Showing The Devil's Making: A Mystery by Sean Haldane
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Canadian Crime Writers 2014 Best Crime Novel - Winner.
The Jury writes:
Sean Haldane's THE DEVIL's
MAKING is the standout choice for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Best Novel
award. It is a story about a young English policeman--a man of the 'new science'
influenced by Charles Darwin--who investigates a grisly murder in colonial Victoria,
B.C., in 1869. Chad Hobbes is a highly articulate and likeable character, an
innocent whose skills and very identity are challenged by this case. Skillful
diction; accurate historical detail; a compelling plot that fuses premonitions
of evil with lyrical descriptions of the landscape; and a fine balance of
action, exposition and fact are the hallmarks of this story about secrets and
lies. Haldane brings a modern sensibility to this first-person narrative about
Hobbes's pursuit of the murderer. The dead man was a doctor who used the new,
controversial theories of phrenology and mesmerism to treat his patients.
Haldane's sympathetic yet unromantic portrayal of the First Nations Tsimshian
people and of the tensions within a pioneer society is remarkable. The dialogue
reveals character in subtle ways, the Victorian tone never descending into
hokum or artificiality. The characters' actions are clearly motivated; clues
well placed; revelations leading to the climax never forced or implausible. THE
DEVIL'S MAKING's polished narrative involves intriguing characters, and
its themes of racial prejudice, self-doubt, notions of civilization and love
never slow its pace or overwhelm its story. It is a wonderful read, the best of
2013.
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