Why would anyone want to murder the most respected senior citizen, Niagara-on-the-Lake has ever had?

Retired history professor Edward Mitchell was surely not long for the grave, so why would someone risk life in prison to kill him? Picking up the clues is the reluctant Homicide Chief Detective, Bryan Dee. Thinking he might be out of his depth he is happy to enlist the aid of his friend, Kris Gage. But when Dee reads the deceased’s last entry in his diary, ‘time to take care of K. Gage,’ he becomes torn between investigation and friendship.

As an urban planner, Gage understands real estate and the bureaucracy of planning. Following the money, he soon finds himself in the middle of corrupt developers who seek to take all the charm out of the area. Over two hundred years after the War of 1812, is Niagara-on-the-Lake, once again, on-the-Take?

The Concrete Vineyard is an intriguing and unique whodunit. Packing an intellectual punch, this smart murder/mystery will have you guessing and gripped! If you like great characters, clever plots and intelligent storytelling, then you’ll love this creative and thought-provoking novel.

Buy The Concrete Vineyard today for a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Although everyone has a planning opinion (there’s a joke about this in the novel), urban planning can be a pretty boring subject. With the exception of an accounting summary, nothing will put you to sleep faster than skimming through a technical planning report. Ironically, planning benefits from visioning, creativity and innovation, however, the political and administrative structures in which planners often operate stifles the very traits we need them to exhibit. I wanted to write a novel that would help educate people about planning and urban design but allow them to experience it in a fun way. Nobody, including myself, likes reading planning reports – but people do love a good murder. Canada 150 provided the perfect moment in time to write this ‘murder history’.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I knew that my main character (urban planner Kris Gage) would reveal and tackle the planning issues I wanted to raise in my novel but I needed another character to bring out the history component. I decided to cast my main detective (Bryan) as a former history major who doesn’t really care for his position as a police officer but he does experience enlightenment about what is happening to his former hometown. Fire plays an important role in the history and evolution of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Bryan’s understanding of the past is required to reveal this major storyline. A key message of the novel is you can’t plan for and be a good caretaker of a place if you don’t appreciate its history – like Bryan does.

Book Sample
Lost in my thoughts, as I jogged along, a pack of 20 tourists on bicycles pedaled up behind me, led by a white-goateed bicycle tour guide. Then, as we all moved forward in a cluster, a tour van swerved out, rather dangerously, and overtook us all, narrowly squeezing past the unsuspecting cyclists who were riding some two and three wide. It was a dangerous moment, and none of them seemed to know it—not even the tour guide. All it would have taken was for one cyclist, after too many wine samples, to swerve in front of the van and he would have been squelched. The urban planner in me kicked into life. I thought of Sean and Zendaya and their business proposal. Their idea of moving cyclists off roads and onto an abandoned rail line, a town-owned corridor that cut right through the heart of wine country, was a no-brainer. Municipalities all over the world were searching long and hard for solutions to make active transportation safer. It made me wonder, why isn’t that happening in this town?

As the townsfolk of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the 'First Capital of Upper Canada', gather on the hallowed grounds of Fort George to celebrate the nation's 150th birthday, Edward Mitchell, the town's modern-day patriarch, lies dying in a nearby vineyard. The old man, a retired history professor, was clearly murdered … but by who?

A revered man with no apparent enemies, the only potential clue to his death is a 'for sale' sign that was erected earlier that day at the front of his grand, historic estate—the most valuable and coveted property in town. But as the murder investigation unfolds, it seems that real estate is perhaps not the only motive for Edward Mitchell's murder.

Over 200 years after the War of 1812, Detective Bryan Dee and his boyhood friend, urban planner Kris Gage, begin to wonder whether a different battle is being waged … and whether Niagara-on-the-lake is now on-the-take.

Why would anyone want to murder the most respected senior citizen, Niagara-on-the-Lake has ever had?

Buy The Concrete Vineyard today for a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Author Bio:
I grew up in rural Niagara-on-the-Lake, working in the vineyards and picking fruit during the summer (actually, I ate more than I picked). This experience confirmed how useless a farmer I was but the incredible setting of the ‘First Capital’ also piqued my interest in history, heritage, a good vista and ultimately ‘urban planning’.
I had the privilege of being mentored by and working alongside some of the best planners and urban designers in the country. As a development manager, I also worked with one of the largest real estate and land development companies in Ontario.

The range of these life experiences allowed me to write, in my opinion, the most complete novel ever about Niagara-on-the-Lake. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think and what I missed.

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