2015 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize — Winner, Mystery • 2015 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Best First Novel — Nominated • Unhanged Arthur Award — Winner, Best Unpublished First Crime Novel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.

Sam Wiebe is the award-winning author of the Vancouver crime novels Cut You Down, Invisible Dead and Last of the Independents. His short stories have appeared in Thuglit, Spinetingler and subTerrain. He is a former Vancouver Public Library Writer in Residence and the winner of the 2015 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Sam lives in Vancouver.

Sam Wiebe's profile page

• Short-listed, Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel
• Winner, Kobo Emerging Writer's Prize, Fiction
• Commended, Dewey Divas and the Dudes Fall Picks
• Winner, Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel

The unanimous winner of an Arthur Ellis Award in 2012, Wiebe’s debut novel is something quite special. It promises more from a young writer who looks sure to turn Vancouver into one of the great cities of noir.

The Peak, Simon Fraser University

. . . a literary achievement. (starred review)

Booklist

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)

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.

The Tribune

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.

National Post