Eddie Dougherty Mystery

The police in Montreal have their hands full as FLQ, a militant separatist group, continue a campaign of violence. Bombs explode at the stock exchange and at McGill University. Riots break out at a parade. Diplomat James Cross and government minister Pierre Laporte are kidnapped-and the Canadian army moves onto the streets. But while all this is going on, the "Vampire Killer" has murdered three women and a fourth is missing. A young beat cop finds himself almost alone hunting the serial killer, as the rest of the force focuses on the crisis. Constable Eddie Dougherty, the son of a French mother and an Irish-Canadian father, is determined to take matters into his own hands before another victim dies . . .

"Like [Elmore] Leonard, McFetridge is able to convincingly portray flawed figures on both sides of the law" (Publishers Weekly). Montreal, Labor Day weekend, 1972. The city is getting ready to host the first game in the legendary Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. Three men set fire to a nightclub and thirty-seven people die. The Museum of Fine Arts is robbed and two million dollars' worth of paintings are stolen. Against the backdrop of these historic events, Constable Eddie Dougherty discovers the body of a murdered young man on Mount Royal. As he tries to prove he has the stuff to become a detective, he is drawn into the world of American draft dodgers and deserters, class politics, and organized crime . . . "This terrific continuation of the narrative McFetridge began in Black Rock opens with a bang . . . Working with a deceptively simple style that echoes Joseph Wambaugh, McFetridge has delivered an unpredictable mystery, a fine character study, and a vivid snapshot of 1972 Montreal." -Publishers Weekly "Brilliant . . . As a police procedural, A Little More Free is superb. As a sociopolitical human drama, it's even better-remember to breathe during those final few pages." -Winnipeg Free Press

In the weeks before Montreal is to host the 1976 Summer Olympics, the police are bolstering security to prevent another catastrophe like the '72 games in Munich. But it isn't tight enough to stop nearly three million dollars being stolen in a bold daytime Brink's truck robbery. As the high-profile heist continues to baffle the police, Constable Eddie Dougherty gets a chance to prove his worth as a detective on another case. He's assigned to assist in a Quebec suburb investigating the deaths of two teenagers returning from a rock concert across the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Were they mugged and thrown over the side? Or was it a murder-suicide? With tensions running high in the city and his career at stake, Dougherty is about to confront one of the most challenging cases of his life.