Vile Spirits by John MacLachlan Gray

In this spellbinding follow-up to his mysteryThe 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 ofThe White Angelwill 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. (From Douglas & MacIntyre)

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John MacLachlan is a writer, playwright, composer and theatre director who lives in Vancouver. He has created many productions, most notablyBilly Bishop Goes to War. He's the author of several fiction and nonfiction books, includingThe White Angel. MacLachlan is an officer of the Order of Canada.