Just this week, I read that books with a dog in them are “enchanting” while books where a dog dies are “heart-rending.” Let me assure you that you’ll be safely enchanted with Deception Cove though your heart may swell in the reading.
This story is about a dog, a very particular dog named Lucy, and those determined to destroy her and those bent on saving her. Author Owen Laukkanen knows Lucy well. He adopted her as a six-year-old pit bull who was destined for death in a California kill shelter. She became his muse and found her way onto the page and into our hearts. Like Laukkanen, the two protagonists in this story are bound to Lucy.
Mason Burke has been incarcerated since he was eighteen years old and caught doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Part of his work at the Chippewa State Pen was training dogs to become emotional support for veterans with PTSD. When he’s released, all Burke wants to know is if the dog he trained and fell in love with is surviving. He manages to find his way to Deception Cove, a small Pacific Coast town in Washington. There he meets a recently-widowed US marine named Jess Winslow whose post-war world revolves around Lucy.
Enter the problem. Winslow’s husband was playing with a bad crowd, stole something he shouldn’t and got himself killed for it. Now, the bad boys, who just happen to be lawmen, have stolen Lucy and are threatening to kill her if she doesn’t give them back their package.
There is no melodrama in this book, just deep-hearted soul that binds us to these wounded characters in their plight to stay alive. On the run with Burke and Lucy from the lawmen who murdered her husband, Jess’s story is revealed through vivid flashbacks. Afghanistan is never far away for Jess and her PTSD doesn’t take a day off. It was Lucy who saved Jess from blowing her head off and now she can’t “look at the shotgun without seeing the lead.” Who steals a war veteran’s therapy dog?
Though a thriller, Deception Cove could also be marketed as romantic suspense. The growing relationship between Burke and Winslow simmers on the page as they race to save Lucy, get the package, and avoid getting killed by some very evil men. These three are characters you want to befriend. The good news is you can. Deception Cove is only the first in this series.
Laukkanen’s voice is rich, slow, and easy, though the story never misses a beat in its relentless pacing. A natural storyteller, he holds us in the palm of his hand as he spins out honest dialogue and superbly paced action in a richly detailed marine environment. Once a commercial fisherman, Laukkanen’s knowledge of boats and the Pacific coast is apparent with the expertise and ease he writes.
If you’re looking for a soulful thriller that you can’t put down, this book is for you. I kept getting drawn to the back cover and the photo of Laukkanen and Lucy. His love for her and for writing translates to the page. “It was on walks together through the city that I rediscovered my love for writing, and so I owe this book to the hound, and so much more besides.” Thank you, Lucy and thank you Owen for this gem. Perfect summer reading.
To begin with, you should know that Isabel is not the name of the protagonist who lives in the Epitome Apartments and solves the crime in this book. Isabel is actually the name of Ogden Nash’s daughter. For the uninitiated, Mr. Nash was an American master of light whimsical verse, a poet who appreciated tone and rhyme and odd rhyme schemes. In his 1932 poem, which is printed in full at the end of the novel, the unshakeable heroic Isabel meets an enormous bear, a wicked old witch, a hideous giant, and a troublesome doctor. Are they all characters in the saga of our unnamed protagonist? That, dear reader, is for you to discover.
Like Nash’s poem, Dorsey’s novel is light-hearted and whimsical—though frosting serious violent themes like gay-bashing and murder for hire. It’s clever, casual, and abounding in asides. A cozy dramatic mystery written in raw, effectual, and not-so-cozy language. I feel, I must caution you here: Dorsey’s characters are LGBTQ, real, and raw. They live that way and talk as they live. This is the mark of a writer who understands that most of the world doesn’t live in a hallmark card.
Our female hero, her cat Bunnywit, who she affectionately calls F*wit, her lesbian lover, and her diverse crew, are extraordinarily unique characters. This, in and of itself, calls to me. Denis (one of my favourites) is a gay crisis worker and our hero’s best friend. He calls on her for help when his friend Hep—she’s Hep because of her uncanny resemblance to Katherine Hepburn—Hep’s granddaughter gets murdered. If you don’t know who Katherine Hepburn is, I suggest you google her as our hero recommends, or watch an old movie called The African Queen—or at the very least, google images of the movie—to get a picture of what Hep may be like except for her white spiky brush cut. Katherine Hepburn would never go for that; then again, she might if she were alive today.
Maddy—full name, Madeline Pritchard—goes by the same name as her grandmother, and is a prostitute with a drug problem, so Hep assumes the police won’t care much about her murder. Denis does though, and knows our unnamed hero, a “downsized social worker” who got locked up at age fifteen and is considering becoming a prostitute herself in order to pay her bills, will too. And so the story begins with our hero drafting personal ads to sell herself as a pansexual play-toy for hire.
