Law Matters in What's Past is Prologue

What’s Past is Prologue by Gail Bowen revolves around a prominent Toronto lawyer, Libby Hogarth, who grew up in Saskatchewan. The book deals with numerous legal issues. Several caught my attention.

Hogarth is spoken of reaching the top tier of Canadian lawyers. I had the impression “the top tier” meant Toronto lawyers. While perception, fed by major Canadian media concentrated in Toronto, would create such an impression I disagree it is accurate. There are “top tier” lawyers across Canada. I do acknowledge that when I represented infected hemophiliacs and blood transfused at the Royal Commission into the Canadian Blood System in the 1990’s I had some trepidation on how I would fare with Toronto lawyers. I should not have been surprised that I found some to be exceptional, some to be good, some not better than average. I was able to be effective. There was no reason to have insecurity because I was from Saskatchewan.

As set out in my review, a link is below, Hogarth had a significant discussion with Eden Sass on recanting her testimony at the Delio trial. Later she had a conversation with Joanne and Zack that “the focus should be just on getting Eden to pull back on her plan to recant”.

In real life Hogarth should neither have spoken with Sass about recanting nor discussed with Joanne and Zack not recanting. She should have simply referred her to Zack for advice. She was acting contrary to the interests of her former client. 

She is concerned over Sass damaging her reputation and even facing criminal consequences by recanting. In the thorny world of law and sexual assault what is the responsibility to encourage truth. Delio’s reputation, despite acquittal, has been savaged. Is there not a benefit to the community if the truth that a woman made a false accusation comes forth?

There is concern her reputation will be sullied if she recants and tells the truth. I did not see a comparable discussion about the accused’s reputation. Sass is concerned about Delio not wanting to live.

Canada is wrestling with the consequences from a General in the armed forces being acquitted of sexual assault and then in a civil proceeding the accusations were ruled unfounded on balance of probabilities.

There is reference to a fictional Saskatchewan lawyer who “died the death trial lawyers dream of; a massive heart attack seconds after the jury comes in with a not guilty verdict for their client”.

I state categorically it is no dream of mine to die in the courtroom.

In real life, a few years before I started my career, a Saskatchewan lawyer, J.G. Crepeau, died in a Prince Albert courtroom. 

Some years ago one of my associates was dismayed when a witness he was questioning fainted.

Taylor, Joanne’s daughter discusses when a painting is done:

“.... With every painting, there comes a moment when you have to say, This is the best I can do. It’s time to walk away and let other eyes see what I hope they will see. Thank you for being here at that moment for me.” 

Crafting a written legal argument comes with such a moment. The challenge is in realizing the moment as you are caught up in trying to make the argument perfect. A few drafts are useful but endless drafts dilute the argument. I see the moment has come when the narrative is clear and the argument flows.

Gideon Sass is a loud aggressive 62 year old lawyer derisively referred to by Zack as an “ambulance chaser”. He is notorious for starting class actions. His two sons are lawyers and one is disbarred. There is a legal family who could have inspired the character and his sons.

I would be happy if every Joanne Kilbourn book concentrated on the lawyers in her life.

****

** Bowen, Gail – (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; (2011) - Deadly Appearances; (2012) - Kaleidoscope; (2013) - Murder at the Mendel; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind and Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction; (2017) - The Winners' Circle; (2018) - Sleuth - Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries / Gail the Grand Master - (Part I) and (Part II); (2018) - A Darkness of the Heart and Email Exchange with Gail on ADOH; (2020) - The Unlocking Season; (2021) - An Image in the Lake and The Fourth "F" is Forgiveness; (2023) - What's Past is Prologue  

What’s Past is Prologue by Gail Bowen

(6. - 1145.) What’s Past is Prologue by Gail Bowen - I was excited that the 21st Joanne Kilbourn book is
focused on lawyers and legal issues.

Libby Hogarth successfully defended Jared Delio against criminal charges of sexual assault by three women. Hogarth grew up and was educated in Saskatchewan The complainants had connections with Saskatchewan. The trial was in Toronto. She demonstrated in cross-examination the weaknesses in their evidence and Delio was acquitted.

The character of Hogarth is clearly patterned on Marie Heinen who successfully defended Jhian Ghomesi on charges of sexual assault in Toronto. There were three complainants in the real life case. By chance I am currently reading a memoir by Ms. Heinen.

