ISBN 0-88801-313-2
$11.99 CDN/$8.99 US
4 1/4X7, 346 pages

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Michael Van Rooy

An Ordinary
Decent Criminal
mystery/thriller
by Michael Van Rooy

A crisply written and fast-paced story about good and evil, creative revenge, redemption, and the transformative power of love.

Montgomery “Monty” Haaviko has done the crimes—robbery, assault, embezzlement, arson, smuggling, attempted murder—and has lived the criminal lifestyle, where nothing is permanent. Crime may look easy, but a career criminal can’t even follow a TV series he might like. For Monty the endless danger and fear, along with a hard-to-kick drug habit became too much. Now, all he wants to do is settle down in a quiet Winnipeg neighbourhood with his wife, his baby son, his dog, and his pet mouse, and try something new: an honest job and life as an ordinary decent citizen.

But going straight is hard, even for a guy who was an ordinary decent criminal. And it gets harder. When Monty ends up with three dead break-and-enter artists in his living room, he discovers there are those who don’t want him to put everything he knew before at a distance. Detective Sergeant Enzio Walsh knows all about Monty’s criminal past and thinks it will help him put Monty away for murder. If Walsh can’t make the charge stick, he’ll settle for running Monty out of town. And then there’s Jean Robillard, a minor crime boss and uncle of one of the dead men on Monty’s floor. He’ll settle for nothing less than Monty’s body on a slab in the morgue.

Fortunately for Monty, he doesn’t have to face his nemeses alone. His wife, Claire, at one time a hairbreadth from leaving him for good, is standing by him. And he has plenty of tricks, scams, and schemes he can use to clear his name and save his life.