The Road to Heaven

A Patrick Bird Mystery

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Pub Date 23 Jul 2024 | Archive Date 31 Mar 2024

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Description

A gripping noir mystery introducing artless young detective Patrick Bird, set in Toronto’s Parkdale during the tumultuous ’60s.

Patrick Bird, police academy burnout turned PI, works divorce cases, using his camera to catch the unfaithful and the lonely looking for love in rented rooms. But his easy routine is shattered by a new case involving a missing girl.

Sixteen-year-old Abbie Linklater hasn’t been home for two days. Her stepmother believes Abbie’s getting an abortion. Her twin brother thinks she’s studying at the library. Her best friend couldn’t care less. Her father has no idea; he just wants her home without involving the police.

Before the sun sets on the first day of his investigation, as Bird roams the streets of Toronto looking for the runaway, he’s caught a drifter prowling in the Linklaters’ backyard, stumbled into a creepy church with a belligerent minister, sparred with the client, been hit by a car, and discovered some loose ends in a bank robbery gone wrong a decade earlier.

And that’s before he finds the body.

A gripping noir mystery introducing artless young detective Patrick Bird, set in Toronto’s Parkdale during the tumultuous ’60s.

Patrick Bird, police academy burnout turned PI, works divorce cases...


Advance Praise

"Raw and twisty, The Road to Heaven takes you through hell to get to the promised land. Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson's prose reads like poetry, spare, yet laden with symbolism and meaning. A bright new star is shining among us. This book is a rare find and a brilliant debut." — JANE K. CLELAND, author of Jane Austen's Lost Letters

"Set in 1960s Toronto, Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson's The Road to Heaven is a taut noir that introduces Patrick Bird, a rookie PI who is as self-destructive as he is effective. This edge-of-the-chair page-turner is full of suspense, evocative settings, and unforgettable characters trapped in a web full of secrets and lies." — LIV SPECTOR, author of The Rich and the Dead

"Witty and whip-smart, Stefanovich-Thomson dazzles his readers with fresh twists on every page. He dares you to keep up." — NINA DUNIC, author of The Clarion

"The Road to Heaven is a compelling debut and a must-read for fans of the hard-boiled genre. Stefanovich-Thomson masterfully recreates the seedier side of ‘60s Toronto with pitch-perfect description in this intriguing mystery of a family in crisis. Conflicted PI Patrick Bird proves a sardonic narrator with anger issues and his own dark secrets, making him the unlikely hero tasked with finding the family's missing teenager. A beguiling and well-crafted mystery." — BRENDA CHAPMAN, author of the Stonechild and Rouleau and the Hunter and Tate mysteries

"In this taut and stylish debut, Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson plunges the reader headlong into a Toronto period piece affectionately stage-lit by noir. The opening scene’s flashbulb pop exposes the loneliness and corrosive underbelly of a thickly peopled mystery. PI Patrick Bird’s dogged pursuit of a missing persons case is captured with a wry awareness of a gaping postwar generational divide and a pitiless eye for intimate affairs." — ANDREW STEINMETZ, author of Because

"A riveting, fast-paced mystery, with aspects of noir and historical fiction thrown in for good measure. Patrick Bird is a young, cynical detective hired by a secretive rich man to track down his missing teenage daughter, Abbie. This seemingly simple plot takes place in a fascinating setting (Toronto, Ontario, mid-1965). At the time, Toronto was rapidly expanding, and youth culture was starting to challenge pious norms in a notoriously uptight city. Did Abbie run away to join the counterculture or is something more sinister afoot? Detective Bird keeps on the case, in a well-written book with multiple plot pivots that keeps everyone guessing until the end. I hope to read more books featuring Detective Bird’s adventures in Toronto the-not-so-Good." — NATE HENDLEY, author of Atrocity on the Atlantic and The Beatle Bandit

"Raw and twisty, The Road to Heaven takes you through hell to get to the promised land. Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson's prose reads like poetry, spare, yet laden with symbolism and meaning. A bright new...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781459753723
PRICE US$17.99 (USD)
PAGES 320

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