Denis dresses our hero up to resemble Maddy in her hooker boots, and she and Maddy’s girlfriend, Vicki cruise the streets searching for clues. During her perambulation, our unnamed detective meets a homeless Asian woman in the subway named Jian who knows Maddy and recognizes the boots. (The thigh-high boots are a recurring motif as Bunnywit falls in love with them. Cats!) When she invites Jian home for a meal and a bath, the two quickly become lovers.
Other characters of interest are Roger, a homicide detective and one of the hero’s ex-lovers. And the hero’s Christian cousin, Thelma. The Christian question dominates the story as Thelma’s church supports a group of skinheads called “Soul Patrol” who use their placard as a crowbar to beat up gays and anyone else who gets in their way. Our hero, who provides footnotes, for the proper terminology to describe her gender identity—bisexual, ambisexual, pansexual—is targeted by this Christian hate group and suffers at least one major beating that lands her in the hospital.
Dorsey subtitles her work a “postmodern mystery, by the numbers” which, in and of itself, requires a professor to unravel and a whole lot of philosophical jargon which I’m not prepared to tackle. Suffice to say, the “postmodern” phenomenon grants Dorsey a license to run amok with language, style, and social morality. I say, “Yay, Dorsey.” Her narrative is structured in short, numbered, and wittily titled scenes with footnotes and casual asides. Moreover, her narrative flips at her discretion between first, second, and third points-of-view. Please don’t be put off by this. Dorsey explains as she does it, and you never feel like you’re not a crucial part of this narrative. In first-person the private detective tells her own story. In third-person she narrates the actions of others because she’s not there and can’t share their experiences. And, in second-person, she speaks directly to the reader about the writing process. “We put in what’s necessary to build character, create mood, and advance action” and leave things out that are boring “habitual actions.” Dorsey promises never to knowingly fool the reader by “withholding clues” and admits she hates those “Jeffrey Archer twist-in-the-tale things.”
To solve Maddy’s murder, our hero’s crew visit some unusual locations. The night of her murder, Maddy was seen with two nasty looking characters and a very tall and memorable drag queen who the crew think might be responsible for the young woman’s murder. Denis, Hep, our hero, and her lover, Jian, dress up and cruise the clubs searching for this enchanting being.
If you’re looking to cruise with a Canadian Lisbeth Salander (think Dragon Tattoo) you may discover that Isabel’s Adventures work for you. Our hero triumphs over every evil thrown at her as does the unflappable Isabel. She’s not only our postmodern poster woman, she turns the tables on evil and is a necessary hurrah in our chaotic world. Oh, and did I mention, she’s Canadian, as is the city where the story is set?
Published by ECW Press, October 2020 #ExceptionalCanadianWriting
*As reviewed on the Ottawa Review of Books, October 2020
With shades of Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde, in his latest crime novel, Dietrich Kalteis takes us on an archetypal magic flight through 1973 British Columbia. As Blake Snyder would say, it’s the Golden Fleece. Revamped and dirtied down, this “road movie” illuminates, not only the crime, but the character of the thieving protagonists.
Kalteis writes brash, raw, dirty, and gritty like no one else. So, it’s tough to have sympathy for the beautiful Bobbi Ricci, who hooked up with 60-year-old “Maddog” Palmieri or Lonzo, as the Italian crime boss likes to be called, because she likes the money and the “tough-guy routine”. To root for a character they need some redeeming qualities—Bobbi makes that hard and Lonzo makes it harder. Her descriptions of Lonzo leave us wondering if riding in the boss’s limo and high-end dining out in Vancouver is worth the price.
Apparently not. Five months in, Bobbi’s had enough of Lonzo with his “graying hair, combed in a swirl to hide the pink dome, bluish veins like a road map above his ankles, [and an] ass like a deflated tire.”
Not a woman to be trifled with (which might be one of her redeeming qualities) Bobbi plans her escape.
Enter Denny Barrenko. An American draft dodger who demonstrated against the Vietnam War then flew north, he landed in Vancouver and worked for a time as Lonzo’s limo driver—which is where he first saw Bobbi in the rear view mirror. Then Lonzo fired him and ripped him off. Seeking retribution, Denny breaks into Lonzo’s place in the midst of Bobbi’s escape. She catches him and forces him to help her run with two of Lonzo’s Gucci bags containing half-a-million dollars in secret cash. Bobbi’s drugged Lonzo and just to add insult to injury, they take his caddy. And so, fifty pages in, the magic flight begins.
