The latest Jonah Geller novel begins, improbably, at summer camp, where Geller assists a sports-challenged kid in the finals of a softball tournament. It’s a long shot from Geller’s last outing, which found him nearly dead in Boston, and events there mean he’s not returning to the U.S. of A. any time soon. So it’s Toronto [...]
The third Jonah Geller novel by Arthur Ellis-winner Howard Shrier is the best so far. Shrier has a great eye for location and a good ear for dialogue. Add those to solid characters and an intriguing plot and you have a winning combination for any mystery lover. PI Jonah Geller nearly had his brains fried in High [...]
In the push to get homegrown crime novels onto the market, a fair number of mediocre offerings make it into print. Thankfully, local author Howard Shrier’s Jonah Geller books aren’t among them. Miss Montreal, the fourth in this top-notch series featuring Toronto P.I. Jonah Geller, is evidence of that. Geller is back home after a disastrous case [...]
A thousand books pass through The Jury Box every year. Of those, only a handful are chosen for review each month. I was asked how I select the books I review. Like any other mystery fan, I pick books that grab my attention. I look for themes among the books. And I try [...]
Canadian crime writer Howard Shrier is on a roll. Making his debut in 2008 with Buffalo Jump, he introduced readers to Jonah Geller, a gutsy Toronto-based Jewish PI with friends in low places. The book netted Shrier that year’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. The sequel, High Chicago, earned him a second Arthur Ellis, this time for [...]
In the acknowledgments for Boston Cream, Howard Shrier writes that he reread all the novels of Dennis Lehane, the early novels in Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series, and other old favourites “to deepen my sense of crime in Boston.” It’s a rich tradition to live up to in dropping his Toronto-based private detective, Jonah Geller (whose previous [...]
Toronto PI Jonah Geller hasn’t played hockey for a while, but he is seeing a sports medicine physician who specializes in the after-effects of concussion. It wasn’t an errant hockey stick that laid him low, but a deliberately-wielded barbell, one of the hazards of his trade. But he should probably have followed Sidney Crosby’s example and [...]
There is absolutely nothing wrong and a whole right about the happy relaxation a well-written private dick story can give the reader. I’ve certainly had decades of delight from them, ever since I was twelve or thirteen or so and noticed that there was this Mickey Spillane fellow whose books seemed to take up most of [...]
From start to epilogue, Boston Cream is a mystery thriller of insight, compassion, with an infectious sense of urgency that drives to a conclusion both real and satisfying. Author Howard Shrier masterfully links the dialogue to the pace, the setting and the plot with an energy that makes readers feel they’re absorbing the story at a [...]
Howard Shrier starts with the canvas of a crackling good mystery, then paints a compelling portrait of modern secular Jewish life complete with its wisdom, contradictions, and abiding humor. High Chicago is often funny, sometimes violent, and always thoughtful, with a powerful sense of place throughout. Toronto may have just found its Spenser in PI Jonah [...]
Howard Shrier is a two-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, Canada’s highest prize for crime fiction. The author of the acclaimed Jonah Geller series and other works, he publishes new stories and helps emerging authors finish their books, all on this site.