Untrue “lurid stories” are spread after the trial “about what Hogarth did to get ahead and stay ahead”.

Hogarth and Zack Shreve, Joanne Kilbourn’s husband, articled, a few years apart, for the same lawyer after graduating from law school. They remained friends.

Three years after the Delio trial Hogarth is coming to Regina to give the Mellohawk lecture called “Abracadebra” on creating “a community that understands that rape is an act of violence, that no means no and that a man doesn’t have to prove his masculinity by forcing himself on a woman”.

Since the lecture was announced Hogarth has been receiving weekly a threatening anonymous email from Amicus Curiae (friend of the court):

I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! 

Hogarth comes to see Zack as one of the complainants, Eden Sass, in the Delio case has called Hogarth wanting to recant her evidence and say she lied at the trial. Hogarth, Zack and Joanne discuss ways to convince Sass not to recant. The conversation made me uncomfortable as I will discuss in a further post.

That evening, New Year’s Day, Zack and Joanne celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary at a lovely dinner party. The table is decorated with glass pots of newly planted wheat which is several centimetres high. The pots are so unique and cleverly Saskatchewan.

Eden and Seth Wright, the brother of Zack’s former partner Margot Wright Hunter, are examples of “outsiders, children who never felt they were truly a part of the family they were born into”. Kevin Coyle, a friend of Joanne, speaks of the consequences by referring to a study called The Long Reach of Childhood.

The title of the study resonated with me. In What’s Past is Prologue the phrase refers to adults whose childhoods were isolating. It equally applies to happy childhoods. Whether positive or negative, childhood reaches out through our whole lives.

Earlier books in the series have also explored the consequences of childhood. Joanne and her best friend, Sally Love, had difficult experiences that extended into their adult lives.

Taylor entered the series, coming to live with Joanee, after her parents were murdered.

Joanne’s children endured the violent death of their father.

Bowen powerfully states they are  “… defining moments in life, the moments that last only a second but determine the course of forever”.

After reading the passage I was lost in memories of such moments in my lifetime. More are painful than are joyful.

I was not ready when murder occurred. I had been caught up in the lives of the characters. As with the best books in the series there need not have been a murder to keep me absorbed.

What’s Past is Prologue is an excellent book. Of course, I am biased. Any book with Saskatchewan lawyers among the primary characters is bound to win my approval. I appreciate the original motto of Zack’s firm:

“A Reasonable Doubt for a Reasonable Price”

Gail Bowen has reached a personal milestone in that she is now 80. Some years ago in an email exchange she said she was not sure how long she would continue the series. I said P.D. James wrote mysteries into her 90’s. I am optimistic we can look forward to at least another decade of Joanne Kilbourn mysteries.

****

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; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A and Comparing with How the Light Gets In; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind and Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction; (2017) - The Winners' Circle; (2018) - Sleuth - Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries / Gail the Grand Master - Part I and Part II; (2018) - A Darkness of the Heart and Email Exchange on ADOH; (2020) - The Unlocking Season; (2021) - An Image in the Lake and The Fourth "F" is Forgiveness 

Do Mystery Fiction Sleuths Watch T.V.? (No. 2)

In my last post, a link is below, I discussed some stats from the last 25 mysteries I have read. I mentioned that one of the stats involved the question of whether sleuths watch T.V. I decided to put the
question to Saskatchewan mystery fiction writer, Tony Bidulka, in the form of a letter and seek his comments. I sent the letter, which is below, to Tony recently. He advised me that he is busy right now. If he is able to respond in the future I shall put his reply in a post.

****

Dear Tony,

Over the years I have felt few crime fiction sleuths were T.V. watchers. I decided to check out my hypothesis. 

Of the last 25 mystery books I have read there were 5 that were set before television was invented or at least not commercially available.

Of the 20 in the T.V. era which is already fading, unless you include watching the computer, there were 13 sleuths, 65%, who never watched T.V. I actually expected the percentage to be higher.

A striking stat was that of the 7 sleuths who watched T.V.  6 were Canadian. The one non-Canadian sleuth to watch T.V. was an American indigenous sleuth.

My list contained 10 Canadian sleuths meaning 60% of the Canadian sleuths watched T.V. 

My original expectation was born out with American sleuths. Of the 10 sleuths who were American only one watched television.

