Description:
An exhilarating page-turner set in 1920s Vancouver post prohibition, when liquor was the fuel driving big business, big government--and major crime. In this spellbinding follow-up to his mystery The White Angel, John MacLachlan Gray captures the spirit of Vancouver in those gritty, gin-soaked days, as the city was remaking itself between wars.
Brief description:
John MacLachlan Gray is a playwright, composer and theatre director, responsible for many acclaimed productions, most notably Billy Bishop Goes to War (1978). He has authored several books, fiction and non-fiction, including most recently The White Angel (Douglas & McIntyre, 2017). An Officer of the Order of Canada, Gray lives in Vancouver, BC.
Review Quotes:
"enjoyable and propulsive sequel to 2017's The White Angel" --Publishers Weekly
"From its first pages, Vile Spirits pulls the reader along its wry cavalcade of anarchy, des-per-a-tion, intrigue, coincidence, and frenzy through scenes set by a playwright with an eye for staging and an ear for deadpan dialogue. Stifle your temptation to race toward its startling denouement. Read slowly and savor it from the start." --Washington Independent Review of Books
"The 1920s city depicted by John MacLachlan Gray is an ideal setting for noir fiction, full of drugs, alcohol, political corruption and sex....Highly recommended." --Vancouver Sun
"A riveting thriller of a read from first page to last, "Vile Spirits" once again showcases author John MacLachlan Gray's genuine flair as a novelist for the kind of narrative storytelling style that hooks the reader total and fascinated attention." --Midwest Book Review
Praise for The White Angel:
"Wonderfully evocative mystery set in Vancouver, 1924. Smog, police corruption, and of course the Ku Klux Klan ... as wildly unfamiliar as it is weirdly topical."-William Gibson, New York Times
"... tightly edited without a single extraneous page. One of the best novels of the year."-Margaret Cannon, The Globe & Mail
"... wonderful dark humour, which Gray uses as a weapon against ruling-class political aspirations, clueless cops, and the shameful racism of the time. This is a highly entertaining work of fiction informed by hard truths."-Publishers Weekly