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Showing posts from May, 2025

The Silver Blonde

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 Book Review: “The Silver Blonde” by Elizabeth Ross is a straight ahead who-dun-it set in post WWII Hollywood. The baffling murder of a beautiful stand-in actress on the grounds of a major motion picture company becomes a young German immigrant’s obsession. Eighteen-year-old Clara who works aa a “vault girl” at the studio is the one who finds the silver blonde’s remains, the one who knows the police are on the wrong track, and the one who hunts down the real murderer. Being an enthusiast of silver screen era films, this book had an immediate appeal for me. In my mind I pictured the story in glorious black and white, complete with the glamourous gowns, smart suits, and moody sets making the very most of film noirish light and shadow. References to many well-loved films from the time established a sense of context and pleasurable familiarity. The more I read, the more immersive the experience became. Character’s voices took on the timbre and attitude of film icons from the 40’s, s...

Wilful Blindness

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  Book Review: “Explosive revelations that expose our government’s complicity with the Chinese Communist Party in undermining Canada’s national security and democracy.” (Dr. Charles Burton) Sam Cooper’s best selling  book “Wilful Blindness” is amazing – and chilling! It reads like crime fiction, but the story of huge international drug cartels, outlandish illegal profits and money laundering, high level government corruption, and an ultimate attack on the west by the CCP is investigative journalism at its best. Meticulously researched and documented, this report has leapt to prominence amid the furor surrounding election interference we have witnessed in the past few months. Cooper follows the work of Vancouver investigators who put their careers and lives on the line to expose the inner workings of organized crime wave that has become know as the “Vancouver Model”. Unimaginable wealth juxtaposed with heart-wrenching suffering – a walk around Vancouver’s Hastings and Mai...