The 7 sleuthing T.V. watchers:

1.) Two watched Netflix;

2.) One watched delayed programing in Newfoundland in 1975 on one channel; 

3.) One sleuth and her husband enjoy Scandinavian crime series; 

4.) Two watched some T.V. but the programs were not noted; and,

5.) One watched some network news and old movies.

I do not recall Jake Hardy, your sleuth in Going to Beautiful, watching T.V. though Jake and his husband, Eddie Kravets, were very successful as reality T.V. stars. Please correct me if I was wrong in putting him in the non-watcher category. I do not recall whether Russell Quant watched T.V. 

Virtually everyone I know watches T.V. I watch a lot of sports. I do not watch much other T.V. programming as few shows interest me. 

I would appreciate knowing if you and/or Herb personally watch T.V.

I have no profound insight into why fictional sleuths outside Canada rarely watch T.V.

I do think many American sleuths are so obsessed with their investigations that they have little to no free time. 

Equally I think most authors do not consider whether their sleuths watch T.V. Sleuth free time is not a priority. I just realized I am not sure how many sleuths are readers. I will keep track of sleuth reading in my next 25 mysteries.

If you have any thoughts on fictional sleuths and T.V. watching, whether in the context of your books or more generally, please let me know.

I will be posting this letter and any reply from yourself in a couple of days.

All the best.

Bill

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Bill's Mystery Fiction Stats (No. 1)

Bill's Mystery Fiction Stats (No. 1)

I have kept stats from my last 25 crime fiction reads. Most were fairly routine such as  noting genders of authors and sleuths. One stat was unusual. I kept track of how many sleuths watched television. My next post will discuss that stat. 

I was inspired by fellow blogger Margot Kinberg who currently blogs at https://margot-kin-berg.com/blog-2/. Occasionally, though not recently, she has posted stats using vividly coloured pie charts. I always found it interesting where the stats took her. I am not much for charts so my stats will remain written.

My sample size was small though it will expand. I plan to update my stats every 25 mysteries I read. I make a distinction between thrillers and crime fiction. To be considered a mystery I require there be a sleuth or sleuths solving a crime or crimes. 

I excluded two books from my 25. I considered Finale by Ian Hamilton and City on Fire by Don Winslow to be thrillers. Each certainly qualified as crime fiction but neither had a sleuth investigating a crime. Having but 2 thrillers reminds me that few current thrillers appeal to me.

The 25 which qualified are not carefully chosen mysteries beyond being skewed by 10 of the books being written by Canadians. (I included Kathy Reichs as a Canadian as she has split time between Canada and the U.S.) Within the Canadian books are the shortlist for the Best Canadian Set Novel Award, one of the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. Overall I read books that I think I will enjoy.

I was surprised that of the 15 mysteries by non-Canadians there were 13 by American authors, 1 Japanese and 1 Spanish. None were by British, Australian and New Zealand authors. On reflection I think the heavy concentration on Canadian and American authors reflects the books I can find in bookstores especially Saskatchewan. I expect to be ordering more diverse authors going forward though not from Amazon. I prefer to support companies that have physical bookstores as well as online ordering.

The other stats I kept track of were:

1.) Authors - 12 female and 13 male;

2.) Sleuths - 12 women and 16 male (there were 3 teams of two with 2 teams having a male and female and the other with 2 males);

3.) Settings -  9 in Canada, 9 in the U.S., 1 in Italy, 1 in Japan, 1 in India, 1 in England, 1 in Spain, 1 in Ireland and 1 in Germany; and,

4.) Victims - 16 female and 27 male (I made an arbitrary decision to exclude 14 killed in one book after the 2 murders prompting the case. Though more thriller than mystery there was a sleuth in the book. In all the books I did not count any deaths that were part of the resolution of the plot.)

Beyond trying to read more authors from outside Canada and the U.S. I am content with my reading approach.

A Letter to Roseanne Montillo on Deliberate Cruelty

A few weeks ago I posted a review of Deliberate Cruelty by Rosanne Montillo. I subsequently wrote a letter to Ms. Montillo about the book. The letter may have more information then some readers would like before reading the book. I sent a copy of the letter to her. Should she reply I will post her response.

****

Dear Roseanne,

I enjoyed reading Deliberate Cruelty. I was not familiar with the story.

