crime – The Miramichi Reader

Cheap Thrills: A Novel by David Kloepfer

March 27, 2020 by Bill Arnott

Cheap Thrills takes place over the course of a single weekend, beginning with the incessantly stoned Ethan and his roommate Phil discovering the body of their weed dealer in a Vancouver alley alongside a box of porno magazines and crime noir paperbacks.

We All Will Be Received by Leslie Vryenhoek

December 16, 2019 by James M. Fisher

If the title of Leslie Vryenhoek's latest novel reminds you of Paul Simon's song Graceland, that could be by design, for there are several characters looking for Graceland (although it's a very different one from Elvis' mansion). Their stories are told in separate threads that eventually merge to a climactic ending at Graceland, a renovated motel in Newfoundland, near the L'anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.

Broken Man on a Halifax Pier by Lesley Choyce

August 8, 2019 by James M. Fisher

Fifty-five-year-old Charles Howard has lost his long-time journalism job and has been swindled out of his life savings. Standing by the edge of Halifax Harbour on a foggy morning, contemplating his dismal future, his ritual of self-pity is interrupted with the appearance of the mysterious and beguiling Ramona Danforth.

The Forbidden Dreams of Betsy Elliot by Carolyn R. Parsons

July 17, 2019 by James M. Fisher

The Forbidden Dreams of Betsy Elliot is Carolyn R. Parson’s debut novel for Newfoundland and Labrador’s Flanker Press, and she joins such authors as Ida Linehan Young and Gary Collins as storytellers of the first rank. It is set in … Continue reading

Fog by Rana Bose

September 3, 2019March 17, 2019 by James M. Fisher

Fog is suspenseful, conflicting, mysterious and hard to put down. (…) A literate mystery/thriller set in Montreal (on “the Main”) with side trips to Calcutta and Kandahar, this is a superbly written book about a neighbourhood, friendships, justice and belonging.

An Exile’s Perfect Letter by Larry Mathews

November 21, 2019November 13, 2018 by James M. Fisher

Sixty-two-year-old English professor Hugh Norman is getting ready to retire and just going through the motions. He’s detached, irreverent, and quite pleased with himself. But then he learns of a long-lost friend’s sudden death, and shockingly discovers a body while walking through a city park

The Carpenter From Montreal by George Fetherling

October 5, 2018 by James M. Fisher

The story behind The Carpenter From Montreal centres around Jim (in New York) and a large Montreal man known to all as The Carpenter. It is the Prohibition Era, and gangsters control the flow of liquor out of Canada over the border.

Operation Wormwood by Helen C. Escott

September 25, 2020September 12, 2018 by James M. Fisher

Over the years, Flanker Press of Newfoundland & Labrador has published a vast array of books, both Fiction and Non-Fiction, including the excellent historical fiction books of Gary Collins. Operation Wormwood (2018) is a fictional crime thriller that was … Continue reading

The Moon is Real by Jerrod Edson

July 25, 2018July 24, 2018 by James M. Fisher

Saint John, New Brunswick native Jerrod Edson has published his fifth novel, The Moon is Real (2016, Urban Farmhouse press) the manuscript of which won the Writer’s Federation of New Brunswick’s David Adams Richards Prize in 2013. A novel of … Continue reading

New 2018 Fiction from Goose Lane Editions

July 25, 2018June 2, 2018 by James M. Fisher

are a couple of mini-reviews of two recent fiction titles New Brunswick’s Goose Lane Editions, Marry Bang Kill by Andrew Battershill and Catch my Drift by Genevieve Scott.

Marry Bang Kill by Andrew Battershill

The title of this book comes … Continue reading

Arrow’s Flight by Joel Scott

April 1, 2018February 23, 2018 by James M. Fisher

I can't say enough good things about Arrow's Flight; it's not merely a good guys/bad guys action/adventure set on the water, but also a lesson in the fact that every action has consequences, and responsibility must be taken for the choices one has made.

The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey

March 22, 2018August 14, 2017 by James M. Fisher

winning author Donna Morrissey revisits the hardscrabble Newfoundland outport world of her 2009 book Sylvanus Now in The Fortunate Brother (2016, Viking) her sixth novel. The Fortunate Brother is Kyle Now who has recently lost his beloved older brother Chris … Continue reading

Under the Zaboca Tree by Glynis Guevara

May 12, 2018July 31, 2017 by James M. Fisher

Guevara was born in Barataria, Trinidad. She was shortlisted for the Small Axe Literary short fiction prize in 2012 and was also a finalist for the inaugural Burt Award for Caribbean Literature in 2014. She currently lives in Toronto where … Continue reading

The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes by Bridget Canning

November 19, 2018May 15, 2017 by James M. Fisher

If F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby defined a time period, then Bridget Canning’s The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes is a book defined by a time period, and that time period is now. 2017. Technology and social media figure … Continue reading

The Effects of Isolation on the Brain by Erika Rummel

October 11, 2017October 19, 2016 by James M. Fisher

Don’t let the title mislead you; this is not a book about the results of a psychology experiment, however it is a novel about a woman who uses that excuse to explain away her presence in a cabin in a … Continue reading