Hot Freeze [Paperback]

A noir period piece and a colorful representation of Montreal in the 1950s

A raw novel of sex and drugs in the years just before rock’n’roll,Hot Freezewas first published in 1954. It takes readers from the highest Westmount mansion to the lowest Montreal gambling joint and nightclub. Its hero is Mike Garfin, a man who got kicked out of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for sleeping with the wife of a suspect. Recreating himself as an “inquiry agent,” Mike takes on what looks to be an easy job: shadowing a bisexual teenager of privilege who is throwing around more money than his allowance allows. But the boy disappears and soon other disappearances follow, and Garfin’s world becomes a lonelier place.

“Entertaining . . . the tempo is fast” —New York Times on previous edition

“Dope, torture, blackmail, murder in this rowdy potpourri.” —Saturday Review on previous edition

Douglas Sandersonwas a mystery author who often wrote under the pen names Martin Brett and Malcom Douglas. He is the author of several books, includingThe Deadly DamesandA Dum-Dum for the President.Brian Busbyis the series editor at Ricochet Books. He is the author ofA Gentleman of Pleasure: One Life of John Glassco, Poet, Translator, Memoirist and Pornographerand the editor ofThe Heart Accepts It All: Selected Letters of John Glassco. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario.