Set in the small Canadian town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, this novel is about the murder of retired history professor Edward Mitchell. Investigating the murder is Homicide Chief Detective Bryan Dee. He enlists the help of his friend, Kris Gage. Things get really interesting when the last entry in Mitchell's diary is "time to take care of K. Gage."

Gage is an urban planner who understands real estate, bureaucracy and money. He discovers a group of corrupt developers who want to destroy the area's natural charm. Does it have anything to do with Mitchell's murder? Over 200 years after the War of 1812, does widespread corruption rear its ugly head?

This book works really well as a murder mystery. It also works as a book about sustainable communities. There is lots of good writing, with good characters. Here is an entertaining story that is very much worth reading. ( )

Murder mysteries are fairly new to my preferred reading genres, but I’ve been having a blast with them. It’s a lot of fun to play amateur detective alongside a good character, and even more fun to get hit with that perfect unseen twist. When Cam Lang offered me The Concrete Vineyard for review, I was excited to give it a shot! I actually visited the area this is set in pre-Covid, and that made me even more eager to dive right in.

Starting with the characters, which we all know are my favorite part, Lang knocks it out of the park. I had a lot of love for Kris. His witty personality, his love of bicycle rides, and his deep love for his family all wrapped up into a great character. I appreciated that he tackled everything that came his way with grit and grace. Even better though, was the fact that all of the other characters around him weren’t flat. We all know how easy it is for characters to fade into the background. Instead, they were all an excellent match for Kris’ wit, and had unique personalities all their own.

In terms of plot, I enjoyed the journey for the most part. I’ll admit, that there were places during this story that I felt dragged a bit. Some of the paragraphs felt more wordy than they needed to be, which made it so that I had to re-read pages sometimes to get to the meat of the story. I won’t deny that I also skimmed a few chapters that were very dialogue heavy after the first few. They didn’t always feel like they advanced the plot. The good part is that there is definitely not a plot hole in sight. If you are the type of reader who worries about that sort of things, fear not.

It was the plot-twist that really got me, and I am happy to report that the ending threw me for a loop as well. This was one of the few books I’ve read where I wasn’t sure who the killer was at all, and that was a wonderful feeling! ( )