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| vancouver noir book: Vancouver Noir Linda L. Richards, Timothy Taylor, Sheena Kamal, 2018-11-06 This “excellent anthology” of noir fiction set in Canada’s City of Glass features all-new stories by Linda L. Richards, Sam Wiebe, Yasuko Thanh and more (Quill & Quire, starred review). For many people, Vancouver is a city of affluence, athleisure, and craft beer. But if look a little closer at this gentrified paradise, you’ll find the old saying holds true: behind every fortune there’s a crime. Hidden beneath Vancouver’s gleaming glass skyscrapers are shadowy streets where poverty, drugs, and violence rule the day. These fourteen stories of crime and mayhem in the Pacific Northwest offer an entertaining “mix of wily pros, moody misfits, bewildered bystanders, and a touch of the supernatural” (Kirkus). Vancouver Noir features the Arthur Ellis Award-winning story “Terminal City” by Linda L. Richards, and the Arthur Ellis Award-finalist “Wonderful Life” by Sam Wiebe. It also includes entries by Timothy Taylor, Sheena Kamal, Robin Spano, Carleigh Baker, Dietrich Kalteis, Nathan Ripley, Yasuko Thanh, Kristi Charish, Don English, Nick Mamatas, S.G. Wong, and R.M. Greenaway. |
| vancouver noir book: Vancouver Noir, 1930-1960 Diane Purvey, John Douglas Belshaw, 2011 'Vancouver Noir' looks at the period from the 1930s to the 1960s, an era in which there was intensified concern with order, conformity, structure, and restrictions. These are visions of the city, both of what it was and what some of its citizens hoped it would either become, or, conversely, cease to be. The photographs-most of which look like stills from period movies featuring detectives with chiselled features, tough women, and bullet-ridden cars-speak to the styles of the Noir era and tell us something special about the ways in which a city is made and unmade. The authors argue that Noir-era values and perspectives are to be found in the photographic record of the city in this era, specifically in police and newspaper pictures. these photographs document changing values by emphasizing behaviours and sites that were increasingly viewed as deviant by the community's elite. They chart an age of rising moral panics. Public violence, smuggling rings, police corruption, crime waves, the sex trade, and the glamourization of sex in burlesques along and nearby Granville Street's neon alley belonged to an array of public concerns about which the media and political campaigns were repeatedly launched.Purvey and Belshaw's 'Vancouver Noir' resurrects, in eminently readable black and white, the stories, characters, landmarks, images, lexicon and lore of one of this city's truly colourful eras. - James C. Johnstone, Historian...If the thirties was a time of idealism, thepost-war world was one of cynicism. The insistence on social conformity and order provided a stark contrast to a seething underworld-if sometimes only in peoples' imagination. Contradictions abound. As suburban living reflected decency and family values, public concern was expressed about juvenile delinquency. Public (and even private) discussion of sex was generally taboo but the sex trade prospered in brothels and neon signs along Granville Street lit up dens of burlesque, booze and gambling.Ladies and escorts began entering the regulated beer parlours in Vancouver through separate doors in 1927. Thirsty working men crowded these establishments after a hard day's work and it was unseemly for a very long time, for women to mix freely among them. By 1954 cocktail bars were established so middle-class men and women could meet in an acceptable environment. Glamour arrived to the city in the form of supper clubs, emerging in the late 1930s and including big-name American acts like HarryBelafonte, Tony Bennett, Mitzi Gaynor, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. Still segregation, not integration was the cultural norm as visible minorities lived in separate neighborhoods such as Hogan's Alley and Chinatown, 'sin' was confined to a square mile, and police attempted to the activities of drug pedlars and addicts. Attacking the poor and disenfranchised was common. Stanley Park rancheries, float houses under the Burrard Street bridge and other residential 'blights' to the city cameunder regular attack by civic authorities... 'Vancouver Noir' succeeds in exposing what lies beneath, delivering readers a fascinating glimpse of another side of the city.- British Columbia History |
| vancouver noir book: Last of the Independents Sam Wiebe, 2014-08-19 2015 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize — Winner, Mystery • 2015 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Best First Novel — Nominated • Unhanged Arthur Award — Winner, Best Unpublished First Crime Novel What do a necrophile, a missing boy, and an unsavoury P.I. have in common? Private detective Michael Drayton is about to find out.... Twenty-nine-year-old Michael Drayton runs a private investigation agency in Vancouver that specializes in missing persons — only, as Mike has discovered, some missing people stay with you. Still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of a young girl, Mike is hired to find the vanished son of a local junk merchant. However, he quickly discovers that the case has been damaged by a crooked private eye and dismissed by a disinterested justice system. Worse, the only viable lead involves a drug-addicted car thief with gang connections. As the stakes rise, Mike attempts to balance his search for the junk merchant’s son with a more profitable case involving a necrophile and a funeral home, while simultaneously struggling to keep a disreputable psychic from bilking the mother of a missing girl. |
