Many years ago, I used to love to read true crime and watch true crime documentaries. Then I moved on, but once in a while I like to revisit that genre.

Eve Lazarus starts her vignettes of 18 unsolved murders in the Vancouver area in the late 1940s when the demographic was suddenly changing with the soldiers returning from WWII. Vancouver was a port city at the end of the rail line, and had a seedy underworld, small though it was. She moves chronologically through unsolved cases and concludes in with a cold case that was solved in 2005.

Statistics show that the murder rate has decreased significantly across North America overall, and this book reminds me of the scary murders I used to hear about when I was younger, and just don't hear about anymore.

There were a few cases I was familiar with, such as the notorious "Babes in the Woods" where 2 skeletons of children were found in Stanley Park in the early 1950s. This case bubbles up in the news every now and then, but so far no one has even identified the victims.

Overall, it was a compelling, interesting read. A bit disturbing to read multiple stories about women being murdered late at night after getting off a bus, when I was waiting for my 17 year old daughter to make her way home at 11PM (a LOT of texts saying "okay, where are you now?"). But still, really interesting, and lots of great pictures of Vancouver in the past, which I always find fascinating.

Recommended for: It is classified as "history of BC/Canada" and "sociology: crime", so if you're one of those nerds, then you'll like it. It appealed to my latent true crime interest and Vancouver history.

Rating: I could nitpick and be critical (editing: Ah hem. Danish used when it should have been Dutch, but no one cares. Except the Danish. And the Dutch. I'm Dutch), but I'll say I'll overlook some of that and give it a 4 star rating for enjoyment and interest. ( )