The untold story behind some of Vancouver's notorious unsolved murder cases.

Finalist, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes)

While Vancouver is much loved by tourists and locals alike for its spectacular natural scenery and diverse culture, behind that facade lurks a violent past. Cold Case Vancouver takes a look at the city's disreputable side by revisiting some of its infamous cold murder cases from 1944 to 1996.

There are literally hundreds of murders that remain unsolved in Vancouver, some dating back decades; their victims are now essentially invisible, forgotten by everyone except family and friends. Sometimes their cases are looked at again with a fresh set of eyes and the benefit of new technologies; sometimes they are even solved. Most often, however, the crimes remain a mystery, consigned to the city's dark history.

Part history book, part crime story, Cold Case Vancouver delves into 50 years of some of Vancouver's most baffling unsolved murders. In 1953, in what became known as the "Babes in the Woods" story, two little boys were found murdered in Stanley Park and remain unidentified to this day. In 1975, a 22-year-old country singer just back from Nashville was murdered, just as she was on the verge of an amazing career. Ten years later, Jimmy and Lily Ming were kidnapped from their Strathcona home and found murdered six weeks later. And there's the 1994 disappearance of Nick Masee, a retired banker with connections to the renegade Vancouver Stock Exchange who, along with his wife Lisa, were taken from their home, their bodies never found.

Meticulously researched, giving insight into police procedures and forensics, and including new interviews with those connected to the original cases, Cold Case Vancouver is a fascinating look at Vancouver's criminal past.

Includes numerous B&W images.

Eve Lazarus has worked as a freelance journalist and writer for more than 15 years. Originally from Australia, she is the Vancouver correspondent for Marketing Magazine and the author of Frommer's with Kids Vancouver 2001 (John Wiley & Sons). She is a former newspaper reporter and has written for a variety of periodicals in Canada and the United States including the Globe & Mail, the Vancouver Sun, Style at Home, B.C. Business and Canadian Family magazines. In 2001, she won gold and silver awards at the Canadian Business Press KRW's. Lazarus has a communications degree from Simon Fraser University and a journalism diploma from Langara College. Since becoming obsessed with home histories, she has written articles on the subject for Style at Home; REM; the Globe & Mail, and Nuvo Magazine. Eve lives in North Vancouver with her husband, three kids and miniature Schnauzer.

Eve Lazarus' profile page

• Short-listed, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes)

Lazarus, who has written well in the past about Vancouver's seamier back-stories, does it again in Cold Case Vancouver. She delivers all the human interest and detail we want from true crime writing, but manages to avoid the most common lurid temptations in the genre. This book is a quick and entertaining read, but it also conveys a humane and sophisticated understanding of the social forces that lie behind and inform most murders. -Vancouver Sun

Crime buffs and readers interested in true crime literature or in understanding how police investigate serious crime will find the book a satisfying read. -BC Studies