| vancouver noir book: Hell and Gone Sam Wiebe, 2021-10-23 A captivating new thriller in the Wakeland detective series that explores the depths of Vancouver’s criminal underworld. Caught between the grimy and glittering sides of Vancouver’s streets, private investigator Dave Wakeland tries to keep his head down at the elite security firm he owns with partner Jeff Chen. But when masked men and women storm an ordinary-looking office building in Chinatown, leaving a trail of carnage, Wakeland finds himself caught up in a mystery that won’t let him go, as hard as he tries to elude it. The police have a vested interest in finding the shooters, and so does the leader of the Exiles motorcycle gang. Both want Wakeland’s help. The deeper he investigates, the more connections he uncovers: to a reclusive millionaire with ties to organized crime, an international security company with a sinister reputation, and a high-ranking police officer who seems to have a personal connection to the case. When the shooters themselves start turning up dead, Wakeland realizes the only way to guarantee his own safety, and that of the people he loves, is by finding out who hired the shooters and why. What Wakeland uncovers are secrets no one wants known—a botched undercover operation, an ambitious gangster and a double-crossing killer who used the shooting to cover up another crime. With a setup like this, anything can go wrong, and does. Skill and luck are needed for Wakeland and Chen to emerge with the killers, the money and their own lives. |
| vancouver noir book: Montreal Noir John McFetridge, Jacques Filippi, 2017-11-07 “American crime fiction fans will welcome the opportunity to sample the short fiction of some worthy Canadian authors.” —Publishers Weekly Following the success of Toronto Noir, the Noir Series explores new Canadian terrain, featuring both English and Francophone authors. Like the city it springs from, Montreal Noir is an intriguing mix of culture, identities, and neighborhoods with one thing in common: the dark side of human nature. This collection presents stories by Patrick Senécal, Tess Fragoulis, Howard Shrier, Michel Basilières, Robert Pobi, Samuel Archibald, Geneviève Lefebvre, Ian Truman, Johanne Seymour, Arjun Basu, Martin Michaud, Melissa Yi, Catherine McKenzie, Peter Kirby, and Brad Smith. “Montreal solidifies its reputation as the epicentre for Canadian noir in a strong new anthology.” —Quill & Quire “Brings together a bicultural roster of talent by some of the city’s best crime-fiction specialists, with tales from the city’s many neighbourhoods.” —Toronto Star “An impressive roster . . . Stories from across the many sub-genres of mystery: police procedural, thriller, private eye, psychological suspense, and hard-boiled crime.” —Montreal Review of Books “Whether it’s the quirkiness of the characters, the ingenuity of the puzzles, or the big hearts inside some of the darkest villains, noir’s different north of the border.” —Kirkus Reviews |
| vancouver noir book: Stanley Park Timothy Taylor, 2010-12-17 A young chef who revels in local bounty, a long-ago murder that remains unsolved, the homeless of Stanley Park, a smooth-talking businessman named Dante — these are the ingredients of Timothy Taylor's stunning debut novel — Kitchen Confidential meets The Edible Woman. Trained in France, Jeremy Papier, the young Vancouver chef, is becoming known for his unpretentious dishes that highlight fresh, local ingredients. His restaurant, The Monkey's Paw Bistro, while struggling financially, is attracting the attention of local foodies, and is not going unnoticed by Dante Beale, owner of a successful coffeehouse chain, Dante's Inferno. Meanwhile, Jeremy's father, an eccentric anthropologist, has moved into Stanley Park to better acquaint himself with the homeless and their daily struggles for food, shelter and company. Jeremy's father also has a strange fascination for a years-old unsolved murder case, known as The Babes in the Wood and asks Jeremy to help him research it. Dante is dying to get his hands on The Monkey's Paw. When Jeremy's elaborate financial kite begins to fall, he is forced to sell to Dante and become his employee. The restaurant is closed for renovations, Inferno style. Jeremy plans a menu for opening night that he intends to be the greatest culinary statement he's ever made, one that unites the homeless with high foody society in a paparazzi-covered celebration of local splendour. |
| vancouver noir book: Toronto Noir Janine Armin, 2008 A multicultural nexus, Toronto hosts Indian, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Chinese communities that provide fertile backdrops for Toronto Noir's corrosive expos s. Features brand-new stories by: RM Vaughan, Nathan Sellyn, Ibi Kaslik, Peter Robinson, Heather Birrell, Sean Dixon, Raywat Deonandad, Christine Murray, Gail Bowen, Emily Schultz, Andrew Pyper, Kim Moritsugu, Mark Sinnet, George Elliott Clarke, Pasha Malla, and Michael Redhill. |
| vancouver noir book: Nairobi Noir Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Makena Onjerika, Rasna Warah, Stanley Gazemba, Kinyanjui Kombani, 2020-02-04 In this anthology, fourteen authors explore dark mysteries in the concrete jungle capital of Kenya, dealing with topics of race, religion, and corruption. Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. Brand-new stories by: Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Stanley Gazemba, Ngumi Kibera, Peter Kimani, Winfred Kiunga, Kinyanjui Kombani, Caroline Mose, Kevin Mwachiro, Wanjiku wa Ngugi, Faith Oneya, Makena Onjerika, Troy Onyango, J.E. Sibi-Okumu, and Rasna Warah. Praise for Nairobi Noir “Nairobi Noir takes readers into the enigmas that haunt Kenya’s most populous city through the deft storytelling of a stellar cast of writers, which includes Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Stanley Gazemba, Makena Onjerika, Troy Onyango, and others.” —Brittle Paper, One of 50 Notable African Books of 2020 “Nairobi is a city of 3 million souls, so it makes sense as a setting Akashic Books’ famed noir series. 14 new stories fill a collection with Nairobi old and new; authors range in age from 24 to 81, and many layers of the city and its complex subcultures will be revealed as the reader makes their way through. Perfect for the armchair traveler!” —CrimeReads, included in CrimeReads’ Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020 “Crime fiction fans have much to savor.” —Publishers Weekly |
