Geoffry Chadwick Misadventure

A Geoffry Chadwick Misadventure, Book 1 - Lawyer Geoffry Chadwick is 50, Canadian, single, gay and, after a brief struggle with a hustler who tries to shake him down, a murderer. Herein lies the device for this macabre, funny, first novel. Although Geoffry must dispose of the body-which he does by dropping off sections of it around town at night-the trauma of the murder affords him the opportunity to reminisce and ruminate: on the recent termination of his affair with a history teacher; on the not-so-recent deaths of his wife and daughter; on the alcoholism of his mother; on growing old; on being gay. The visit of a nephew and the New Year's festivities only serve to intensify his thoughts. Although Chadwick is abrasively disdainful early on, he is fascinating when he loosens up. Phillips keeps the reader hopping with throwaway quotations from Donne and scatological references and puns. First published in 1981, and a Books in Canada First Novel nominee, this 2019 edition contains a new foreword by Alexander Inglis.

A tale of mystery and suspense brims with human drama, both poignant and comic: It turns out that one of the other hostages, now married, had once been Chadwick's lover. As the hours of their forced confinement turn into days, a flood of bittersweet memories engulf Chadwick, of an affair whose painful end he could never forget, of a lover who had changed the course of his life. As the weekend moves toward its powerful denouement, Chadwick comes to terms with the road he has taken-and the quite different path, of marriage and convention, chosen by his early love. First published in 1986, it won the coveted Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. This 2019 edition contains a contemporary interview with Phillips on reception of his work and a reminiscence of Edward Phillips' 80th birthday celebration by Toronto author Nancy Wigston.