Book ~ "The Corpse Will Keep" (2008) Pat Capponi

From HarperCollinsCanada ~ Fresh from the success of solving the murder of a roommate, Private Investigator Dana Leoni and her unlikely crew of misfit sleuths have opened a detective agency in the run-down Delta Court rooming house. Genuine clients are hard to come by until a friend from Dana’s past contacts her for help. He suspects his wealthy mother is being bilked in her charitable efforts to help the homeless. Though Dana is reluctant to reconnect with her past, she knows this world well—the church basements and halls where the indigent seek shelter and a hot meal. On the hunt for information, Dana soon falls in with a darkly charismatic church volunteer who is much more dangerous than he first appears. Set in two contrasting neighbourhoods—seedy Parkdale and posh Rosedale—the story’s events vault from extortion to kidnapping to murder. Dana must rely on the underrated skills of her housemates to help her catch a ruthless killer.

With her skilful portrayal of characters who may be down but are never out, Pat Capponi once again brings to life a world few of us know. In Dana Leoni, Capponi has created one of the most likeable—and vulnerable—investigators in crime fiction.

I finished the first book in the series on Saturday and enjoyed it ... and I enjoyed this one more.

It seemed to be more focused and solid. It was more substantial and on par with other mysteries out there. The cases that Dana was working on were interesting.

Though it's set in Toronto, there was less of an emphasis on letting us know all the details and more on the story.

If a third one in the series comes out, I'll read it.

Book ~ "Last Stop Sunnyside" (2006) Pat Capponi

From HarperCollins ~ This is Pat Capponi’s world. No tourist on the mean streets of Toronto’s once prosperous Parkdale neighbourhood, Capponi—a psychiatric survivor who has chronicled her experiences in several bestselling non-fiction titles—has lived there. Now, in this compelling debut novel, Capponi turns her authentic voice and imagination to a gripping murder mystery.

Dana Leoni is Capponi’s heroine, a traumatized woman who has retreated from life to a rough rooming house. Surrounded by the marginalized and the mad, she is devastated when one of her housemates turns up dead. When, despite the disappearance of another neighbourhood woman, the police reach a dead end, Dana and her rag-tag posse of housemates—inspired by the novels of Janet Evanovich—decide to go detective and take matters into their own hands. The result is a terrific mystery read, peopled with authentic characters and evocative in its gritty portrayal of a world few of us know. Infused with compassion and wit, Last Stop Sunnyside marks the beginning of a bound-for-bestseller series.

I met Capponi once, back in the late 1990s. I volunteered at the Gerstein Centre for a couple years and there was a four week training period. Capponi was one of the guest speakers during the training. She was an excellent honest speaker and that prompted me to read her memoirs, Upstairs in the Crazy House and Dispatches from the Poverty Line, at that time.

This was her first fiction book (there's sequel that follows). It takes place in my 'hood and it was interesting to read some history of the area.

The characters are very true to life with some of the residents in the 'hood. They live in the rooming house and have nothing but each other. When one disappears and turns up dead, they band together to find out what happened when the police deem it to be a suicide.

Despite the topic and characters, it's not a heavy read and I'd recommend it.

Book ~ "Dispatches From The Poverty Line" - Pat Capponi (1997)

From Chapters.ca ~ Pat Capponi’s life has been spent moving between two very different worlds. As a survivor of child abuse, psychiatric illness, and periods of unemployment, she has become intimately familiar with the marginalized world of the sick, the powerless, and the poor. As a social activist, counseller, Crown employee, and author of the highly praised memoir, Upstairs in the Crazy House, she has moved through the world of the affluent and powerful. Now, in the era of downsizing, she, like so many others, has become a victim of budget cuts. Unemployed, long past the end of her benefits, she finds herself once again not just working with the poor but joining their ranks. In the winter of 1996, she began a journal of the effect that conservative fiscal and social policy was having on people like herself.

I'd read this book and Upstairs in the Crazy House in the spring of 1998 when I was volunteering at a distress centre that she was on the board of at that time.