| vancouver noir book: Vile Spirits John MacLachlan Gray, 2021-09-18 An exhilarating page-turner set in 1920s Vancouver post prohibition, when liquor was the fuel driving big business, big government--and major crime. In this spellbinding follow-up to his mystery The White Angel, John MacLachlan Gray captures the spirit of Vancouver in those gritty, gin-soaked days, as the city was remaking itself between wars. Alcohol is once again legal in Vancouver after the failed experiment of prohibition, but pro-temperance sentiments remain strong. Politicians like Attorney General Gordon Cunning attempt appeasement by establishing the Liquor Control Board, which oversees supply, from the lofty circles of power down to bleak public drinking factories called beer parlours. But when Cunning is found deceased, an empty martini glass at his side, quickly followed by Mrs. Harlan Crombie, the wife of a prominent bureaucrat, who falls dead after an afternoon book club meeting, suspicions are raised. Is it pure coincidence that the deceased were both drinking the same brand of tonic? Or is it a spillover from American prohibition, where deliberately tainted booze is killing thousands? Fans of The White Angel will be delighted by the return of straight-shooting constable Calvin Hook, frustrated poet-cum-reporter Ed McCurdy and unpredictable, eavesdropping telephone operator Mildred Wickstram, as they pool their skills in order to get to the truth. The result is a clash between temperance activists, the Ku Klux Klan, the Liquor Control Board and global events on the mean streets of Vancouver--a rough little city on the edge of empire. |
| vancouver noir book: Last of the Independents Sam Wiebe, 2014-08-30 A crooked detective is playing the justice system to protect a kidnapper, and the only viable lead takes private investigator Michael Drayton to a car-thieving junkie. |
| vancouver noir book: Cradle of the Deep Dietrich Kalteis, 2020-11-03 Getting into bed with the wrong guy can get you killed Wanting to free herself from her boyfriend, aging gangster “Maddog” Palmieri, Bobbi Ricci concocts a misguided plan with Denny, Maddog’s ex-driver, a guy who’s bent on getting even with the gangster for the humiliating way in which he was sacked. Helping themselves to the gangster’s secret money stash, along with his Cadillac, Bobbi and Denny slip out of town, expecting to lay low for a while before enjoying the spoils. Realizing he’s been betrayed, an enraged Maddog calls in stone-cold killer Lee Trane. As Trane picks up their trail, plans quickly change for Bobbi and Denny, who now find themselves on a wild chase of misadventure through northern British Columbia and into Alaska. Time is running out for them once they find out that Trane’s been sent to do away with them, or worse, bring them back — either way, Maddog will make them pay. |
| vancouver noir book: Full Disclosure Beverley McLachlin, 2019-04-30 #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR ELLIS AWARDS From the former Chief Justice of Canada comes a riveting thriller starring Jilly Truitt, a rising, young defense attorney faced with a case that hits close to home. When everyone has something to hide, the truth is the only defense. There’s nothing Jilly Truitt likes more than winning a case, especially against her former mentor, prosecutor Cy Kenge. Jilly has baggage, the residue of a dark time in a series of foster homes, but that’s in the past. Now she’s building her own criminal defense firm and making a name for herself as a tough-as-nails lawyer willing to take risks in the courtroom. When the affluent and enigmatic Vincent Trussardi is accused of his wife Laura’s murder, Jilly agrees to defend him, despite predictions that the case is a sure loser and warnings from those close to her to stay away from the Trussardi family. Determined to prove everyone wrong, Jilly investigates Laura’s death, hoping to discover a shred of evidence that might give the jury a reasonable doubt. Instead, she is confronted by damning evidence and uncooperative witnesses at every turn. Someone isn’t telling the truth, but who? With her reputation and Vincent’s life on the line, Jilly tries to unravel the web of secrets surrounding Laura’s murder. As she digs deeper, she uncovers a startling revelation that will change not only the case, but her life forever. From the gritty streets of Vancouver to the fateful halls of justice, Full Disclosure is a razor-sharp thriller that pulses with authenticity and intrigue. |
| vancouver noir book: The Sudden Weight of Snow Laisha Rosnau, 2012-12-18 This virtuoso first novel weaves stories and decades into a tightly knit, haunting narrative, as it sets into relief two generations marked by the 1960s – those who lived through them, and those who came after. Seventeen-year-old Sylvia (Harper) Kostak is caught between her mother’s regrets and the strictures of small-town life in the interior of British Columbia. When Harper meets Gabe, an intense and enigmatic young man living on the ’60s-style arts commune outside of town, she is transfixed. Gradually we learn Gabe’s story and what led him to join his estranged mother on the commune, where, in a bid for freedom, Harper eventually finds herself, setting in motion a series of events leading to tragedy. Resonant with longing and a sense of isolation, the novel brings alive the agonies and ecstasies of growing up, sexual discovery, and how the need to belong can shape both decisions and destinies. |
