For centuries Montreal reigned as Canada's most beguiling city. Inspired by the pages of the Gazette, Canada's oldest daily newspaper (founded in 1778), here are seventy-five true tales to inspire, amuse, horrify and captivate. Stories include humourist Stephen Leacock's flinty bitterness at being forced into academic retirement; a boat race through downtown Montreal in the dead of winter; a duel sparked by a society ball; and city-wide celebrations marking the end of World War II. In No Place More Suitable, author John Kalbfleisch brings into colourful focus the full range of human endeavor, genius, hilarity, poignancy and sadness from over 350 years of life on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

John Kalbfleisch is a long-time Montreal journalist and the author of several books, including This Island in Time: Remarkable Tales from Montreal’s Past (2008) and A Stain Upon the Land: Love and Death in Old Montreal (2017), a novel. Second Draft, his popular column on the city’s history, ran in the Montreal Gazette for seventeen years. He lives near Perth, Ontario.

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Praise for John Kalbfleisch's This Island in Time: Remarkable Tales from Montreal's Past (2008):

"Delightfully documents Montreal's beginnings ... all the way up to Expo 67... Each chapter offers unusual insights into Montreal's past, most of which have never made it into the official history... a vivid blend of fact and fiction, gossip and substance... Kalbfleisch shines a light on neglected citizens of the city throughout the ages."
--Quill & Quire

"Kalbfleisch has composed a Montreal history rich with both the quirky and thought-provoking."
--MJ Stone, Hour

"There is a touch of romance, of the macabre, and of political events which changed our country's history... This Island in Time is a remarkable collection of remarkable tales."
--Margaret Goldik, Montreal Review of Books

Praise for A Stain Upon the Land: Love and Death in Old Montreal (2017):

"Kalbfleisch's blending of fact and fiction - the book is nominally a murder mystery, but with a strong historical underpinning - proves the perfect approach to a story whose real-life resonances are still felt today. This is a book that paints an illuminating picture of a time and place even as it serves up genre thrills."
--Ian McGillis, Montreal Gazette