Hair of the Dog

John Norman Harris' The Weird World of Wes Beattie, published in 1963, is often called the first Canadian mystery novel. That's probably stretching things: Let's just call it a wonderfully funny Canadian mystery novel, with Hair of the Dog its delightful successor. Both feature Sidney Grant, a magnificently cranky young lawyer with a loathing for social hypocrisies and a fondness for poking at them. Here, poking away alongside him is Sidney's new bride, a smart and smart-alecky character in her own right, who shares Sid's indignation when a local mobster gets blamed for the murder of a rich old lady. It's not that she liked the old lady. And she certainly doesn't like the mobster. But the facts of the case against the mobster simply don't add up. And no matter how many people would like them to keep their mouths shut, June and Sidney can't hang with the New Math. Wes Beattie has been called the love-child of Agatha Christie and PG Woodhouse, and Hair of the Dog is its chuckling little brother.