| vancouver noir book: The Last High Daniel Kalla, 2021-02-23 In this instant bestselling novel from author Daniel Kalla, a Vancouver doctor and a detective face the deadly consequences of the opioid crisis as they track down the supplier of fentanyl that landed a group of teens in the ER with critical overdoses. Deliberately or not, they must’ve been poisoned…And if it happened to them… There will be others. Dr. Julie Rees, a toxicologist and ER doctor, is stunned when her emergency room is flooded with teenagers from the same party, all on the verge of death. Julie knows the world of opioids inside and out, and she recognizes that there’s nothing typical about these cases. She suspects the teens took—or were given—fentanyl. But why did they succumb so quickly? Detective Anson Chen is determined to find out. He and Julie race to track down the supplier of the deadly drugs. But the trail of suspects leads everywhere, from unscrupulous street dealers to ruthless gang leaders who hide behind legitimate business fronts and the walls of their mansions. As Anson and Julie follow clues through the drug underworld, Julie finds herself haunted by memories of her troubled past—and the lover she lost to addiction. When other overdoses fill the ER—and the morgue—Julie realizes that something even more sinister than the ongoing fentanyl crisis is devastating the streets. And the body count is rapidly rising. A gripping thriller, The Last High explores the perfect storm of greed, addiction, and crime behind the malignant spread of fentanyl, a deadly drug that is killing people faster than any known epidemic. |
| vancouver noir book: Never Going Back Sam Wiebe, 2020-07-14 Key Selling Points To save her brother, reformed thief Alison Kidd has to perform one last job for the gangster who helped send her to prison. This book features themes of sibling relationship, loyalty, crime and redemption. Readers will connect with this great female character who struggles with right and wrong and in the end out-smarts the gangster. Sam Wiebe won the 2015 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Unpublished First Novel for Last of the Independents and is well known in the crime fiction market. Part of the Rapid Reads series, Never Going Back is a well-crafted crime fiction that tells a good story full of adventure and mystery in a small package. |
| vancouver noir book: This Is Assisted Dying Stefanie Green, 2022-03-29 In her landmark memoir, Dr. Stefanie Green reveals the reasons a patient might seek an assisted death, how the process works, what the event itself can look like, the reactions of those involved, and what it feels like to oversee proceedings and administer medications that hasten death. Dr. Green contextualizes the myriad personal, professional, and practical issues surrounding assisted dying by bringing readers into the room, sharing the voices of her patients, her colleagues, and her own narrative. Residence: Vancouver, B.C. Print run 75,000. |
| vancouver noir book: Berkeley Noir Jim Nisbet, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Barry Gifford, Susan Dunlap, Shanthi Sekaran, 2020-05-05 Sixteen storytellers shed light on the darkness that lurks in the California city in this fun collection of crime tales. Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. With stories by: Barry Gifford, Jim Nisbet, Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya de León, and Owen Hill. Praise for Berkeley Noir “Each story evokes the dark side of a Berkeley neighborhood and pays tribute both to the city's history as a haven for outcasts and as a literary metropolis. If you race through it, consider picking up San Francisco Noir and Oakland Noir.” —Diablo Magazine, a Top Ticket choice “In “Lucky Day,” Thomas Burchfield reveals the evil that can come when a well-meaning aide breaks his boss’s cardinal rule never to allow patrons into the library early. A worried mom from Holloway wangles her son a prized place in the Berkeley school district in Aya de León’s “Frederick Douglass Elementary.” . . . . J.M. Curet’s “Wifebeater Tank Top,” the tale with the firmest criminal pedigree, is the most violent, but its poetic language and come-from-nowhere ending make it the best.” —Kirkus Reviews “The 16 stories set in Berkeley, Calif., in this above average Akashic noir anthology offer little actual noir but a heaping helping of crime, with almost every entry featuring at least a murder or kidnapping . . . . Readers will be glad that many of these tales are fun in a way that traditional noir isn’t.” —Publishers Weekly |
| vancouver noir book: Paradise of the Pacific Susanna Moore, 2015-09-01 The dramatic history of America's tropical paradise The history of Hawaii may be said to be the story of arrivals—from the eruption of volcanoes on the ocean floor 18,000 feet below, the first hardy seeds that over millennia found their way to the islands, and the confused birds blown from their migratory routes, to the early Polynesian adventurers who sailed across the Pacific in double canoes, the Spanish galleons en route to the Philippines, and the British navigators in search of a Northwest Passage, soon followed by pious Protestant missionaries, shipwrecked sailors, and rowdy Irish poachers escaped from Botany Bay—all wanderers washed ashore, sometimes by accident. This is true of many cultures, but in Hawaii, no one seems to have left. And in Hawaii, a set of myths accompanied each of these migrants—legends that shape our understanding of this mysterious place. In Paradise of the Pacific, Susanna Moore, the award-winning author of In the Cut and The Life of Objects, pieces together the elusive, dramatic story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii—its kings and queens, gods and goddesses, missionaries, migrants, and explorers—a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition, in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo, without a currency or a written language, was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism, Western education, and Christian values. |
