Last of the Independents (ebook)

Argumento de Last of the Independents (ebook)

2015 Kobo Emerging Writer's ? Winner, Fiction
2015 Arthur Ellis Award ? Nominated, Best First Novel
2012 Unhanged Arthur Award ? Winner, Best Unpublished First Crime Novel

What do a necrophile, a missing boy, and an unsavoury P.I. have in common? Private detective Michael Drayton is about to find out?.

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael Drayton runs a private investigation agency in Vancouver that specializes in missing persons ? only, as Mike has discovered, some missing people stay with you. Still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of a young girl, Mike is hired to find the vanished son of a local junk merchant. However, he quickly discovers that the case has been damaged by a crooked private eye and dismissed by a disinterested justice system. Worse, the only viable lead involves a drug-addicted car thief with gang connections.

As the stakes rise, Mike attempts to balance his search for the junk merchant?s son with a more profitable case involving a necrophile and a funeral home, while simultaneously struggling to keep a disreputable psychic from bilking the mother of a missing girl.

Opening paragraphs don?t get much more bang-on enticing than the one with which Vancouver writer Sam Wiebe kicks off Last of the Independents. It would be nice to quote the paragraph to prove the point, but in a general-interest newspaper, that can?t be done ? which is a clue to the opener?s perfect rambunctiousness.

Drayton?s sardonic voice in counterpoint to his assistants and supporting players, along with an ending that delivers a knockout punch, make Last of the Independents a debut well worth spending time with.

Smart, sharp writing that kicks into gear on the first page. Wiebe is a 21st century Raymond Chandler, and his Vancouver is like Chandler?s LA ? its darkest corners are supporting characters. PI Mike Drayton is cynical, funny, and warm-hearted, with a strict moral code and a terrifying temper. What a debut! (E.R. Brown)

. . . a literary achievement. (starred review)0