In the fertile artistic milieu of 1927 Toronto ... After 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.

Mel Bradshaw was born in Toronto and grew up there on the brow of the escarpment overlooking the former Lake Iroquois. He took his B.A. in English and philosophy at the gargoyle-laden (some say haunted) University College in the University of Toronto. He continued studying philosophy - mostly ethics and aesthetics - at the quaintly named New College, Oxford (founded 1379). Between degrees, he spent two years forgetting the Canadian winter in Southeast Asia, teaching English in northern Thailand and performing odd jobs in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has also travelled to Zambia, Iceland, Poland, and points between. A four-year sojourn in Saskatoon reminded him about winter and showed him how to dress for it. He has since returned to his native-city where he shares with Carol Jackson a 1920s house and shady garden in the former borough of East York. Author of the critically acclaimed Toronto-based historical mystery, Death in the Age of Steam, Bradhsaw has again chosen to revisit Toronto’s past, the 1920s to be exact, for his second novel Quarrel with the Foe. The historical content of his novels has stirred interest in several literary circles at which he has spoken. He has also been invited to partake in many prestigious literary events across the country, including the Globe and Mail’s Books and Brunch, Bloody Words, the U of T reading Series and the Word On the Street. Queen’s Quarterly, Impulse, Descant, and The Dalhousie Review are among the journals that have published Mel’s short stories, many of which are inspired by his wanderings. He has also written for The Canadian Forum about the Canadian army’s victory at Ortona during the Italian campaign of World War II. Mel's latest novel, Victim Impact, this time set in the present day, was published by RendezVous Crime in the fall of 2008.

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