Ex-criminal Montgomery "Monty" Haaviko would rather be known as the friendly neighbourhood daycare provider, but it's his criminal past that brings him to the attention of Marie Blue Duck. Blue Duck is a human rights activist in Canada and she wants Monty to set-up a route to smuggle refugees into the United States from Canada.

Monty's carefully laid plans quickly go off the rails when he squares-off against local thug, Samantha Richot. Their power struggle rapidly escalates into kidnapping, torture, and a daring and highly explosive stand-off. Just when Monty thinks he might just have it all under control, his old jailhouse crony, Hershel "Smiley" Wiebe, shows up on his doorstep. Monty is more than suspicious of Smiley's motives, but figures if you should keep old friends close, you should keep old cons even closer. A gripping and aggressive crime novel, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal, explores how far a man will go to protect his family, home and neighbourhood and asks the question "Can a man do good by doing bad?"

Michael Van Rooy (1968-2011) won the 2009 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. His first book, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, won the 2006 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Writer, was a finalist for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and has been recently optioned by Big Mind Films to make a full-length feature film. Before settling on a writing career, Michael studied history at the University of Manitoba. He passed away suddenly in 2011.

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