Perfect indeed, but freelance paying what it does, the Montreal writer is reduced to next-best; setting a series of mysteries in the west-coast city, maybe convince Internal Revenue that winter vacations in Lotusville are really hard-slogging research expeditions for the next novel. Maybe not. Those Internal Revenue types act like they must all have been born in Toronto.

Still, a guy can cook a little something up. Summer, Vancouver and what else? Um, a former lover so beautiful she draws men like Monday night football. Give her a bad habit: she steals from them. Nothing too serious usually, just their hearts and some personal stuff that might spell trouble with a wrong guy.

Now a hero, a regular sort, with a regular name: Thomas McCall. Give him a flexible job so he can move around, like a photographer say. Photography it is. McCall gets his own struggling studio so he can have personnel issues, like a sullen but essential staffer, along with personal issues, like an ex-wife. That should make for some tasty little sub-plots.

What else to keep things stirring? Parents, divorcing, and so wigged they really belong in Toronto except this is mom and dad we’re talking about. We love ‘em too much to do that. Send the ex to Toronto. She’s too ambitious and impatient to appreciate the laid-back, west-coast lifestyle anyway.

Throw in a dash of twelve-year-old daughter on summer visitation, a soupcon of weird pet smuggled onto the plane, a sprinkle of loveable but eccentric neighbours. And dollops of gorgeous, west-coast babes.

Hold on. That’s too James Bond. Make the women attractive, interesting, candidates for sharing the rest of our hero’s life. This is Canada after all and readers should identify.

Take a taste. You’ll find Michael Blair’s If Looks Could Kill to be that rarity in Canadian crime fiction: a swift, spicy soup that can heat chilled cockles even on a Montreal winter night.