Classic Detectives in Fiction

Welcome, readers of fine Canadian crime fiction!

And Justice For None, the long-awaited second novel in the J.M. Walsh Mystery Series, has been published.

And Justice For None will be available in paperback on Amazon.com and e-book format suitable for reading on your laptop, tablet or reader.

About the Book:

Struggling to avoid bankruptcy, ex-Mounted Police officer James M. Walsh agrees to investigate the death of a young Blackfoot woman in a suspicious house fire. The woman’s father, Chief William Starblanket, wants answers. And for some reason the police are silent.

Suspicions point to the woman’s husband,  a wounded Afghanistan war veteran; his wealthy and reclusive Alberta business family; and a shadowy private “security” firm with a reputation for black ops.

In Geronimo’s Cadillac, the first Walsh novel, Walsh went looking for a missing man in the Montana mountains and stumbled into the middle of a firefight beween Homeland Security and a Native American terrorist.

And Justice For None takes Walsh into a different kind of wilderness, where corporate corruption is protected by legions of lawyers, cyber crime is widespread and a brave investigative journalist has discovered  that in information wars, “the first casualty is the truth.”

Book teaser for And Justice For None

Why was this woman murdered in: And Justice For None ?

Is it truly justice for all? Read And Justice For None…

“Although this work is a new genre for me, I was completely captured by the masterful dialogue and the rhythm and pace of this intriguing detective story.”

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“J.M Walsh character is very real and appealing, and I found myself routing for the resolution of his personal and financial woes with his ranch. Although the title gives away that the murder case he is working on will be left without resolution, it was fascinating and quite believable to follow the trail of how Walsh unveils the culprit. [You] hone in on a timely subject, the critical part journalism plays in our search for the truth, and [you] invent rather believable yet terrifying ways that corporations might go to subvert that truth. The book unfolds in a wonderful way. I highly recommend it.”

Camilla CalhounAmerican author of The White Moth, a fine book about three generations of women in Tuscany
Rating: 5

“I just finished Justice for None, and it’s a very good read, although the ending could have been more climactic.”

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“My test for genre fiction is verisimilitude. Realistic characters, credible plots, and a strong sense of place are key ingredients. I thought you succeeded on all fronts. I certainly kept reading with few breaks. I guess my quibble about the ending was that it was too untidy, i.e. too much like real life. So, hoisted on my own petard of plausibility.”

“Your knowledge of Calgary, southwestern Alberta, and the Blackfoot is impressive for an Edmonton boy. Do you have some connection to the area? I used to spend a lot of time hiking, biking, skiing, and horseback riding in those environs, have written about ranching and the oil and gas industry there, and still have friends in and around Burmis, Cowley, Coleman, and Twin Butte, so I know the landscape and people pretty well. I don’t know as much about Indigenous people in southern Alberta, but I’ve had quite a few contacts with them further north and west. If Eden Valley was the model for your reserve, you made it a lot more prosperous than I remember. On the whole, the natural and human setting seemed on the mark, but I wonder if readers outside Alberta would benefit from a little more description of the geography and history. The ruthless, predatory oil company and security contractor stuff was somewhat over the top—seemed more likely in the U.S. than here—but not completely implausible. Your MacGuffin, the rock-eating microbe, also seemed like a stretch yet within the realm of remote possibility; some weird shit has been put into fracking holes, and the public only finds out about it months or years later, if ever.”

Robert Bottan Alberta business journalist and longtime student of the Alberta oil industry
Rating: 5

“Barr has the Sam Spade/Phillip Marlowe thing going on pretty well”

Gerald F.
Rating: 5

“AND JUSTICE FOR NONE hits on a lot of current hot-button issues from indigenous relations to bio-engineering and about six other topics in between. The time is ripe for a novel like this”

Susan P.
Rating: 5

“The plot is fascinating”

Peter F.
Rating: 5

“Barr has the ability to bring the reader inside the character’s skin so that you are not only reading a wonderful story but you also see the story unfold through the character’s eyes. A contradiction, which to me is a sign of a successful story: As I came to the end, I wanted to read more quickly to find out how the story is resolved while wanting to read more slowly to make the story last longer”

James G.
Rating: 5

“Walsh has an excellent, wry sense of humour. In places, he is really funny.”

Grace M.
Rating: 5

Canada’s Fictional Detectives: A Sampling

No fictional Canadian detective symbolizes Canadian crime fiction to the world in the way that Inspector Morse did for British readers or Philip Marlowe did for Americans. However several fictional Canadian detectives have become noteworthy characters in their own right.

They include a neurologist (Patrick Lazerenko), a public defender (Monty Collins),  a retired lawyer (Arthur Beauchamp), a full time private eye (Jonah Geller), two active-duty police officers (Armand Gamache of the Quebec Surete and Patrick Green of the Ottawa Police), a former international aid worker (Amanda Doucette) and, of course, retired, and somewhat embittered, former Mounted Police officer  J.M. Walsh (created by John J. Barr).

Walsh, we believe, is the first fictional investigator to be a died-in-the-wool westerner.

A sampling of these characters and their creators:

Jonah Geller, a Toronto based private eye, was created by Montreal native Howard Shrier, an Award winning crime novelist). In Miss Montreal Geller ventures into that city’s complex underworld.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec (created by Louise Penny) lives in the eastern townships of Quebec. Ms. Penny, the dean of Canadian crime writers, began her career as a radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She has more than ten novels to her credit. Her novel The Long Way Home has been made into a film. Her recent novel A Trick Of The

Arthur Beauchamp (created by Vancouver lawyer William Deverell) is a retired criminal lawyer — scholarly, crafty and self-doubting. Until called back into duty as an investigator he is retired as a hobby farmer in the gulf islands along with his new wife, an organic farmer and environmental activist.


Neurologist Patrick Lazerenko (created by Liam Durcan, himself a McGill University neurologist) investigates an international case involving the war crimes trial of his beloved mentor, Hernan García, a Honduran doctor accused of involvement in torture.

Nova Scotia public defender Monty Collins (created by Nova Scotia novelist Anne Emery) works in Halifax.  In Sign of the Cross Collins has the client from hell in in the form of a surly, cynical and secretive Priest on trial for first degree murder.

International aid worker Amanda Doucette and City of Ottawa police officer Michael Green are two characters created by novelist Barbara Fradkin. Ms. Fradkin is a retired Ottawa-based child psychiatrist and award winning author of many mysteries.

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