Michael Blair (1)

The novel begins with a bang, literally, with Patrick O'Neill, Vancouver businessman, being murdered in a local restaurant. Joe "Shoe" Schumacher is an investigator employed by Patrick's boss, William Hammond. Hammond is a real jerk, we discover quickly, and as much dirty laundry about the leading characters is turned up, we dislike Hammond more and more. There's quite a lot of plot in this story; I wish it had been tightened and shortened up some, and also that Joe had discovered more actual clues to help him unravel everything that's going on. But overall I liked this PI story with its unusual setting.… (mere)

Depth of Field is the third in Michael Blair's "Granville Island Mystery" series, set in that part of Vancouver, B.C. Commercial photographer Tom McCall is having a very busy time of it - not only is he in the process of moving his photography studio, but he has several clients who all want to meet with him at the same time. Therefore he sends his partner Bobbi to handle one commission, a simple request to photograph a boat in order to show it to a prospective buyer; but before the evening is out, Bobbi is fished out of Fish Creek, badly beaten, more than half-drowned, and in a coma. When Tom learns that the client is not who she claimed to be, he decides that he owes it to Bobbi to find her attacker, even if it means running afoul of the police investigation.... I enjoyed Overexposed, one of the previous books in this series, and so was pleased when I ran across this sequel, but for some reason the wonderful Vancouver setting just wasn't enough for me this time around. Maybe it was the fact that out of the three dozen or so times that Tom fetches himself a beer, only once is that beer not identified as a Granville Island Lager; maybe it was the fact that his first reaction with regard to every single woman he meets in the course of the story is to rate her attractiveness and to list her physical attributes; maybe it was just that there were a few too many "colourful characters" populating the marina community where he lives. I also didn't find the mystery terribly compelling - the bad guys are obvious because they all look sleazy or ferret-like (apologies to the mammal), and the surprise "reveal" at the end is only a surprise if you live in a very circumscribed world. I won't be looking for more of this author's work; a pity, because I liked the earlier book and I love Vancouver. Guess I'll just have to get my Vancouver fix by moving there....… (mere)

Overexposed, by Michael Blair, is set around Granville Island in Vancouver, and concerns the trials and tribulations of commercial photographer Tom McCall, who on the day after his 40th birthday discovers the body of a stranger on the roof deck of his houseboat. Nobody knows who the man is, but a number of individuals start turning up to make life difficult for time because they appear to be certain that Tom knows about a mysterious package that the stranger allegedly had. Of course, Tom has no idea what is going on, but that doesn't prevent him from trying to figure it all out. Meanwhile, an old friend comes to stay with him, his ex-wife is planning to take their daughter to Australia for a year and a new client at work seems to be playing him for a fool. All just daily life for Tom, it seems.... This is evidently the third novel in a series that I've not run across before, but although the author refers to the plots of the other two books from time to time, I didn't find it necessary to search those out before being able to read this one. Definitely a lightweight story, but I enjoyed it, particularly because I know the areas of Vancouver that are described in the book and so I could picture the locations well. I doubt that I'll go out of my way to find the other two novels, but if I ran across them I think I'd pick them up....… (mere)