Cheakamus
The series
The Cheakamus series revolves around bartender and occasional private investigator, D. S. Gabrieli (let’s call him Gabe, everyone does.) He’s a former high-flying Alberta lawyer whose current assets are a black F150 named Three and an ornery cat named Doofus.
In The End Game, the coming soon series’ opener, Gabe travels to the British Columbia mountain town of Cheakamus, for what should be a two-day duty visit. Instead he finds himself in a week-long race to identify those responsible for deadly sabotage at nearby mining sites.
A prior iteration of The End Game was shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Award of Excellence for unpublished manuscripts, and for the MWA (Florida chapter) Freddie Award for Writing Excellence.
The setting
Cheakamus is clutched in a fist of granite peaks behind which the sun sets much too early. Cheakamus sits not far from the Slocan Valley, an area into which draft dodgers disappeared in the seventies. The town is also very close to the U.S. border. Just a few miles south of town and you’re looking at that unguarded piece of real estate that separates Canadians from their American neighbours.
The lack of a far-reaching horizon, not to mention, non-existent cell-phone reception, irritates Gabe.
Gabe
Gabe’s home base is a small town in southwestern Alberta we’ll call Eau Claire. Located in the rolling ranchland near the Alberta foothills, Eau Claire has a front row view of the Rocky Mountains. The Old Man River is to the south, the Bow to the north, and the Cowboy Trail skirts the eastern edge of the town. Calgary is a mere hour’s drive away.
If asked, Gabe would list his F150 among his good friends. Primarily because when Gabe talks, the truck named Three listens. And yes, there were two before Three.
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