A link to a copy of my review is at the end of this letter. 

As I read about Ann’s dysfunctional, abusive, at times violent marriage to Billy Woodward, I thought the threat of a divorce exposing her past was not a credible motive for murder.

Her friends in society knew she was a showgirl from the interior of America.

Divorce, messy or amicable, was not uncommon in her social set.

Her mother-in-law, Elsie, would have been ecstatic, if she ever allowed herself to be in such a state, at having her son freed from Ann. As well, I am sure Elsie would have restrained her son from an expose of Ann to avoid a public scandal for the family.

I was more surprised that Ann did not follow the example of other women of her era such as Babe Paley of divorcing a well-to-do first husband to move on to an even wealthier second husband. 

It could not have been because of insecurities that she could not get another husband. She knew she remained attractive. Her affair with Lord William Astor confirmed her continuing ability to beguile men. At 40 had she taken the $2 million previously offered by Elsie and Billy and moved on I consider it a certainty she could have been a “trophy” wife for an older man a generation before the term was in vogue.

Was love enough to keep them together? I accept they continued to care for each other but love does not seem enough to me. However, that she loved him is another reason I do not think Ann murdered Billy.

I believe she recklessly fired her shotgun into the dark with a mind disordered by alcohol, drugs and dread over the prowler. I thought the earlier references to her frightening fellow tiger hunters and servants on the India hunt by her careless handling of guns were important.

I understand the grand jury not indicting her for murder but wonder if the District Attorney put before them lesser charges involving manslaughter or dangerous use of a firearm. Do you know if they were presented with alternative charges?

Elsie was right not to want a trial. Whether intuitively or through information from the police or lawyers she rightly sensed that a trial could have become a circus focused on Billy’s life.

In Canada during World War I a young servant woman, Carrie Davis, shot and killed her employer, Bert Massey. He was a member of one of Canada’s most distinguished families. At trial defence counsel for Davis destroyed the reputation of Massey making Davis the victim who was defending her honour. While Ann could hardly have pleaded she was an innocent, her counsel could certainly have pilloried Billy. (A link to my reviews of a book on the Canadian case are below.)

I did not see in the book whether you thought Ann murdered Billy. Could you share your opinion?

While reading the book I thought of Ty Cobb, the famous early 20th Century ballplayer. In 1905 his mother, Amanda Cobb, shot and killed his father, William Herschel Cobb, with a pistol. (It is a myth it was a shotgun as set out below.) It was night and his father was on the porch roof outside the second storey bedroom window checking to see if his wife was being unfaithful to him. She said she thought he was an intruder. She was charged with voluntary manslaughter and acquitted at trial. Might you be aware of the Cobb story? 

With regard to Truman Capote I thought her crude comments on his sexuality and appearance were “reckless cruelty” that reflected a pattern of impulsive behaviour.

On the other hand, Truman was deliberately cruel.

Few in the world, if any, have not engaged in “reckless cruelty” or “deliberate cruelty”. Those with a conscience will regret their words and actions. 

I saw in the book Ann did not remember her slights towards Truman. At the same time I did not see if she ever apologized to anyone for her mean remarks about Truman. Certainly Truman had no remorse.

To me Truman’s verbal viciousness reflected a facade of empathy towards his “swans”. Do you think in his mind he actually cared about them?

I plan to post this letter in a few days. If you are willing to reply I would post your reply as part of that post or in a subsequent post if I have already put up this letter.

I hope you will continue to write non-fiction.

All the best.

Bill Selnes

****

http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2022/12/deliberate-cruelty-by-roseanne-montillo.html

Charlotte Gray - (2020) - The Massey Murder - A Maid, Her Master and the Murder That Shocked a Country and Comparing a Poor Woman with a Wealthy Young Woman Facing Murder Charges Early in the 20th Century

On the Cobb killing an article, The Georgia Peach: Stumped by the Storyteller, published by the Society for American Baseball Research sets out how a legend was created concerning the claim a shotgun was used. A link is:

https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-georgia-peach-stumped-by-the-storyteller/

Do You Believe in Goodness?

One of the subplots in A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny involves the forming and continuation of relationships by Chief Inspector Armand Gamache with troubled young Surete agents. Having lost his parents as a boy, Gamache can penetrate deeply into their psyches.