| vancouver noir book: Rendezvous in Black Cornell Woolrich, 2007-12-18 On a mild midwestern night in the early 1940s, Johnny Marr leans against a drugstore wall. He’s waiting for Dorothy, his fiancée, and tonight is the last night they’ll be meeting here, for it’s May 31st, and June 1st marks their wedding day. But she’s late, and Johnny soon learns of a horrible accident—an accident involving a group of drunken men, a low-flying charter plane, and an empty liquor bottle. In one short moment Johnny loses all that matters to him and his life is shattered. He vows to take from these men exactly what they took from him. After years of planning, Johnny begins his quest for revenge, and on May 31st of each year—always on May 31st—wives, lovers, and daughters are suddenly no longer safe. From the Trade Paperback edition. |
| vancouver noir book: Payback James Heneghan, 2007 Newly arrived from Ireland, Charley Callaghan is relieved when the school bullies stop picking on him and find a new target in Benny Mason, but when a tragedy occurs as a result, Charley is overcome with guilt. |
| vancouver noir book: The Deadbeat Club Dietrich Kalteis, 2015-10-01 This darkly humorous crime novel set in a Canadian ski town is a “fast-paced thrill ride” (Publishers Weekly). Grey Stevens took over the family business after his uncle passed away, and now grows the best pot in Whistler, British Columbia. It’s called Eight Miles High and the word on the street is it rivals anything on the planet. Happy to fly under the radar in this mountain playground, Grey just wants to take life easy, snowboarding in the cold months and biking in the hot ones. But demand for his pot among the locals and tourists keeps growing. Everybody wants to get their hands on it—including two rival gangs who come to town to take over the dope trade. When Grey steps in and rescues a girl from a beating at the hands of one of the gang members, he finds himself in the middle of a turf war and a new relationship at the same time. After one of his roommates gets attacked and another goes missing, Grey has to decide whether he’s going to take off with the girl and start over someplace new—or stay and fight for what’s his . . . “The dialogue is some of the sharpest and funniest I’ve seen in any book this year.” —National Post “Kalteis will be deservedly compared to Elmore Leonard, but he is an original voice.” —John McFetridge, author of the Toronto Series “A rollicking tour through Whistler after dark, populated by ski bums and scallywags, gang-bangers and lovable losers on both sides of the law, and written with a staccato, snare-drum energy that keeps the pages turning . . . Breaking Bad for the ganja set.” —Owen Laukkanen, author of the Stevens and Windermere series |
| vancouver noir book: Black Orchid Vaughn Hardacker, 2016-03-15 The murder of one wannabe starlet may only be the beginning for a vicious killer. When poor little New Hampshire rich girl Mindy Hollis gets lost in Los Angeles, her big sister hires private detective Ed Traynor to find her. Traynor and Hollis’s security chief, Jack McMahon, take off for Tinseltown to track down the aspiring actress—but they discover the only part she ever got was the one that killed her. Their hunt for her killers takes them from the bowels of Mexico City to the glitz of Los Angeles, north to the set of The Black Orchid in Vancouver, and then back again to Hollywood, where the angels are dying in the dark. It’s up to Ed and Jack to save them before the film fades to black. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. |
| vancouver noir book: Vancouver was Awesome Lani Russwurm, 2013 A startling and unexpectedly rich collection of images from Vancouver's pre-gentrification past. Vancouver may be a youngster among major cities, but it has a rich and beguiling history. Past Tense Vancouver blogger Lani Russwurm is a regular contributor to the popular website Vancouver Is Awesome; in this fascinating book, produced in conjunction with V.I.A., Russwurm collects stories of the people, places, events, and phenomena that collectively have infused Vancouver with a distinct flavor and flair and which laid the foundation for the eclectic city we know today. Although not without its share of social issues and contradictions, this cosmopolitan port city has long been a magnet for creative and determined types in search of opportunity and willing to rise to the challenges posed by the Terminal City. And at this moment in Vancouver's history, as it grapples with the divisive issues of rapid gentrification and overpriced real estate, Vancouver Was Awesome offers readers an opportunity to relive the city's past and to remember what was, and what might have been. From vaudeville to beatniks, Rudyard Kipling to Charlie Chaplin, violent squirrels to train-hopping dogs, Lani Russwurm's book is an entertaining, informative, and at times jaw-dropping tour of one city's awesome past. Includes 150 B&W and color photographs and an introduction by Vancouver Is Awesome editor-in-chief Bob Kronbauer. |
| vancouver noir book: Property Values Charles Demers, 2018-11-13 The worlds of urban gentrification, overpriced real estate, and gang violence collide in this wry and sardonic crime novel by author and comedian Charles Demers. As a shaky truce between suburban gangsters starts to unravel, schlubby civilian Scott Clark has other things on his mind: if he can’t afford to buy out his ex father-in-law, Scott’s about to lose the only house he’s ever called home. In the red-hot urban housing market, he doesn’t have a chance -- until he and his best friends take the desperate measure of staging a fake drive-by shooting on the property to push down the asking price. But when Scott’s mobster-posturing stunt attracts the attention of the real criminals, his pretend gang soon finds itself in the middle of a deadly rivalry. With wicked humor and a brilliant cast of desperate characters, Property Values explodes the crime novel trope while exploring the comic lengths a man will go to in order to become a home owner in today’s market. |
