Canadian thriller to ward off December chills
Margaret Cannon, Special to the Globe and Mail
Published December 10, 2019
“A DEVIOUS DAME, CHRIS LAING (AMAZON EBOOK)*
I couldn’t find a print edition* of this terrific little historical mystery but fans shouldn’t sniff at the e-book. The year is 1948 and the place is Hamilton, Ont. The world is buzzing with postwar prosperity and private detective Max Dexter and his partner, Isabel O’Brien, are busy with divorces and searches when an abandoned boy turns up. Can the couple find the kid’s mother? Laing has a deft ear for forties lingo and a great eye for the small details that make a historical novel truly great. Anyone from Hamilton will get a kick out of the old places and names along with the really solid historical feel. If you like this one, there are three more earlier Max Dexters also available from Amazon.”
*Author note: A Devious Dame is now available in a print edition from Amazon.
****
CBC Radio: The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers
9 books to read from The Next Chapter’s mystery book panel
December 20, 2019
“As is The Next Chapter holiday tradition, our mystery panel joins Shelagh Rogers to deliver a brand new list of whodunits. Bookstore owner J.D. Singh, McMaster University professor P.K. Rangachari and Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Cannon have nine books that mystery fans should read over the holidays.”
A DEVIOUS DAME
P.K. Rangachari says: “It’s set in Hamilton in 1947 and it’s very nicely written. It’s set within walking distance of where I live — the streets are there and so on. It makes me feel terribly nostalgic because when I moved to Hamilton in 1981, much of what he describes was there at the time. It’s a breezy story. It’s an easy story to read. It’s very old fashioned but great fun.”
****
A Devious Dame is available at
, SMASHWORDS.COM and perhaps at your local public library.
Print version only available from Amazon and some libraries.