Guy Beauvoir was a misfit exiled to wilderness Quebec by the Surete du Quebec until Chief Inspector Armand Gamache rescued him but not by attacking his anger:

What blinded us, he told Beauvoir, were the horrorific acts. They threatened to overwhelm and obscure the decency. It was so easy to remember the cruelty because those left a wound, a scab that hid the rest. But those appalling acts, those appalling people, were the exception.

Ten years later the presence of Reine-Marie and the villagers of Three Pines reassure him:

Every evening Armand Gamache was reminded that goodness existed.

Gamache’s confidence in goodness resonated with me.

A decade after their meeting Beauvoir shares the goodness that supports Gamache. He is married to Annie, the Gamache’s daughter, and has two children.

Amelia Choquet returns to the series in A World of Curiosities. She was another wounded soul rescued by Gamache to become a member of the Surete.

A few years ago she appeared in The Reckoning as a brilliant, very troubled young woman, on and off the streets of Montreal who Gamache, as Commander of the Surete Academy, grants admission. He saw past her tattoos, piercings and studs and gave her a chance.  

Choquet is now an agent. She is impetuous, on the edge or past of contempt towards colleagues and superiors. She instantly offers opinions. She is much like the young Beauvoir. 

Choquet is sly, as well as clever. Asked by Gamache to subtly approach Sam Arseanault (See my previous post where he appears in my review of the book) she clicks her tongue stud against her teeth in Morse code forming “Subtle, c’est moi”. Only Gamache understands.

Lawyers, especially litigators, can be as cynical as police about the world. We see people daily who are entangled in trouble. My day may start with a call about issues over parenting involving parents who only text as they cannot talk with each other. Disclosure on a criminal file may follow the call. Most criminal files I deal with involve some conflicted domestic situation. The day may continue with an estate dispute over whether a sibling unduly influenced a parent in the making of a will.

It would be easy to think the world is filled with bitter people intent on hurting those they are sure have wronged them.

Yet the rest of my day might see me meeting with a young couple signing documents for the purchase of their first home. That appointment might be followed by parents working out the details of the transfer of some farmland to their children. It might conclude with discussion of the terms of settlement of a commercial dispute in swhich both sides have shown some flexibility after starting with rigid positions.

Beyond work days that involve a mix of the best and worst of human nature I, as with Gamache, have the goodness of family and community in the evening.

Beauvoir and Annie, the Gamache’s daughter, chose life rather than abortion when they learned Annie was pregnant with a child who would have Down’s Syndrome.

Their daughter Idola brightens their lives:

He bent closer to his daughter, smiling. “Daddy’s big and strong and won’t let anything ever happen to you, right, ma belle Idola, Idola, Idola.”

As Idola’s father held her flat, saucer-like eyes, she laughed, With abandon.

She was so like her mother that way. A light and easy heart.

Gamache and Reine Marie love and cherish Idola.

What neither Gamache nor the other police in the Three Pines mysteries have is faith. I find being a Catholic sustains me in tough times and gives me hope for the future.

A spiritual life involves faith. You cannot be a cynic if you have faith.

On a lovely spring day Beauvoir reflects on goodness:

But now, as the sun rose higher and the scent of lilac filled the air Juan-Guy looked around at the peaceful village and began to see that maybe the belief in goodness wasn’t a blind spot. It was a bright spot.

Outside today the sun is shining in a big Saskatchewan sky. The brilliant white snow sparkles. I agree, goodness is a bright spot. 

There is good all around if you are open to goodness.

****

Penny, Louise – (2005) - Still Life; (2006) - Dead Cold (Tied for 3^rd Best fiction of 2006); (2007) - The Cruelest Month; (2009) - The Murder Stone (Tied for 4th Best fiction of 2009); (2010) - The Brutal Telling; (2011) - Bury Your Dead (Best Fiction of 2011); (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; (2013) - How the Light Gets In; (2014) - The Long Way Home; (2014) - The Armand Gamache Series after 10 Mysteries - Part I and Part II; (2015) - The Nature of the Beast (Part I) and The Nature of the Beast (Part II); (2016) - A Great Reckoning - The Academy and Comparisons and The Map; (2016) - Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead Holding Hands; (2017) - Glass Houses - Happiness and Unhappiness and Getting the Law Wrong; (2019) - Kingdom of the Blind and Irreconcilable Dispositions; (2019) - A Better Man; (2020) - All the Devils are Here and Relationship Restaurants in Fiction and Real Life and Reading of the Marais Simultaneously; (2021) - The Madness of Crowds and Responding to Evil and Considering "People"; (2021) - Three Pines - The Amazon Prime Series; (2022) - Season One of Three Pines; (2023) - A World of Curiosities

Sleuth of Baker Street is Closing

Dear Marian and J.D.

