Finalist for Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Prize (BC Book Prizes); Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award; City of Vancouver Book Award

When forty-year-old Esther Castellani died a slow and agonizing death in Vancouver in 1965, the official cause was at first undetermined. The day after Esther's funeral, her husband, Rene, packed up his girlfriend, Lolly; his daughter, Jeannine; and Lolly's son, Don, in the company car and took off for Disneyland. If not for the doggedness of the doctor who treated Esther, Rene, then a charismatic and handsome CKNW radio personality, would have been free to marry Lolly, who was the station's pretty twentysomething receptionist. Instead, Rene was charged with capital murder for poisoning his wife with arsenic-laced milkshakes in one of British Columbia's most sensational criminal cases of the century.

Murder by Milkshake is the compelling story of the Castellanis, and of their daughter, Jeannine, who was eleven at the time of her mother's murder and who clung to her father's innocence, even committing perjury during his trial. Rigorously researched, and based on dozens of interviews with family, friends, and co-workers, Murder by Milkshake documents the sensational case that kept Vancouver spellbound, while providing a snapshot of the city's Mad Men-esque social and political realities in the 1960s.

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, Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award
• Short-listed, Vancouver Book Award
• Short-listed, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Prize (BC Book Prizes)

Eve Lazarus has done an exceptional job of reporting one of the most shocking and fascinating murder stories in Vancouver history. Her research is outstanding. -George Garrett, CKNW radio reporter (retired)

Not only a compelling insight into the methodical detective work of a 1960s homicide investigation but also a revealing exposé of one of the most high-profile crimes in Vancouver history. -Superintendent Mike Porteous, Vancouver Police Department

Eve Lazarus has written a chilling and highly readable story full of fascinating characters. Well done. -Dr. Heather Burke, forensic psychologist

Deeply researched, Eve Lazarus has done everything short of getting up on top of the BowMac sign herself to get to the heart of the story behind the notorious Rene Castellani, whose crime is still one of the most unbelievable, strange, and remarkable chapters in Vancouver crime history. This isn't a murder mystery story in the traditional sense; Lazarus reveals a greater mystery about the motivations and actions of a criminal, how deeply the crime affected the innocent around him, the legacy of which plays out to this day. -Aaron Chapman, author of The Last Gang in Town and Liquor, Lust, and the Law