Howard Shrier was born and raised in Montreal but now calls Toronto his home. After his successful debut novel, Buffalo Jump, Howard Shrier is back with High Chicago, the next in the Jonah Geller series. Experience Toronto had the chance to chat with the author about the book,his thoughts on Toronto and much more.

ETO: What inspired you to write High Chicago?

Howard Shrier: I was looking for a setting where the stakes would be high enough for people to commit murder over, and development and construction seemed to fit the bill. I knew people in the business who could help with my research. I also fell in love with Chicago on a visit in 2005 and wanted to include it as a contrast to the way things are done here.

ETO: Toronto investigator Jonah Geller from your first novel Buffalo Jump returns in High Chicago. Tell us about the character?

Howard Shrier: Jonah is an investigator in his early thirties, a secular Jew who believes strongly in the concept of tikkun olam—repairing the world, making it a better place however and wherever you can. He’s also a martial artist who taught shotokan karate before joining Beacon Security.

ETO: Are you working on a third novel?

Howard Shrier: But of course. In fact, I should be working on it right now, instead of procrastinating.

ETO: Who is your favorite author?

Howard Shrier: I grew up on Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, two of the all-time greats, but my favourite author is Elmore Leonard: an absolute original who owes nothing to anyone who preceded him.

I was reading Philip Kerr’s great Berlin Noir trilogy at the time of this interview.

ETO: What are you currently reading?

Howard Shrier: March Violets, the first book in Philip Kerr’s fascinating trilogy set in pre-war Germany, featuring private detective Bernhard Gunther.

ETO: What is your guilty literary pleasure?

Howard Shrier: There’s no such thing. Anything worth reading should be read without guilt.

ETO: You where born in Montreal but now live here in Toronto with your family. Do you have any favourite spots here in the city?

Howard Shrier: I’ve lived here for 25 years now, about as long as I lived in Montreal, so I know the city well and have many favourite haunts, including the Annex, where I work; Riverdale, where I lived for many years; the ravines, where the climax of Buffalo Jump takes place; and many others.

ETO: Any favourite book stores here in Toronto?

Howard Shrier: I spend a lot of time at Book City on Bloor, because it’s around the corner from my office and they have great reference books at low prices, and because they sponsored the Best First Novel award, which I collected in June. And no crime writer could live without Sleuth of Baker Street on Bayview, one of the best stores of its kind in the world.

ETO: There is such a rivalry between Montreal and Toronto . What’s your thoughts on the differences between the two major cities?

Howard Shrier: When I first moved here in 1984, the differences seemed quite stark. Montrealers, it was said, worked to live while Torontonians lived to work. Montreal was where the great restaurants and nightlife were, while Toronto was the home of the bland, still ruled by the old blueblood elite. Nowadays, the distinctions are fewer. Toronto has all the restaurants, music, art, festivals and other events one can handle, and it’s possibly the most multicultural city in the world.

ETO: What is the one thing you want readers to take away after reading High Chicago?

Howard Shrier: That no one is entitled to use and abuse people to build their fortunes, as does the villain in the book; and that Toronto’s waterfront could be an absolute jewel, like Chicago’s, if only various levels of government would work together to develop an enduring vision for it