This double edition of the Paul Shenstone Mystery series presents Mel Bradshaw’s original hit novel and its just-released sequel. Surviving the horrors of the Great War only be plunged into the machinations of rumrunners and plutocrats, detective Paul Shenstone keeps watch in the shadows of the Jazz Age.

"Mel Bradshaw dazzled many readers…Now he’s done it again."
- Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

"A double delight…totally immerses the reader."
- ForeWord Reviews

"Bradshaw has a winner here."
Quill & Quire

Fire on the Runway - Paul Shenstone Mystery #2 (NEW!)
When grenade explodes outside a west-end hotel room, a failed assassination turns into a dangerous game that could plunge the world back into war.

Quarrel with the Foe - Paul Shenstone Mystery #1
Once an infantryman in Flanders, detective Paul Shenstone now cleans scum off the streets in 1920s Toronto. But when an explosive case offers him a big break, can betray his fellow officers for it?

Mel Bradshaw was born in Toronto and grew up there on the brow of the escarpment overlooking the former Lake Iroquois. He took his B.A. in English and philosophy at the gargoyle-laden (some say haunted) University College in the University of Toronto. He continued studying philosophy - mostly ethics and aesthetics - at the quaintly named New College, Oxford (founded 1379). Between degrees, he spent two years forgetting the Canadian winter in Southeast Asia, teaching English in northern Thailand and performing odd jobs in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has also travelled to Zambia, Iceland, Poland, and points between. A four-year sojourn in Saskatoon reminded him about winter and showed him how to dress for it. He has since returned to his native-city where he shares with Carol Jackson a 1920s house and shady garden in the former borough of East York. Author of the critically acclaimed Toronto-based historical mystery, Death in the Age of Steam, Bradhsaw has again chosen to revisit Toronto’s past, the 1920s to be exact, for his second novel Quarrel with the Foe. The historical content of his novels has stirred interest in several literary circles at which he has spoken. He has also been invited to partake in many prestigious literary events across the country, including the Globe and Mail’s Books and Brunch, Bloody Words, the U of T reading Series and the Word On the Street. Queen’s Quarterly, Impulse, Descant, and The Dalhousie Review are among the journals that have published Mel’s short stories, many of which are inspired by his wanderings. He has also written for The Canadian Forum about the Canadian army’s victory at Ortona during the Italian campaign of World War II. Mel's latest novel, Victim Impact, this time set in the present day, was published by RendezVous Crime in the fall of 2008.

Mel Bradshaw's profile page