“I was walking into an air-conditioned Halifax tavern on a hot summer afternoon in search of a dark mystery. I was on the trail of a cold-case murder—a murder case 150 years cold. Clearly, I needed a beer.”

So beings the strange and surprising adventure of Hunting Halifax, the true tale of writer Steven Edwin Laffoley as he investigates the mean streets and narrow alleys of historic Halifax, Nova Scotia, in search of clues to a murder, a mystery and a black hole in history.

In the early hours of September 8, 1853, in the shadow of Citadel Hill, a sailor with a crushed skull lies slumped against the staircase of a notorious tavern on Barrack Street. The death is said to be an accident—a fall from a window—until two tavern prostitutes tell Nova Scotia’s famous son, Joseph Howe, that it was murder.

Prepared to do what it takes to find justice for the murdered sailor, the author sleeps in old graveyards, drinks in rough taverns, concerses in trendy coffee shops, pokes about staid Province House, ponders Victorian Age philosophy, and somehow just manages to avoid arrest. Humorous and engaging, Hunting Halifax is an entertaining tale of history, mystery and murder.

Steven Laffoley is a writer, educator, and traveller. For almost two decades now, his numerous fiction and nonfiction books – including the award-winning Shadowboxing: the rise and fall of George Dixon, The Blue Tattoo, and Halifax Nocturne – explore the compelling people, unique character and uncommon stories of Nova Scotia. He lives in Halifax.

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