| vancouver noir book: Hollywood North Sam Wiebe, 2018-02-13 In this original short story by the award-winning author of Cut You Down and Invisible Dead, private investigator Dave Wakeland finds himself behind the scenes of a lowbrow sitcom called Filthy Stinking Poor in gritty Vancouver, BC. When successful screenwriter (and unsuccessful poet) Paul Ling goes missing, his teenage daughter hires Wakeland to track him down. To the shock of his family and colleagues, Ling's body is found within days in the home of a stranger, killed by a drug overdose--and Wakeland suspects foul play. Did Ling have a secret life that finally caught up with him, or did his search for realistic creative material for his writing take him down a dangerous path? In the world of bad television and cutthroat competition, Wakeland will need his wits about him to sort friend from foe. |
| vancouver noir book: Ridgerunner Gil Adamson, 2020-05-12 Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Winner Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist Part literary Western and part historical mystery, Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize winner Ridgerunner is now available as a paperback. November 1917. William Moreland is in mid-flight. After nearly twenty years, the notorious thief, known as the Ridgerunner, has returned. Moving through the Rocky Mountains and across the border to Montana, the solitary drifter, impoverished in means and aged beyond his years, is also a widower and a father. And he is determined to steal enough money to secure his son’s future. Twelve-year-old Jack Boulton has been left in the care of Sister Beatrice, a formidable nun who keeps him in cloistered seclusion in her grand old house. Though he knows his father is coming for him, the boy longs to return to his family’s cabin, deep in the woods. When Jack finally breaks free, he takes with him something the nun is determined to get back — at any cost. Set against the backdrop of a distant war raging in Europe and a rapidly changing landscape in the West, Gil Adamson’s follow-up to her award-winning debut, The Outlander, is a vivid historical novel that draws from the epic tradition and a literary Western brimming with a cast of unforgettable characters touched with humour and loss, and steeped in the wild of the natural world. |
| vancouver noir book: Nobody from Somewhere Dietrich Kalteis, 2022-06-07 When long retired cop, Fitch Henry Haut, sees two men forcing a runaway girl into their vehicle, he steps in and gets the upper hand. He and the girl escape in his broken-down Winnebago, and as Fitch listens to her story, he realizes the men will come after them. A bond forms as he and the girl struggle to escape out of town. |
| vancouver noir book: San Francisco Noir Peter Maravelis, 2005 Brand new stories by: Domenic Stansberry, Barry Gifford, Eddie Muller, Robert Mailer Anderson, Michelle Tea, Peter Plate, Kate Braverman, David Corbett, Alejandro Murguia, Sin Soracco, Alvin Lu, Jon Longhi, Will Christopher Baer, Jim Nesbit, and David Henry Sterry. San Francisco Noir lashes out with hard-biting, all-original tales exploring the shadowy nether regions of scenic Baghdad by the Bay. Virtuosos of the genre meet up with the best of S.F.'s literary fiction community to chart a unique psycho-geography for a dark landscape. From inner city boroughs to the outlands, each contributor offers an original story based in a distinct neighborhood. At times brutal, darkly humorous, and revelatory--the stories speak of a hidden San Francisco, a town where the fog is but a prelude to darker realities lingering beneath. The protagonists of noir fiction have their own agendas, but for readers much of the pleasure is unraveling the mystery and deciphering the clues that constitute a city, and if there is a love story in noir writing it's the passion of writers, readers, and protagonists for the gritty geographical details. As the bodies drop in the strong stories here, steep, fog-wrapped, fratricidal San Francisco comes alive: here are old neighborhoods, bars, bookstores, the famous and then forgotten landlord arson at 16th and Valencia, buried streams, streetcars, parks, a lost city and the new city haunting almost every page of this gorgeous anthology of San Francisco noir. -Rebecca Solnit I was wondering about the city's shadowside that the guides didn't show. These top writers are of the 'As bad as it gets' brand, and then worse. If you like puke, fear & loathing caused by stray bullets, happenstance getting the hero who is an anti-hero really, a male corpse rotting in the bathtub while the woman poops in the garden, the Reverend Christmas shot in the ear by the PO-lice, then this is your good read for a murky, maybe even gritty, weekend. -Janwillem van de Wetering San Francisco has long been a city of back alleys and black figures; this is its romantic map. -Michael Ray, Editor, Zoetrope All-Story |
| vancouver noir book: Headhunter Michael Slade, 2024-08-06 “First rate, compelling, nerve-tingling. A novel of sex, death, and the macabre. Extraordinarily vivid. A thinking man’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” —The Vancouver Sun The first in a series of crime thrillers featuring the Special X team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police—world-weary cops hardened enough to deal with the most heinous of crimes. A serial killer is loose on the streets of Vancouver. A sadist preying on women, leaving a trail of decapitated corpses—and a totem pole displaying the grisly head of his latest victim. If this killer is hoping to rile former Royal Mountie Robert DeClercq, he certainly made his mark. Lured out of retirement, DeClercq tirelessly tracks the psychopath across two continents. But as DeClercq gets closer to understanding complex motivations of a criminally insane killer, he’s more certain than ever he’s about to confront the ultimate evil. A revised and expanded version of the original Headhunter, which was first published in 1984. “Michael Slade’s books are