The Mountie

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Historian Michael Dawson digs deep into the written and pictorial record to reveal how the RCMP, since its inception, has constructed and zealously guarded its public image. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Dawson documents how consultants and entrepreneurs deliberately transformed and modernized the traditional symbolism of the Mountie. His trenchant analysis extends to the ironies of the recent licensing of the hallowed Mountie image to the ultimate dream-merchants—Disney.

From growing up in a Canadian Mountie household to writing Hollywood screenplays, debut short story writer Rick Butler has mined his real-life experiences for THE MOUNTIE IN THE HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES. "Butler makes delightful debut with short stories... great entertainment, with distinctive characters and tales... Butler has created a fine collection of memorable characters and tales. Let’s hope we hear more from this delightful storyteller soon," writes Jodi Delong in The Chronicle Herald (Halifax). "These are lively, insightful and highly entertaining stories from a very fine writer with talent to burn," says Leo Furey, author of The Long Run. "Prime reading for lovers of vivid, fast-paced fiction." Among the 14 quirky, often-humorous tales, a seven-year-old boy watches his Mountie father pursue justice in their small town. A Venice Beach murder victim pursues her killer from the other side. An escaped convict and a young screenwriter light out for old Mexico in pursuit of a hit movie. A disgruntled wedding guest disrupts a million dollar ceremony. A visiting student falls in with a rollicking cast of eccentrics in Brighton, UK. A screenwriter teams with Michael Jackson to pitch a movie plot to the biggest studios... "Rick Butler's short story collection is the ideal travel companion," says Chip Conley, author of Emotional Equations and Peak.

RCMP Superintendent "Scotty" Gardiner's captivating memoir reveals what truly goes on behind the scenes in local and international criminal and civil investigations - from solving small-town break-ins to busting multi-national drug operations, and from foiling historical coin counterfeiting to making a controversial money-for-bodies deal with serial killer Clifford Olson. IN THE MIND OF A MOUNTIE provides deep insight into the thought processes, self-discipline and integrity required to be an exemplary policeman. "There is no LUCK in investigation," Gardiner emphasizes. "Instead you must focus on PREPARATION, so you will recognize OPPORTUNITY." With masterful storytelling, Scotty Gardiner's IN THE MIND OF A MOUNTIE brings vividly to life the role of a policeman and investigator in late 20th-century Canadian society. -- ENDORSEMENTS FROM EXPERTS -- "A refreshing page-turner as Scotty leads from one crime investigation to the next, while offering shrewd insights into the nature and habits of career criminals and RCMP officers alike. His is a broadly sympathetic view of the human condition, seen through the eyes of a very smart and experienced RCMP officer." - Geoff Machin, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Emeritus Prof. of Pathology, U. of Alberta "A remarkably rich and personal memoir, full of stories that illustrate both the routine and complex in police work. The book is also a testament to how a combination of hard work, intellectual imagination, integrity, and self-discipline served Scotty well as a Mountie in postings across this vast country. It is an account of a life's work that needs to be told, especially in these times when the Force seems in disarray and those values compromised." - John McLaren, Emeritus Prof. of Law, U. of Victoria "A compelling story told in a most readable manner. Highly recommended for all ages - Scotty's life is the stuff of legends and deserves to be read widely." - Hamish Simpson, former head of Glenlyon School, Pearson College, and Upper Canada College Preparatory School

But readers of Mountie in Mukluks will soon realize they are in the presence of one of the most un-cop-like cops who ever built an igloo. And by the time they have finished they will never be able to think quite the same way about the fabled Redcoats, or life in the far north. During the 1930s, Bill White gave up trapping and joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, volunteering for arctic service. Arctic life was so dodgy in those days of the Mad Trapper and The Lost Patrol, the force couldn't send you there against your will, so volunteering was the only way to get there. Bill started out crewing on the historic RCMP patrol ship St. Roch under the command of the legendary Captain Henry Larsen, but hungered for greater adventure and requested a posting ashore upon reaching Cambridge Bay. Adventure he found: Mountie in Mukluks includes hair-raising accounts of a near-death experience under the ice on a frozen river; of a 1200-mile dog-sled chase after an arctic murderer; and of numerous fascinating encounters with shamans, telepathy and an Inuit way of life that has now vanished from the earth. White's absorbing oral accounts of life in the old north, molded into lively prose by Patrick White, place Mountie in Mukluks among classics of arctic literature like Kabloona by Gontran de Poncins and People of the Deer by Farley Mowat. Mountie in Mukluks is sure to cause a stir among enthusiasts of police and Arctic lore. As a cop who chose to adopt a Native lifestyle and was honoured with his own Inuit name, Bill White makes a devastating critique of the white settler way of life and its red-coated enforcers who disdained the traditions of the Inuit while simultaneously relying on them for survival.

Historian Michael Dawson digs deep into the written and pictorial record to reveal how the RCMP, since its inception, has constructed and zealously guarded its public image. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Dawson documents how consultants and entrepreneurs deliberately transformed and modernized the traditional symbolism of the Mountie. His trenchant analysis extends to the ironies of the recent licensing of the hallowed Mountie image to the ultimate dream-merchants-Disney.

“True-crime writing at its finest.” —Dean Jobb, author of Empire of Deception A rich and fascinating history of Canada’s first celebrity mobster, Rocco Perri—King of the Bootleggers—and the man who pursued him, Canada’s first undercover Mountie, for readers of Erik Larson, Dean Jobb and Charlotte Gray At the dawn of the 20th century, two Italian men arrived in Canada amid waves of immigration. One, Rocco Perri, from southern Italy, rose from the life of a petty criminal on the streets of Toronto to running the most prominent bootlegging operation of the Prohibition era, taking over Hamilton and leading one of the country’s most influential crime syndicates. Perri was feared by his enemies and loved by the press, who featured him regularly in splashy front-page headlines. So great was his celebrity that, following the murder of his wife and business partner, Bessie Starkman, a crowd of 30,000 thronged the streets of Hamilton for her funeral. Perri’s businesses—which included alcohol, drugs, gambling and prostitution—kept him under constant police surveillance. He caught the interest of one man in particular, the other arrival from Italy, Frank Zaneth. Zaneth, originally from the Italian north, joined the RCMP and became its first undercover investigator—Operative No. 1. Zaneth’s work took him across the country, but he was dogged in his pursuit of Rocco Perri and worked for his arrest until the day Perri was last seen, in 1944, when he disappeared without a trace. With original research and masterful storytelling, Cole details the fascinating rise to power of a notorious Prohibition-era Canadian crime figure twinned with the life of the man who pursued him.

Once again author Robert Knuckle combines a meticulous eye for research with a storyteller's touch to recreate an intriguing real-life drama based on one of the most interesting stories in the files of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A wild-west gunfight and high-speed manhunt ensues when a desperate couple--called Canada's Bonnie and Clyde--are trapped inside a motel, then escape in a police cruiser.