to shout to him to stop. Call a defence lawyer. You need objective advice. Instead, he undertakes a fruitless search.

Both decisions, leaving the scene and then not calling a fellow police officer, were bad ideas which were compounded when he did not tell Daniel Kennicott, his protégé and the newest homicide detective, and lead on this murder, later that day what had happened.

I thought of the complications in Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow when prosecutor, Rusty Sabich, disastrously conceals his affair with the murdered Carolyn Polhemus from fellow prosecutors.

The next day Greene does wisely retain Ted DiPaulo. He tells DiPaulo what happened. By receiving a retainer DiPaulo, under the rules of solicitor – client privilege cannot tell anyone what Greene has told him, but Greene can waive the privilege so there is a record of him telling a figure in authority shortly after the murder what happened.

Readers of this post who want to keep their knowledge of the plot to a minimum should read no further. I am not including spoilers but there may be more information than you would want about the story.

Be further warned the book itself contains a spoiler advising what happened in an earlier book of the series.

As you would expect Greene’s efforts to keep secret the affair and his presence at the crime scene fail and he is charged with murder.

Brought back to Toronto to prosecute the case is Angela Kreitinger, a recovering alcoholic. While she has stopped drinking Kreitinger is popping Percocets to deal with a chronically aching back. Anxious to remain in Toronto Kreitinger is eager to prosecute the high profile case.

As with his other fictional trials Rotenberg creates another real life trial. The witnesses are plausible. The lawyers find the weaknesses in their evidence. Physical evidence, videos and reconstructions are used in the presentation.

While I foresaw the real killer I did not pick up on the key pieces of evidence for the trial until they were revealed.

I raced through the book. The pace of the story is excellent. Rotenberg is writing wonderful mysteries. I expect Stranglehold to be a strong contender for Bill’s Best of 2013 Fiction.

The series is strongly established with interesting characters who have credible flaws. Not many “good guy” sleuths engage in affairs with married women. Greene is a good man, not a perfect man.

Characters do remind us of real people. The image I have of exhuberant beefy police chief, Hap Charlton, running to be mayor the city is that of the current actual mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. I doubt Hap’s physique, personality and political views were accidentally similar to Mayor Ford.

You will stay up reading Stranglehold. (July 14/13)

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Robert Rotenberg is a double “R” as my post for this week for “R” in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. My connections to the book and author are multiple – as a lawyer, as a Canadian and as someone who has lots of family residing in Toronto. I can see many of the locations while I read Robert's books. My next post will feature some Q & A with Robert.

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Stranglehold will be the first book I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog.