New crime novels feature a locked-room mystery, a Scarborough stabbing and a Jan. 6 insurrectionist
Fever Beach
Carl Hiaasen
Alfred A. Knopf, 384 pages, $39.99
It's a weird time in American politics, which means it's a perfect time for Florida novelist Carl Hiaasen to plumb the satirical depths of corruption and malfeasance in his home state. His last novel, 2020's 'Squeeze Me,' suffered from a subplot that attempted to satirize the once-and-current occupant of the White House, a Falstaffian spray-tanned figure so outrageous as to be almost impervious to satire. For 'Fever Beach,' Hiaasen wisely steers clear of POTUS and his inept administration, preferring instead to focus on wanton corruption at a lower level.
'Fever Beach,' by Carl Hiaasen, Alfred A. Knopf, $34.99.
The new novel begins with a meet-cute on an airplane between Twilly Spree and Viva Morales. Twilly is a stock Hiaasen character: an independently wealthy Florida do-gooder who spends his time making life miserable for folks who litter, antagonize the local wildlife or otherwise cause environmental or social havoc. Viva's job is administering the foundation of a couple of rich right-wing octogenarians whose fundraising operates as a money-laundering front to finance the campaign of far-right (and profoundly stupid) congressman Clure Boyette, in hot water with his obstreperous father over a scandal involving an underage prostitute named Galaxy.
Add in Viva's landlord — a Jan. 6 insurrectionist named Dale Figgo who heads the Strokers for Freedom (a white nationalist militia whose name is a rebuke to the Proud Boys' insistence on refraining from masturbation) — and his cohort, the violent and reckless Jonas Onus, and you have all the ingredients for a classic Hiaasen caper.
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Big Bad Wool: A Sheep Detective Mystery
Leonie Swann; translated by Amy Bojang
Soho Crime, 384 pages, $38.95
Twenty years ago, German-born author Leonie Swann debuted one of the most delightful detective teams in genre history: a flock of sheep on the trail of the person responsible for killing their shepherd with a spade through the chest. After a two-decade absence, Miss Maple, Othello, Mopple the Whale, and the other woolly sleuths are back on the case, this time on behalf of their new herder, Rebecca, the daughter of the early book's victim.
'Big Bad Wool,' by Leonie Swann, Soho Crime, $38.95.
Rebecca, her intrusive Mum, and the sheep are overwintering in the lee of a French chateau where there are rumours of a marauding Garou — a werewolf — that is responsible for mutilating deer in the nearby woods. Among other strange occurrences, Rebecca's red clothing is found torn to pieces and some sheep go missing — and soon enough there's a dead human for the flock, in the uncomfortable company of a group of local goats, to deal with.
'Big Bad Wool' is a charming romp, whose pleasure comes largely from the ironic distance between the sheep's understanding of the world and that of the people who surround them. ('The humans in the stories did plenty of ridiculous things. Spring cleaning, revenge and diets.') Their enthusiasm and excitement results in prose that is a bit too reliant on exclamation points, and some of the more heavy-handed puns (like the sheep's insistence on 'woolpower') seem forced, but this is nevertheless a fun variation on the traditional country cosy.
Detective Aunty
Uzma Jalaluddin
HarperCollins, 336 pages, $25.99
Romance novelist Uzma Jalaluddin takes a turn into mystery with this new book about amateur sleuth Kausar Khan. A widow in her late 50s, Kausar returns to Toronto from North Bay to help her daughter, Sana, who has been accused of stabbing her landlord to death in her Scarborough mall boutique. The police — including Sana's old flame, Ilyas — are convinced Sana is the prime suspect, but Kausar is determined to prove her daughter innocent.
'Detective Aunty,' by Uzma Jalaluddin, HarperCollins, $25.99.
Her investigation involves a couple of competing developers, both of whom want to purchase the land on which the mall stands, along with members of the dead man's family and fellow shopkeepers. On the domestic front, Kausar finds herself concerned with Sana's deteriorating marriage to her husband, Hamza, and her teenage granddaughter's sullenness and mysterious nighttime disappearances.
Jalaluddin does a good job integrating the various elements of her plot, and the familial relationships are nicely calibrated. The momentum is impeded, however, by a preponderance of clichés ('Playing devil's advocate, Kausar asked …'; 'Kausar's blood ran cold') and a tendency to hold the reader's hand by defining every easily Googleable Urdu word or greeting too programmatically. More attention to the writing on the line level would have helped move this one along.
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The Labyrinth House Murders
Yukito Ayatsuji; translated by Ho-Ling Wong
Pushkin Vertigo, 272 pages, $24.95
Yukito Ayatsuji's clever postmodern locked-room mystery was first published in Japanese in 2009; it appears for the first time in English translation, which is good news for genre fans.
'The Labyrinth House Murders,' by Yukito Ayatsuji, Pushkin Vertigo, $24.95.
Ayatsuji's narrative is framed by Shimada, a mystery aficionado, who is presented with a novelization about murders that took place at the home of famed mystery writer Miyagaki Yotaro, found dead by his own hand soon after the manuscript opens. Miyagaki has left a bizarre challenge for the writers gathered at his Byzantine Labyrinth House: each must write a story featuring a murder, and the victim must be the writer him- or herself. The winning author, as adjudicated by a group of critics also convened at Labyrinth House, will inherit Miyagaki's sizable fortune.
As the writers compete for the reward, bodies start falling in real life and Ayatsuji has a grand time playing metafictional games with his readers, challenging them to figure out who the culprit is in the context of a story that owes more than a small debt to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.' But Ayatsuji does Christie one better; it is only once the afterword, which closes the framed narrative, has unfolded that the reader fully understands how cleverly the author has conceived his multi-layered fictional trap.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba trade representative to U.S. ‘hit the ground running'
Indigenous, agriculture and labour leaders who have met Manitoba's new trade representative to the U.S. say they're optimistic Richard Madan is the right person for the job at a critical time. 'It's only his fourth day on the job, but he's a thoroughbred,' Renee Greyeyes, president and CEO of Indigenous Chamber of Commerce Manitoba, said Friday. 'The starter pistol sounded and he hit the ground running.' Greyeyes said she met Madan at two events after he arrived in Winnipeg on June 23 for a week of meetings with Manitoba business sector leaders. 'I think he's a good choice,' said Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand, who recalled being interviewed by Madan in his former role as a Washington, D.C., bureau reporter. Chartrand said he was impressed by the provincial trade rep as Manitoba deals with tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Madan, an American-born, Alberta-raised dual citizen who covered politics in the U.S. capital for nearly a decade, shared his insight on the states that Manitoba trades with and how they're being hurt by tariffs, Chartrand added. 'For example, he said in a lot of the farming areas … there's an outcry right now and it's causing a lot of pressure on Trump,' and there's opportunity to forge alliances with those states that will benefit both sides. It is a stance Keystone Agricultural Producers president Jill Verwey agrees with. 'It is their legislators and state representatives that are carrying that strong message on how important the relationship with Manitoba and Canada is,' she said. Verwey and other commodity association representatives met with Madan on Wednesday at Manitoba Agriculture's Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie. Verwey applauded Premier Wab Kinew for establishing a business and jobs council ahead of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade being renegotiated, leading a Manitoba mission to Washington in early 2024 and hiring Madan to his new role. 'He knows who to talk to … he knows what phone calls to make and has those relationships. I really did find that he was here to listen.'– Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl She said Trump's tariff threats that change 'from hour to hour, day to day' emphasize how important it is for Manitoba to strengthen its trade ties with individual U.S. states. 'The greatest value is having that strong relationship and building on that,' said Verwey, who wants to see a co-ordinated, Prairies-wide approach to domestic and international trade for the agriculture sector. Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl said Madan seemed knowledgeable about working with the states and the value of strengthening relationships. 'He knows who to talk to … he knows what phone calls to make and has those relationships,' said Dahl. 'I really did find that he was here to listen.' At the Manitoba legislature, Madan heard from labour leaders about the worries and concerns caused by tariff threats. 'Different unions talked about some layoffs that they're facing, the impact some of these things are having on workers and the uncertainty that they're causing our economy,' Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck said Friday. 'That's the story that needs to be told in Washington… that there's a trained, skilled workforce here that can partner and do things together.'– Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck 'We also talked about how proud we are to be Manitobans and that this is a great place to live and to work,' Rebeck said. 'That's the story that needs to be told in Washington — that there's a trained, skilled workforce here that can partner and do things together.' Meantime, Madan will need more than a week of hearing from Manitoba stakeholders to advocate on their behalf, said trade and supply chain expert Robert Parsons. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. 'My only concern is: does he get it about what is going on here?' said the Asper School of Business instructor and researcher with a PhD in engineering. Madan worked as a reporter in Winnipeg more than 20 years ago (2000-04). Before Madan's hiring was announced, Parsons had said he hoped Manitoba's trade representative to the U.S. would be someone from the province with extensive industry or trade experience. 'You have to really be in tune with what's going on here and, if there's a challenge, I think that's the one.' The provincial budget includes $800,000 for the Washington office, which includes funding for office space, salaries and administrative support. Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
National Observer
3 hours ago
- National Observer
Trump's anti-offshore wind ire leading US states to look north for Atlantic Canada clean power
Massachusetts is among the American states exploring sourcing electricity from planned offshore wind farms in Atlantic Canada, following the US market-stalling moratorium imposed on the industry by the Trump administration earlier this year. The state, home to the pioneering 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind 1 project brought online last year, is one of six in the US Northeast aiming to shift to renewable energy-based power grids before 2040. But a representative from the Massachusetts energy department suggested they were being forced to rethink options for reaching a targeted 5,600 MW of offshore wind power this decade since Donald Trump — who has long been a vociferous opponent of ' windmills ' — made good on a threat to halt a number of multi-billion dollar projects on ' day one ' of his second presidency. Maria Hardiman, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, told Canada's National Observer her department was now in 'regular communication' around developing 'new energy sources,' including Canadian offshore wind that would allow it to lower electricity costs and boost energy independence in the state and the wider US Northeast. 'Building on our efforts to connect our regions through transmission, there are significant opportunities to construct new onshore and offshore wind projects across Canada and the [North American] northeast,' she said. 'We will continue to explore these partnerships to bring down energy bills and bolster the energy independence of our region.' Industry insiders say other states in the region, led by New York, are investigating tapping projects off the province of Nova Scotia, which is set for a first leasing of construction sites later this year. "These US Northeast states' options to meet their clean energy targets with onshore renewables are quite limited. So for this reason, large-scale Canadian offshore wind could come into the picture," says Aegir Insights' Signe Sorensen Yet, Massachusetts was the only state that would specifically comment on whether it was looking to source Canadian offshore wind power, when approached by Canada's National Observer. A spokesperson for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public-benefit corporation that handles power procurement for the state — which has a nation-leading target of bringing 9,000 MW of offshore wind onto its grid by 2035 — said it 'continues to be focused on advancing the offshore wind industry in the US.' 'We applaud Canada for growing its offshore wind industry which will help to spur additional innovation and support expansion in the North American market,' NYSERDA spokesperson Deanna Cohen told Canada's National Observer. States keeping projects low-profile Industry observers suggest many states have opted to progress projects in 'relative silence,' hoping that keeping a low profile will save their developments from Trump's anti-offshore wind ire. However, several market analysts believe Trump's pullback on what had been a steadily-maturing US offshore wind sector will mean there is a 'golden opportunity' for Canada to deliver power to key markets south of the border. 'The US, which was expected to become one of the world's main [offshore wind] markets, is now going in completely the opposite direction for political reasons,' said Signe Sørensen, an analyst with Danish offshore wind consultancy Aegir Insights. 'This could matter a lot to Canada.' The New England states have been 'spearheading the US build-out, procuring lots of offshore wind' as part of former US President Joe Biden's objective of adding 30,000 MW of production by 2030, she said. 'Delays to construction now will have ramifications far beyond Trump's term. 'These states' options to meet their clean energy targets with onshore renewables are quite limited,' said Sørensen. 'So for this reason, large-scale Canadian offshore wind could come into the picture.' John Dalton, president of Power Advisory, a US power sector consulting firm, told Canada's National Observer there was 'definitely a case' for future offshore wind production from Atlantic Canada being exported to New England. 'The Trump administration has largely derailed the realization of the [US Northeast's] electricity market's clean energy and offshore wind goals,' he said. 'States will be pivoting to other resources … with policymakers very focused on securing low [electricity] costs.' Nova Scotia offshore wind price 'very favourable' A price check between power purchase agreements finalized by US states with developers for wind farms now being built off the US — including the multi-billion-dollar Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind off New York and Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, which would together power well over 1 million American homes — and a number of the proposed projects off Nova Scotia compares 'very favourably' the Canadian sector. 'The economics of Nova Scotian offshore wind would certainly be competitive with these and future US offshore wind projects,' said Sørensen, though she declined to provide hard 'levelized cost of energy' figures – the industry benchmark metric for the cost of a project over its lifetime compared to the revenue generated by purchase power agreements, citing commercial confidentiality. Aegir CEO Scott Urquhart noted: 'Nova Scotia has a huge area of shallow water that could house tens of gigawatts [tens of thousands of megawatts] with excellent economics. Looking at distance to markets, interconnections to the US are not a crazy idea — they've been doing similar distances off Europe for years.' Given the historically high electricity prices in the US Northeast and the fast-rising power demand forecast, Aegir calculations suggest Nova Scotian offshore wind supply could fit well with states' pursuits of a strategy led by greater diversification of clean energy sources. Atlantic Canada's rich wind resource Winds rush along the coastlines of Canada's Maritime provinces at speeds similar to those off Northern Europe — at roughly 40 km/h — where offshore wind farms have been generating power to the grid for more than 30 years and have led to the development of a sector employing over 300,000 people. Canada's Atlantic Economic Council said last year that offshore wind off Nova Scotia could become a $7-billion market by 2030, creating an initial 5,000 jobs amid other benefits for regional economies. Nova Scotia is set to hold its first auction, where waters would be leased to developers to harness a first 5,000 megawatts (MW) of energy, before the end of 2025. The Global Wind Energy Council, an industry body, said in its most recent annual report Canada could add a first 1,000 MW by 2034. But under the aegis of making Canada an 'energy superpower,' Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has pitched a 40,000 MW project called Wind West as a means of meeting 27 per cent of the country's total energy demand. Multi-billion-dollar visions of a massive offshore wind-powered transmission trunkline running along North America's Atlantic coastline are not new. Several long-distance power transmission projects have been considered over the past decade, including the high-profile Atlantic Wind Connection backed by Google, Swiss green-energy private-equity house Good Energies, Japanese industrial conglomerate Marubeni, and Belgian transmission system operator Elia.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
In the news today: Canada rescinds digital services tax
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed… Canada rescinds digital services tax Canada is rescinding its digital services tax and will resume trade negotiations with the United States, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement issued late Sunday night. The announcement came following a phone call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump, and just hours before the first payment under the tax was going to come due for major tech companies like Amazon and Google. On Friday Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social he was terminating all trade discussions with Canada because of the tax. 'Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis,' Carney said in a written statement on Sunday. He also said Canada's negotiations with the U.S. 'will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses. A spokeswoman for Carney confirmed the call with Trump, and also said Champagne spoke Sunday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Here's what else we're watching… What was the digital tax that Canada killed? Tech giants will not have to shell out close to $2 billion as expected today, as Canada moved to cancel the controversial digital services tax on Sunday, just one day before the first payment was due. The announcement from Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne came late Sunday evening, following a phone call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump. That call concluded a flurry of discussion between the two countries since Trump suddenly announced last week that he was ending all trade talks with Canada and threatened new tariffs. But the standoff had really been building for years. While opposition to the tax has been brewing south of the border for years, Trump escalated it abruptly Friday afternoon with an online post. He wrote he was 'terminating all discussions on trade with Canada' because of the tax and called it a 'direct and blatant attack on our country.' He also complained about Canada's dairy-sector protections that include high tariffs on imports of American milk and cheese. Carney vowed to eliminate trade barriers. Did he? Federal and provincial leaders are working to dismantle internal trade barriers that push up the cost of goods and make it harder to do business within Canada. But anyone expecting all of them to be gone by tomorrow should read the fine print. Throughout the spring federal election campaign, Liberal Leader Mark Carney repeatedly vowed to 'eliminate' interprovincial trade barriers and create 'free trade by Canada Day.' With July 1 just a day away, Carney's government has passed its planned changes into law — but it's more like the start of a conversation than the final word. 'It's a starting gun and it's starting a lot more activity and work, which is honestly the really exciting part,' said internal trade expert Ryan Manucha. 'If any of this was easy, it would have been done.' The rush to break down internal barriers to trade comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada. One study estimates that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year. New rules ready as separation talk roils Alberta As Canada prepares Tuesday to blow out 158 birthday candles, Alberta plans three days later to formalize rules making it easier to have an independence celebration of its own. Beginning Friday, Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government is officially lowering the required threshold for citizens to initiate a provincewide referendum, including on separation. Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group touring Alberta promoting independence, says he plans to apply to Elections Alberta that same day to start a petition under the new rules. The group aims to gather 177,000 signatures within 120 days to put the question on a ballot to voters: Do you agree the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada? 'I would not be surprised if that referendum was held right now that we could possibly even win it,' Sylvestre told The Canadian Press. Gunman started Idaho blaze and then fatally shot 2 firefighters in ambush attack, officials say A man armed with a rifle started a wildfire Sunday and then began shooting at first responders in a northern Idaho mountain community, killing two firefighters and wounding a third during a barrage of gunfire over several hours, authorities said. A shelter-in-place order was lifted Sunday night after a tactical response team used cell phone data to 'hone in' on a wooded area where they found the suspect's body with a firearm nearby as flames rapidly approached, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. Officials did not release his name, nor did they say what kind of gun was found. Sheriff's officials said crews responded to a fire at Canfield Mountain just north of Coeur d'Alene around 1:30 p.m., and gunshots were reported about a half hour later. Investigators said the gunman acted alone. 'We believe that was the only shooter that was on that mountain at that time,' Norris said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
