Books
C.B. Forrest is author of the critically acclaimed McKelvey series (The Weight of Stones, Slow Recoil, The Devil’s Dust) as well as the Shamus Award-nominated short fiction, Runaway Girl from Portland, Oregon. The Wrecking Game is a new thriller from the Shamus Award Nominee. He is occasionally at work on a new novel and a collection of short stories
The Wrecking Game
A new thriller from the Shamus Award Nominee
The Wrecking Game
When conman Ray Carver botches a job in Texas and heads home to Toronto, he knows he has very bad men after him—what he doesn’t know is that the FBI wants him too.
Ray Carver is a master at orchestrating multi-million-dollar fraud schemes, but he’s hit a bad patch, one that could get him killed. Back in his hometown of Toronto after barely surviving a bungled job in Texas, he sets out to pull off the biggest scam of his career so he can pay off his debt to a violent gang and start a new life. But they don’t just want their money back, they want him dead, and they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way, including a well-liked Texas rancher, Big Dave Watson.
While Ray puts the pieces in place for his biggest con ever, he stages a car accident to keep his crew earning money. A single mother and her child are injured, and that spells even more trouble. Ray becomes romantically involved with the victim who has no clue who he really is. Meanwhile, a pair of FBI agents with a history of their own cross the border hot on his trail, while a dogged Toronto Police traffic investigator, Gabe Kruzik, starts to put all the pieces together.
With Kruzik, the FBI, and a homicidal gang leader zeroing in on him, Ray’s time—and his luck—are running out.
The Weight of Stones
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 1 of 3
Toronto at the close of 1999. It is a time of change. The world holds its breath as the clock rolls to a new millennium.
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 1 of 3
Detective Charlie McKelvey’s life is stuck on pause since the murder of his runaway son, Gavin. As his wife focuses on healing, McKelvey is burdened with guilt for his role in kicking the teen out of the family home—and his inability to move the case to resolution.
Obsessed with the stalled murder investigation, McKelvey’s behavior becomes increasingly unhinged. He is convinced the person responsible for the murder is an ex-convict sent to Toronto to establish a chapter of a biker gang, The Blades. The question is, does McKelvey have the right man, or is he blinded by his grief?
When unexpected illness forces McKelvey’s early retirement—and his wife heads to the west coast to live with a relative—the conditions are finally ripe for McKelvey to focus entirely on his plans for revenge. This novel explores the daily and random decisions we make and their consequences as it stares into the heart of grief and sees the impact violent crime has on all of us.
Slow Recoil
Former Toronto Hold-Up Squad Detective Charlie McKelvey is puttering through the first year of his forced retirement.
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 2 of 3
Slow Recoil
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 2 of 3
Some bullets take years to find their mark… Former Toronto Detective Charlie McKelvey is puttering through the first year of his forced retirement. His tedious life is torn wide open when a friend enlists his help in locating a recent Bosnian immigrant who has simply disappeared without a trace.
Her teacher and recent lover, Tim Fielding, suspects foul play. At first hesitant, McKelvey is quickly drawn into the case as the bodies and clues pile up. When the body of an unidentified woman turns up in Fieldings apartmentand Fielding is nowhere to be foundMcKelvey finds himself a prime suspect in an increasingly obscure murder investigation.
The Devil's Dust
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 3 of 3
“Devil’s Dust is a tour de force, the crime fiction trifecta: perfectly plotted whodunit, first-rate thriller and beautifully crafted novel. The end is stunning!”
– Tim Wynne-Jones, author of Blink & Caution and two-time Governor General Award Winner
From the critically acclaimed McKelvey series.
Book 3 of 3
Charlie McKelvey goes to his northern hometown to find that the big city isn’t the only place with big problems.
Retired Toronto detective Charlie McKelvey runs from a cancer diagnosis and the violent memories of the big city and retreats to his hometown. A small declining mining centre, Ste. Bernadette offers McKelvey a chance to resolve old family issues, including his father’s involvement in a deadly wildcat strike in the late 1950s.
When the local police force enlists his help in tracing an upswing in youth violence and vandalism, McKelvey stumbles into the hornets’ nest of a crystal-meth industry. The timing couldn’t be worse for the town to expose its drug problem to the world: the mayor is hoping a new transmission line will be built through the town, bringing power-line jobs and construction dollars; the police chief is trying to close a deal to truck Detroit’s garbage to a local site as well as vie for the mayor’s job; and a sleazy businessman is attempting to buy up the town’s land to open a casino and resort.
Despite searches and seizures, the flow of drugs continues, leading McKelvey to suspect a local is manufacturing the drug. The Devil’s Dust holds a magnifying glass to the current decline of rural life, the scourge of meth, and what happens when an entire town loses faith.