Cover design by Daniella PostavskyAfter winning the commission to paint a war memorial mural for Christ Church Grange Park, Nora Britton is found dead on the church floor. An accidental fall from the scaffold she was working on? So it seems, until police detective Paul Shenstone discovers that she has been the subject of parishioners’ death threats. Shenstone’s sleuthing takes him from slum to mansion, from speakeasy to laboratory to artist’s studio. The dead Nora becomes his obsession. His list of suspects keeps lengthening as he discovers in his city unexpectedly virulent religious and ethnic hatreds. His toughness, brains, and marksmanship will all be tested in his fight to do Nora justice.
“Why didn’t I speak up? At first, I was too shocked at seeing her lying crumpled on the floor of the chancel. In life, she didn’t give the impression of being a small woman. She had a quiet radiance that seemed to fill the space around her. But in death she looked no bigger than a child. A dead child — there is no more pitiful sight.”
“Winners’ Loss is a well written, entertaining step-back in time with punchy, ‘private-eye’ style dialogue, strong pacing and local colour that turns Toronto into a setting worth reading about…” (Don Graves, The Bay Observer)
The Coliseum at the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds hosted prize fights during the 1920s.
A Chrysler Imperial Roadster figures in the ’20s novel Winner’s Loss.Top Ten Songs of 1927
1. “Stardust” (Hoagy Carmichael)
2. “My Blue Heaven” (Gene Austin)
3. “Singin’ the Blues” (Frankie Trumbauer)
4. “Me & My Shadow” (Jack Smith)
5. “In a Mist” (Bix Beiderbecke)
6. “Someone to Watch over Me” (Gertrude Lawrence)
7. “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (Blind Willie Johnson)
8. “Some of These Days” (Sophie Tucker & Ted Lewis)
9. “Ain’t She Sweet?” (Ben Bernie)
10. “Charmaine” (Guy Lombardo)
1. “Stardust” (Hoagy Carmichael)
2. “My Blue Heaven” (Gene Austin)
3. “Singin’ the Blues” (Frankie Trumbauer)
4. “Me & My Shadow” (Jack Smith)
5. “In a Mist” (Bix Beiderbecke)
6. “Someone to Watch over Me” (Gertrude Lawrence)
7. “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (Blind Willie Johnson)
8. “Some of These Days” (Sophie Tucker & Ted Lewis)
9. “Ain’t She Sweet?” (Ben Bernie)
10. “Charmaine” (Guy Lombardo)
Page last updated 2017-09-27