None too smart and driven by emotion, Bobbi calls Lonzo from a pay phone in Squamish to gloat and get the last word—a mistake that gets assassin, Lee Trane on their tail.
A hair-raising escapade fueled by impulsive choices, this page-turner kept me up most of the night. I love any kind of road story, especially one that comes with down-and-dirty drama, a trail of stolen vehicles, a police chase, devious underdogs, and a map: Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Lillooet, Smithers, Ripley, and eventually, Killick, Alaska. It also comes with a fabulous 1970s soundtrack, all the details of the decade, and masterful descriptions, all in Kalteis’s casually clipped style.
I’ll leave you to discover for yourself what the title alludes to. Where’s The Cradle of the Deep? Do Bobbi and Denny get caught or do they escape the police, the assassin, and others they’ve met along the way? Does their relationship grow into anything more than mutual Lonzo-haters and escapees? And the half-a-million dollar question—what happened to the cash?
Writers in our Midst (WiOM) is a popular reading series of fiction, poetry, and performance hosted by the Port Moody Library.
Meet the Authors:
Erik D’Souza
Erik D’Souza is an author and the co-owner of the publishing company Timbercrest Publishing. In 2019, he published the anthology New Beginnings and raised over $10, 000 for SHARE Family and Community Services. He is on the Tri-City Wordsmiths executive committee, a member of Crime Writers of Canada and the Off the Page Speakers Group. During Writers in our Midst #16, he will be doing double duty as the host and a presenter. He’ll be reading from his first mystery novel, Death in Halfmoon Bay.
W. L. Hawkin
W. L. Hawkin writes “edgy urban fantasy with a twist of murder”. Her Hollystone Mysteries follow a coven of West Coast witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. A lover of mythology and the mystical arts, Wendy has a background in Indigenous Studies and English literature. Although she’s an introvert, in each book her characters go on a journey where she’s travelled herself — except for her upcoming time travel adventure set in Iron Age Ireland, perhaps.
Seamus Heffernan
Prior to his writing career, Seamus Heffernan worked in education, journalism, policy, marketing and politics, and earned a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of the Fraser Valley. He was the former head of staff for a Member of Parliament and ran for office in the 2019 federal election. Presently, he is the author of the Thaddeus Grayle detective novels, published through Crooked Cat Books. His short fiction has appeared in The Raspberry and the Louden Singletree. Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, he has called several places home, including a lengthy stint in London, England. He currently lives in Port Moody, British Columbia with his partner Chelsey and his son James.
Debra Purdy Kong
Debra Purdy Kong has published more than one hundred short stories, essays, and articles for publications that include Chicken Soup for the Bride’s Soul, B.C. Parent Magazine, and the Vancouver Sun. Her criminology studies and work as a patrol & communications security officer, provided inspiration for her Casey Holland transit mysteries. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and a facilitator for the Creative Writing Workshop through Port Moody’s Parks & Recreation Program.
A.J. Devlin
A.J. Devlin grew up in Greater Vancouver before moving to Southern California for six years where he earned a BFA in Screenwriting from Chapman University and an MFA in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute. Cobra Clutch, the first entry in the “Hammerhead” Jed ex-pro wrestler turned PI mystery-comedy series, was nominated for a 2019 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and won the 2019 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel. Book two in the series — Rolling Thunder — was published May 15th, 2020 by NeWest Press.
Winona Kent
Winona Kent is an award-winning author who was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing. More recently, she received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School. Winona’s writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, Tower of Power. Her short story, Dietrich’s Ash was an Okanagan Short Fiction Award winner and was published in Canadian Author & Bookman, anthologized in Pure Fiction (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) and broadcast on the CBC Radio program Ambience.
Here’s your way in: Click here to join us live tomorrow night. Don’t worry if you miss it. It’s being recorded so just check back when you have some time to kick back, relax, and watch some crime and mystery writers in action.
I’ll be reading from my latest book, To Render a Raven.
“A woman’s body lay on the wide stone step in front of the oak and stained-glass door. Copper hair. Pale face. A look of terror tainting her wide brown eyes. Red lips freshly painted. A white satin slip edged in lace. A red rose between her breasts . . .
Dubh’s fey senses were overwhelmed by the smell and taste of blood, yet he could see no wounds, no ligature marks, no bruises, no pooling blood. Perhaps, the poor woman had been asphyxiated. Crouching down, he tilted her head gently to the left and then to the right. No bruising, but two bloody puncture marks marred the right side of her neck. Someone was messing with Michael. Someone familiar with his vampire fetish.“
Join me for a glimpse Into the terrifying minds of mystery and thriller writers as we read aloud from our novels. For some of us, crime really does pay.
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