Part history, part true crime, Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 contains the true accounts of murders, crimes, and scandals--some of which remain unsolved to this day--in small-town northern British Columbia. With a focus on the victims as much as the cases themselves, award-winning author Geoff Mynett relates untold stories of BC's deadly history while providing both the natural and social history of the region. Hazelton, situated where the Bulkley River joins the Skeena River, was one of the most important sites in the interior of northern BC from 1870-1913. The gold rush, the arrival of the telegraph, and the ability for steam boats to journey upriver increased outside interest in the region. As new modes of transport were built, more non-Indigenous people arrived, and as colonial law and governance increased, so did tensions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. One such case was that of the murder of Amos "Charley" Youmans in 1884--the escalation of a clash between the laws and customs of the Gitxsan and those of the encroaching traders and settlers. Mynett also recounts the stories of the so-called Skeena River Uprising of 1888, a bank robbery shoot-out, and a deadly dispute between two prospectors. Peeling back historical, social, political, and geographical layers, Murders on the Skeena draws almost exclusively from documents from the time to reveal the fascinating secrets and surprising consequences of these captivating true crime tales.

When John Granville commits to finding young Rupert Weston, he and his fiancée Emily Turner face treachery on a scale they never imagined. Hired to find a remittance man who is suddenly heir to an Earldom, John Granville quickly learns the fellow hasn’t been seen in months. He can’t trust his client. He can’t trust the facts he’s been given. Digging deeper, Granville uncovers unsettling questions. Has the man taken his own life? Or is there something more sinister at play? And then the shooting starts. Racing to save Weston puts Granville’s honor and his very life at stake. Will he be in time? This is the third book in the John Granville & Emily Turner series, though they can be read in any order.

His name was Horace Wrinch. It was 1880. He was 14 years old, a farmer's boy from England travelling on his own to Quebec. Twenty years later, a qualified doctor and surgeon, he arrived in Hazelton on the Skeena River in northern British Columbia as a Canadian citizen. At this time the northern interior of the province had no qualified doctors, no surgeons and no hospitals. In 1904 Horace built the first hospital in the northern interior. Over the next thirty-six years he became widely respected as a doctor and surgeon, hospital administrator, medical missionary, Methodist minister, magistrate, farmer, community leader and progressive politician. Ever innovative, he instituted a form of health insurance for the Hazelton community as early as 1908. In the 1920s, he was a two-term president of the newly established British Columbia Hospital Association and a two-term Liberal Member of the Provincial Legislature for the Skeena riding. While in the Legislature, he championed publicly funded health insurance. Upon his death in 1939, he was called "the most influential and best liked man that ever blessed this district with his presence." Drawn almost entirely from original and contemporaneous sources, this is the previously untold story of a remarkable British Columbian.

Pinkerton's and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot throws new light on the extensive manhunt for an accused murderer in northern British Columbia in the early 1900s. After a double murder in 1906, Gitxsan trapper and storekeeper Simon Gunanoot fled into the wilderness with his family. Despite lack of proof, the police pursued Gunanoot for nearly three years, sending search parties and police operatives into the wilds of northern BC. The hunt was covered by numerous newspapers at the time, describing a melodramatic cat-and-mouse chase--a not-entirely-accurate account. Frustrated by Gunanoot's ability to evade capture, the Attorney General of BC asked Pinkerton's National Detective Agency in Seattle to assist in the pursuit. In May 1909, two Pinkerton's operatives disguised as prospectors were sent to Hazelton, BC, to find and apprehend Gunanoot. From 1909-1910, they delivered regular reports to Pinkerton's office in Seattle detailing their progress. Many of these confidential reports, written around campfires on the treks in the wilderness, provided a vivid picture of life in the frontier town, relations of the settlers and prospectors, and of the conflicting loyalties and tensions in both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. One of the most famous fugitives in BC history, Gunanoot's story has taken on the status of legend. Pinkerton's and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot is a fascinating tale of turn-of-the-century crime-solving techniques, rural politics and backwoods survival, based on never-before published, firsthand accounts of the two undercover operatives.

Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities examines the relationship between the Wet’suwet’en and hydrocarbon pipeline development, showing how colonial governments and corporations seek to control Indigenous claims and how the Wet'suwet'en resist. Tyler McCreary explores pipeline regulatory review processes, reviews attempts to reconcile Indigeneity with development, and asks fundamental questions about territory and jurisdiction. In the process, he offers historical context for the continuing influences of colonialism on Indigenous peoples. Throughout, McCreary demonstrates how the cyclical movements between resistance and reconciliation are affected by the unequal relations between Indigenous peoples, colonial governments, and development operations. This sophisticated analysis invites readers to consider the complex realities of Indigenous and Wet’suwet’en law, as well as the politics of pipeline development.

When human bones are found in a vat of lye on Steveston’s notorious Cannery Row, John Granville is determined to find out why. In a time of frontier brawls and broken dreams, the fishing industry is vital to the survival of the young province and the people who live there. Tensions from a recent fishing strike abound, and Cannery Row is a tinderbox. Can Granville—with a little help from his fiancée, Emily Turner—identify the victim and find the killer in time to prevent all-out war? The Cannery Row Murders is a sharp-witted and engaging historical mystery, with strong characters set in a unique time and place. This is the fifth book in the John Granville and Emily Turner series. These books can be read in any order.

The Torreon Cabin Murders in December of 1995 was one of the most heinous cases in the history of the state of New Mexico. A young man and his live-in girl friend were murdered execution style in a cabin in Cibola National Forest near a small town called Torreon. Her two young sons were then locked in the cabin to die of starvation and dehydration by the murderer. Later, the young man’s father discovered the bodies and New Mexico State Police and a gang detective from the Albuquerque Police Department were assigned to investigate the four deaths. No crime scene team was sent to the cabin to look for evidence, according to the author. Investigators came up with prime suspects and with the guidance of the District Attorney’s office took numerous statements from two of them until they were able to obtain what appeared to some to be false confessions. Three young men were eventually charged with the death penalty. But was the real killer in the Torreon cabin murders released on the public to continue his crimes? Let the reader decide.

When a young Englishman is arrested for fraud, John Granville takes the case as a favor to a friend. The resulting scramble to extricate his client involves Granville in a break-in and two murders, drawing him—and his fiancée Emily Turner—ever deeper into the murky side of the local business world. With their client panicking and the witnesses dying, can they solve this one before another body turns up? The Terminal City Murders is a tale of fraud and murder in early twentieth century Vancouver, written with an eye for historical detail and a dry humor.

As both colonizer and colonized (sometimes even simultaneously), women were uniquely positioned at the axis of the colonial encounter � the so-called "contact zone" � between Aboriginals and newcomers. Aboriginal women shaped identities for themselves in both worlds. By recognizing the necessity to "perform," they enchanted and educated white audiences across Canada. On the other side of the coin, newcomers imposed increasing regulation on Aboriginal women's bodies. Contact Zones provides insight into the ubiquity and persistence of colonial discourse. What bodies belonged inside the nation, who were outsiders, and who transgressed the rules � these are the questions at the heart of this provocative book.

In the vein of the astonishing and eye-opening bestsellers I'll Be Gone in the Dark and The Line Becomes a River, this stunning work of investigative journalism follows a series of unsolved disappearances and murders of Indigenous women in rural British Columbia.