What makes a mystery good isn't 'the usual business': every conventional mystery begins with a nasty crime, then introduces some interesting detective or detectives, a slew of possible culprits, obstacles, a death-defying moment, and a resolution that rights the world for a time or, at the very least, gets one thing right in this stinky lot of a life we live in.
So what separates one mystery from another? Well, unpredictability, of course. But, mostly, good description. Description that individuates characters, that makes even malevolence shine in a strange new way, and that brings scenes and settings alive in all their vividness and vitality.
Michael Boughn can describe.
From his horizon-wide renderings of the Niagara escarpment in Ontario, to the minutiae in the streets of Buffalo, NY, to the clicking and whirring of big-city Toronto, Business As Usual entertains and enlivens.
Claire Dumond is a beautiful botany professor who works with vineyards on the side. Oh, and she has a mean martial arts kick and isn't afraid to use it on flesh. Her sidekick (or is it the other way around?) is David Sanders—poet, novelist, and wannabe professor who can't seem to make it happen.
They stumble upon a toxic waste "spill" that turns out to be intentional, some toxic dumping in a quarry, corrupt Canadian officials, and, of course, mobsters. Could you ask for less?
A brilliant, African American MIT grad and computer genius Benjamin; a French vineyard owner named Phillipe; and, of course, one mobster named "Sal" and another named "Racco."
If you care to take an entertaining and fun ride through the treacheries of academia, the deadliness of the mob, the nastiness of illegitimate trucking, the intricacies of fake international bonds, and the thrill of a wild gunfight that begins after a guy dies because a computer monitor was slammed on his head a la the rock singer Mojo Nixon, this book's for you.
Thank you, Michael Boughn.
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Business As Usual (NeWest Press)
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