Canadian Mystery Writers Buck the Sophomore Jinx
Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 at 6:34pm
Peggy Blair
So much of what has happened around Blair's first novel, The Beggar's Opera, involved sheer luck. And timing. And perhaps a little persistence. After her manuscript was turned down repeatedly by agents, she entered it in several international competitions. The least likely was also the most prestigious: the Debut Dagger Award of the UK Crime Writers Association. To her surprise and delight she made the shortlist. Three weeks after a chance meeting with Ian Rankin at the awards ceremony, The Beggar's Opera was a hot title at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Germany made an offer, followed by Holland, then Norway. And then Penguin Canada purchased the world English language rights and offered a two-book deal. The Beggar's Opera, featuring Inspector Ramirez, head of the Havana Major Crimes Unit and a man haunted by the victims of his unsolved cases, came out last February to rave reviews and steadily climbed up the bestseller lists.
In the gripping sequel, The Poisoned Pawn, Ramirez is in Ottawa to take custody of a suspected pedophile. The routine assignment turns deadly when women suddenly start dying in Havana. Stranded in Canada's capital, he focuses on untangling a web of deceit and depravity that extends all the way from the corridors of power in Ottawa to the Vatican.
G.B. Joyce
Fans of Joyce's first Brad Shade mystery The Code can look forward to the return of the savvy hockey scout turned private eye in The Black Ace, due out in early March. Brad Shade has been just about everywhere hockey is played. He has ridden the buses in the minors, shared dressing rooms with the legends of the game, closed bars with guys destined for the Hall of Fame, and dropped the gloves with journeymen who, like himself, will never get near it. And even though he's retired after fourteen years of bouncing around the league, he's still living out of a suitcase and still taking numbers. Thanks to Shade's work at the NHL draft last season, he gets to hold on to his job as scout for L.A. - at least for now, and Shade is checking out the talent in Regina with his old friend and teammate "Chief". But when they learn of the suicide of a teammate from their playing days in L.A., they discover there's a dark side of Regina, where people have secrets they intend to keep at any cost.
G.B. Joyce is the author of six books of sports non-fiction, most recently The Devil and Bobby Hull. He has worked for ESPN since 2003 and before that was a sports columnist at The Globe and Mail.
| Categories: Authors, Mystery & Crime, Saskatoon, Winnipeg |
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The Beggar's Opera
- Peggy Blair 
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In beautiful, crumbling Old Havana, Canadian detective Mike Ellis hopes the sun and sand will help save his troubled marriage. He doesn't yet know that it's dead in the water--much like the little Cuban boy last seen begging the Canadian couple for a few pesos on the world famous Malecon. For Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police, finding his prime suspect isn't a problem--Cuban law is. He has only seventy-two hours to secure an indictment and prevent a vicious killer from leaving the island. But Ramirez also has his own troubles to worry about. He's dying of the same dementia that killed his grandmother, an incurable disease that makes him see the ghosts of victims of unsolved murders. As he races against time, the dead haunt his every step ...
The Poisoned Pawn
- Peggy Blair
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When Cuban Inspector Ricardo Ramirez is dispatched to Canada and told to bring home a priest found in possession of child pornography depicting Cuban children, he knows his job will be hard enough. But it gets worse once he's in Ottawa, and women in Havana start dropping dead from a mysterious toxin. Worried about his family, powerless to help pathologist Hector Apiro, and faced with the threat of a Canadian travel advisory that could shut down Cuban tourism, Ramirez tries focus on his mission. As he does, he untangles a web of deceit and depravity that extends all the way from the corridors of power in Ottawa to those of the Vatican , and uncovers a cold-blooded killer. The Poisoned Pawn is the gripping, fast-paced sequel to the award-winning, critically acclaimed mystery The Beggar's Opera. Evoking the crumbling beauty of Old Havana and featuring Inspector Ramirez, a man haunted by the victims of his unsolved cases, it's perfect for fans of Donna Leon and Martin Cruz Smith who love exotic settings and unforgettable characters.
The Code
- G B Joyce
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The the cutthroat world of professional hockey is even more dangerous off the ice in the original detective thriller that inspired the new Global TV series Private Eyes.
Brad Shade has been just about everywhere hockey is played. He has ridden the buses in the minors, shared dressing rooms with the legends of the game, closed bars with guys destined for the Hall of Fame, and dropped the gloves with journeymen like himself who'll never get near it. And even though he's retired after fourteen years of bouncing around the league with more losses than wins and his net worth eroding, he's still living out of a suitcase and still taking numbers. That's his day job--scout for L.A., where someone in management owes him a favour from his playing days. But when the brutally murdered body of coaching legend Red Hanratty turns up in the parking lot after an old-timers charity game (Shade goes scoreless, again), Shade's job of scouting the local phenom starts to overlap with investigating the killing of the kid's grizzled old coach.
When the killer goes after Shade's girlfriend, he finds out that guys don't stay in the league because they're good--they stick around because they're smart enough to know what needs to get done, and just ornery enough to actually do it.
From small-town rinks to the draft tables in the big league, G.B. Joyce introduces us to a character Canadians already love--the fourth-liner with a self-deprecating sense of humour and an oversized will to win--and weaves a story out of strands of resentment, greed, and fear that span generations and build to a surprising, thrilling conclusion.
The Black Ace
- G B Joyce
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Hatred, blackmail, and murder--a Brad Shade hat trick. The Black Ace reunites us with our favourite, savvy fourth-liner, with plot twists, wisecracks, and an ending that could only come from G.B. Joyce. Thanks to Shade's work at the NHL draft last season, he gets to hold on to his job as scout for L.A.--at least for now. But a journeyman's work is never done. Shade is checking out the talent in Regina with his old friend and teammate "Chief." But when they learn of the suicide of an old teammate from their playing days in L.A., they take a sometimes violent detour through the dark side of a small town with no shortage of secrets it wants kept at almost any cost.