blood-chilling, spine-tingling, gut-wrenching, stomach-churning, and a much closer look at the inside of a maniac’s brain than most people would find comfortable—but always riveting.” —Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Outlander series “A real chiller! The most gruesome I have ever read.” —Robert Bloch, author of Psycho “A novel so terrifying it will haunt your dreams for weeks.” —Book of the Month Club Magazine “Headhunter stunned me! It’s really good!” —Alice Cooper “Crime writer Michael Slade is the real deal! As a trial lawyer, Slade knows psycho killers, sex predators, and their horrific crimes inside out.” —RCMP Staff Sergeant Christine Wozney (ret.), CO of the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis team (West Coast) “[The 1984 edition of] Headhunter enthralled me with its hardboiled realism and noir horror. Now, a third of a century later, the reimagined story is no less exciting or frightening. The dark shadows in a Michael Slade novel make you want to keep your back against the alley wall.” —Det. Insp. Kim Rossmo (VPD ret.) |
| vancouver noir book: Horseplay Norm Boucher, 2020-10 In his first true crime memoir, undercover operator Norm Boucher recounts eight months spent infiltrating Vancouver's heroin scene, a world of paranoia, ripoffs, and violence. It is 1983 and the War on Drugs is intensifying. From his observer's seat in barrooms, Boucher candidly reveals the lives of heroin addicts who spend each day looking for their next hit. Their dangerous subculture, centred around three gritty hotels on the Granville Strip, becomes Boucher's domain as he attempts both to gain acceptance in a world far removed from his own and to keep himself safe. With Horseplay, decorated RCMP officer Norm Boucher takes readers back to the assignment that shaped his outlook on the role of criminal law enforcement and the human side of addiction as it collides with the ruthlessness of the drug business. |
| vancouver noir book: The Life of Dick Haymes Ruth Prigozy, 2006 The definitive biography of this superstar crooner's rise, fall, and struggle for a comeback |
| vancouver noir book: On Foot to Canterbury Ken Haigh, 2021-10-05 Setting off on foot from Winchester, Ken Haigh hikes across southern England, retracing one of the traditional routes that medieval pilgrims followed to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Walking in honour of his father, a staunch Anglican who passed away before they could begin their trip together, Haigh wonders: Is there a place in the modern secular world for pilgrimage? On his journey, he sorts through his own spiritual aimlessness while crossing paths with writers like Anthony Trollope, John Keats, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, and, of course, Geoffrey Chaucer. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part literary history, On Foot to Canterbury is engaging and delightful. “My father didn’t need this walk, not the way I do. For him it would have been a fun way to spend some time with his son. He had, I begin to realize, a talent for living in the moment... Perhaps a pilgrimage would help me find happiness. Perhaps I could walk my way into a better frame of mind, and somehow along the road to Canterbury I would find a new purpose for my life. It was worth a shot.” Audio edition from PRH available from Audible, Kobo, Google, and Apple Books. |
| vancouver noir book: The Underground Man Ross Macdonald, 2012 In this noir mystery, PI Lew Archer is hired to track down a missing child, but becomes embroiled in a baffling forest fire that threatens an affluent Southern California community. |
| vancouver noir book: All We Left Behind Danielle R. Graham, 2020-01-10 For fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz ‘Heart-wrenching. Emotional. A powerful story of wartime love and devotion’ Glynis Peters, author of The Secret Orphan A powerful and incredibly moving historical novel inspired by an untold story of the Second World War. |
| vancouver noir book: Vancouver Confidential John Douglas Belshaw, 2014 Most civic histories celebrate progress, industry, order, and vision. This isn't one of those.Vancouver Confidential is a collaboration of artists and writers who plumb the shadows of civic memory looking for the stories that don't fit into mainstream narratives. We honour the chorus line behind the star performer, the mug in the mugshot, the victim in the murder, the teens in the gang, and the slum in the path of the bulldozer. By focusing on the stories of the common people rather than community leaders and headliners, Vancouver Confidential shines a light on the lives of Vancouverites that have for so long been ignored.This new collection takes a fresh look at the raw urban culture of a port city in the mid-twentieth century. These were years when Hastings and Main was still a dynamic commercial hub, when streetcars thrummed through the city streets, and when theatre meant vaudeville and burlesque. Street gambling and illegal boozecans peppered the map, brothels and bootleggers served loggers and shoreworkers, and politicians were almost always larger than life.This collection of essays and art illuminates aspects of a city that was too busy getting into trouble to worry about whether it was world class.The collection includes essays from Tom Carter, Aaron Chapman, Jesse Donaldson, James Johnston, Lani Russwurm, Eve Lazarus, Diane Purvey, Catherine Rose, Rosanne Sia, Jason Vanderhill, Stevie Wilson, Jim Wong-Chu, Will Woods, Terry Watada, and John Belshaw. |
| vancouver noir book: The White Angel John MacLachlan Gray, 2018-09-15 A novel based on the 1924 murder of Janet Smith in Vancouver--a city at the edge of the empire, still reeling from the Great War with a barely functioning police department and a thriving criminal class. |
