"Miss Montreal", by Howard Shrier

Book 4, in the Jonah Geller series

I always preferred reading series in sequence I made an exception this time and skipped installment 2 and 3 to jump to this latest. The title was too enticing to wait and wanted to see how this story would resonate to a French speaking Montrealer.

In “Miss Montreal” Mr. Shrier cooks up all short of trouble for his protagonist while he experiences for the first time what real anti- Semitism is and suffers acerbic commentary along the way…. As any outsider, Jonah has pretty much the same difficulties understanding the peculiarities of the city…… bienvenue à Montréal, ici on parle français.

It opens with Jonah investigating the death of a Sammy Adler, a Montreal newspaper columnist whom he knew from summer camp when they were both twelve. Adler is known to be a scandal-mongering journalist, one to never hesitate exposing political corruption and other dark secrets. Hired by the victim`s grandfather to do what the police can`t, Jonah and his pal Dante set east on the 401 and this is the start of a powerful plot and a trip through Montreal`s pothole covered streets. Our heroes find themselves smack in the middle of election time and the tension is palpable, chanted is the slogan “Québec aux Québécois”. To discover the truth and figure what led to Sammy’s demise they will face religious fanatic as well as a twisted political dynasty. The worst part will be to work with a reticent French police officer who will give them a hard time especially when they open their mouth…..

“Miss Montreal” is truly a work of fiction, the author has definitely taken strong liberties and has deliberately distorted facts and exaggerated everything from past shenanigans of the political leaders to the present language issues to make his story a captivating read and he has not failed in doing so. This mystery after all continues the story of an urban, secular and funny P.I. solving cases the authorities can’t. Mr. Shrier lingers on Montreal diversity and his knowledge is what makes this caper so believable. When we have a good combination of witty characters mixed into an adventure full of twists and continuous action you have an exciting and satisfying story. 

Now I need to catch up on the two previous novels.