Noir or not, there are some interesting murders happening
north of the border.
My favourite is Giles Blunt. Already winner of awards, Blunt
did a few teleplays for "Law & Order". One novel back in
the late 80s - COLD EYE. Then, a shift to a small town in
Ontario and John Cardinal, a detective with a small municipal
force in Algonquin Bay (based on North Bay). More can be
found at:
Compared with Sandford's Davenport, Cardinal is a tad more
complicated and introspective. Each of the four titles seems
to reach further and further, marking this as a series that
will be one to watch. Good if not excellent writing, neat
plots and wonderful characters.
Canadian publishers seem to have discovered mystery writers,
even if the books are not generally available south of the
line. Thomas Rendell Curran comes close to noir, with two
titles thus far out for Inspector Stride of the Newfoundland
Constabulary. Newfoundland was a separate Crown colony until
it joined Canada in 1949 - bankrupt and destitute. The old
"outports" were quaint but economically impossible, so most
residents were "encouraged" to relocate to larger towns by
Joey Smallwood, a premier with a canny wit. Stride has a past
in run running, and that gives him an MG to run around St.
John's.
http://www.cyberus.ca/~ericstride/
In Quebec, not noir but Agatha Christie seems to power Louise
Penny's two titles, with a third on the way. Weighed down
with all sorts of awards (New Blood Daggar Award, Kirkus
Review top 10, Dilys and more). she places her stories in
Three Pines, Quebec, and her main character is Chief
Inspector Armand Gamache. Louie Howland, a former Little
Brown editor, yacht designer and book seller put me on to
Penny and he is a good judge of writing. A FATAL GRACE comes
out on May 15th.
Big city stuff comes with an alcoholic judge (dismissed) and
the Ellis Portal series of five titles by Rosmary Aubert.
Hard to compare this to any American writer that I know of
presently. Going back in time, the series of novels of
William J. Coughlin come close. Comparing the two, we are so
much more civilized...
We have detectives in small towns (Sechelt, B.C.) and large
cities. Fortunately, the number of fictional murders far
exceeds the number of real murders, making it harder to do
noir. We are just not a noir country - far too polite and
civilized. How do you have a mystery in rural Saskatchewan,
where a 911 call might go something like this:
Caller: I wantta report a break in at my house.
RCMP: Is that you, Howie?
Caller: Yeah, Ross.
RCMP: They take much?
Caller: Only some CDs and a few old movies
RCMP: When did this happen?
Caller: I was down at the curling rink, ya know, eh. Had a
few games and then came back...
RCMP : So Howie, you know who did it?
Caller: Well...
RCMP: Not Geoff again!
Caller: Yep
RCMP" He still workin' down by the coffee shop?
Caller: Yep. Since Sally left, he has nothin' to do and don't
want to drive to Rosebud to rent movies. Damn it, he must be
drinkin'; again.
RCMP Sure it was him?
Caller: Yep. He left his pick-up here - it won't start.
I mean, in places where you are in very small towns and miles
from anywhere, it isn't that hard. Up here in Prince George,
we have a criminal "organization" known as "The Crew", run by
the Renegades and they bow to the Hell's Angels. They run the
crack shacks. Theft is up to a Metis group run by two
families. It is not a question of knowing who dun it, but
only why. Take away those two groups and we would be almost
crime free. Any murder is booze, Saturday night, and mainly
Native.
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