| vancouver noir book: Accordion Revolution Bruce Triggs, 2019 Accordion Revolution is about more than an instrument: it's a living, breathing restoration of the squeezebox to its rightful place at the roots of North America's popular music.Before the dawn of rock 'n' roll, the accordion ranked among North America's most popular instruments. Arriving in the arms of immigrants, nearly every ethnicity on the continent played the squeezebox: Irish, Scottish, French, German, Eastern European, Latino, Jewish. The instrument packed barn dances, jazz clubs, and recital halls, and was heard in norteño groups on the Mexican frontier; Creole string bands in New Orleans, and Inuit square dances above the Arctic Circle. Portable, cheap, and loud, accordions became the soundtrack for modernity as the music industry exploited them on records, radio, film, and television.Millions of people played accordions until a disastrous combination of economics, demographics, and electronic instruments nearly erased them from mainstream culture. Emerging from exile with a new generation of followers, this book invites beginner or seasoned accordionists and music fans in general to rediscover a forgotten legion of little-known artists. With an eye for colorful characters and a sharp sense of humor, accordion historian Bruce Triggs uncovers the hidden back-story of the squeezebox in everyone's closet. |
| vancouver noir book: Swashbuckling Cats Rhonda Parrish, Chadwick Ginther, Krista D Ball, 2024-08-20 If you think cats and water don't mix, think again. Plunge into worlds of piratical cats: some selfish, some mischievous, all fond of hitting the catnip stash. From ships on the deep blue sea, to ships flying through the depths of space, and even visiting from beyond the veil, these cats are determined and on a mission. Featuring thirteen tails of adventure-loving cats, puns, and fun by: Megan Fennell; S.G. Wong; Rebecca Brae; Grace Bridges; Lizz Donnelly; Blake Liddell; Frances Pauli; JB Riley; Joseph Halden; Leslie Van Zwol; Krista D. Ball; Chadwick Ginther; Rose Strickman; and Beth Cato. |
Vancouver - Wikipedia
Vancouver [a] is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded …
20 Best Things to Do in Vancouver, Canada | U.S. News Travel
Jun 6, 2025 · While crossing the Capilano Suspension Bridge is an iconic experience, it's just one of many unique things to do in Vancouver. Find the city's best attractions here.
Vancouver | History, Map, Population, & Facts | Britannica
3 days ago · Vancouver lies between Burrard Inlet (an arm of the Strait of Georgia) to the north and the Fraser River delta to the south, opposite Vancouver Island. The city is just north of the …
Destination Vancouver
Find yourself in Vancouver. Explore our iconic attractions. Tell us how you like to travel and we'll recommend experiences you will love!
Visiting Vancouver | City of Vancouver
Planning a trip to Vancouver? Get tips on what to see and getting around the city.
30 Best Things to Do in Vancouver: Top Attractions (2025)
Apr 21, 2025 · Join our team of locals and discover the best things to do in Vancouver: must-sees, must-eats, indoor, outdoor, events + epic insider tips.
Vancouver - The Canadian Encyclopedia
Feb 13, 2011 · Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia and the eighth largest in Canada (see also Largest Cities in Canada by Population). The City of Vancouver lies on a peninsula in …
Vancouver Attractions | Things To Do In Vancouver
Create your perfect personalized Vancouver experience, choose from over 20 diverse world renown and must see attractions, museums, historic sites, scenic vistas, outdoor adventures, …
THE 15 BEST Things to Do in Vancouver (2025) - Tripadvisor
Things to Do in Vancouver, British Columbia: See Tripadvisor's 637,000 traveler reviews and photos of Vancouver tourist attractions. Find what to do today, this weekend, or in June. We …
Vancouver Canada Tourist Information and Visitor's Guide
What are your favorite destinations or things to do in Vancouver BC? Tourist attractions, landmarks, museums, parks, activities, maps, hotels, cruises, excursion, airport, transit and …
Vancouver - Wikipedia
Vancouver [a] is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded …
20 Best Things to Do in Vancouver, Canada | U.S. News Travel
Jun 6, 2025 · While crossing the Capilano Suspension Bridge is an iconic experience, it's just one of many unique things to do in Vancouver. Find the city's best attractions here.
Vancouver | History, Map, Population, & Facts | Britannica
3 days ago · Vancouver lies between Burrard Inlet (an arm of the Strait of Georgia) to the north and the Fraser River delta to the south, opposite Vancouver Island. The city is just north of the …
Destination Vancouver
Find yourself in Vancouver. Explore our iconic attractions. Tell us how you like to travel and we'll recommend experiences you will love!
Visiting Vancouver | City of Vancouver
Planning a trip to Vancouver? Get tips on what to see and getting around the city.
30 Best Things to Do in Vancouver: Top Attractions (2025)
Apr 21, 2025 · Join our team of locals and discover the best things to do in Vancouver: must-sees, must-eats, indoor, outdoor, events + epic insider tips.
Vancouver - The Canadian Encyclopedia
Feb 13, 2011 · Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia and the eighth largest in Canada (see also Largest Cities in Canada by Population). The City of Vancouver lies on a peninsula …
Vancouver Attractions | Things To Do In Vancouver
Create your perfect personalized Vancouver experience, choose from over 20 diverse world renown and must see attractions, museums, historic sites, scenic vistas, outdoor adventures, …
THE 15 BEST Things to Do in Vancouver (2025) - Tripadvisor
Things to Do in Vancouver, British Columbia: See Tripadvisor's 637,000 traveler reviews and photos of Vancouver tourist attractions. Find what to do today, this weekend, or in June. We …
Vancouver Canada Tourist Information and Visitor's Guide
What are your favorite destinations or things to do in Vancouver BC? Tourist attractions, landmarks, museums, parks, activities, maps, hotels, cruises, excursion, airport, transit and …