Thank you (the collective you) for almost 40 years of book memories. Sleuth of Baker Street “is”, too soon to be “was”, my favourite bookstore in the world.

I started coming to Sleuth shortly after you became the owners. I always enjoyed buying books from the two of you.

I thought it fitting your store was in Leaside because Saskatchewan’s most famous author had lived in the neighbourhood in the late 1940’s. W.O. Mitchell, while he was fiction editor of Maclean’s, resided in one of the fine brick homes amidst the grand trees.

Happy expectations would start on the journey to the store. I am not going to claim I thought a lot about the store on the flights from Saskatchewan to Toronto but I would be scheduling time to visit the store. Once in Toronto there would be time to anticipate the visit whether riding the subway up Yonge to Davisville and the bus over to Bayview or driving in from Mississauga if I was at the home of an aunt.

The second store on Bayview was magical to me with the fine bookcases, the hidden door, the inviting fireplace, the Sherlockian memorabilia, the cats and thousands of mysteries.

You were the first mystery bookstore I visited. The wonder of walking into a store full of mysteries reminded me of my first experience of a library. I was 7 years old attending a one room school, Galabank, a couple of miles from our farm in Saskatchewan. My two Grade 2 classmates and I had exhausted the small book collection in the school by November. Later that winter, 62 years ago, our teacher, Mr. Streeton, took a group of us in the back of his grain truck to the village of Ethelton where a regional library had opened. It was the first time I had ever seen a room filled with books. I was in awe. I was overjoyed when I found I could take home 6 books every two weeks. 

My sons equally loved the store. My older son, Jonathan, has never forgotten the winter day when he was so absorbed in a book while sitting before the fireplaee that he did not notice his running shoes had started smoking.

You were great booksellers. When I walked into the store I knew I would get a friendly greeting.

I would browse the store. I focused on the new books as you had the best selection of new crime fiction.

Invariably I would have some questions about one or more of the books. I would wait until one or both of you were free and get your thoughts. I knew I would receive candid opinions.

I thought your expression of pride J.D., recounted several times in Merchant of Menace, of putting good books in the hands of customers was perfect.

Our family enjoyed your section of Bayview. Sharon loved the antique shops. The restaurants were fun. The boys were delighted at McSorley’s Saloon that they could toss peanut shells on the floor.

I visited most often during the 1990’s when I was often in Toronto on blood litigation and the Kreever Inquiry. Visits were less frequent in the 2000’s once our sons were at the University of Calgary and then became residents of the city.

I always enjoyed the store though the atmosphere was not the same when you moved to Millwood. I understood the commercial reasons for the move.

More recently I bought more books through email than in person. I appreciated the prompt service and your efforts to get books not easily available. I specifically remember your efforts to get a copy of Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe when it did not have a Canadian distributor.

In the current location I felt I had more conversations with Marian. It seemed J.D. was often absorbed in golf. 

It was always a struggle for me to restrain myself in the store. Usually I woud get 5-6 books. If there were no weight restrictions on luggage for flights I would have bought more.

I have put up 6 posts on my blog about the store and a post on Marian winning the Derrick Murdoch Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. This letter will be my 8th post featuring Sleuth.

I never figured out whether I preferred recommendations more from J.D. or from Marian.

There was never any doubt you loved books. 

I continue to value the excitement of holding a new book and opening it to read the first page. The feel of a book is an important part of my reading experience.

I am sad the store is closing. I am not much for change. I would have been glad to keep buying books from you long into the future.

I am happy you are looking forward to retirement. I expect more golf courses and more cottage life await you.

Best wishes for the future.

Bill

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Sleuth of Baker Street and Update on Sleuth and 2012 Trip to Sleuth and Sleuth of Baker Street in Mid-winter of 2015 and Authors at Sleuth and A Quintet from Sleuth and Marian Misters Bookseller and Award Winner in Toronto, Ontario whose website is http://www.sleuthofbakerstreet.ca/