Here are 5 books that would make great Christmas gifts

Article content

Slumach’s Gold: In Search of a Legend—and a Curse 

Brian Antonson, Mary Trainer, Rick Antonson

Who doesn’t like a good treasure hunt story? Packed with intrigue, Slumach’s Gold offers a detailed look into the enduring 130-year-old mystery of a lost-mine and secret stash of gold nuggets “the size of walnuts,” that is buried here in B.C. near Pitt Lake.  Like all great treasure hunting stories, the exact whereabouts of the bounty went to the grave with one man, in this case a Katzie Nation (Lower Fraser Valley) fellow named Slumach, who was executed for murder in 1891. And, to make matters even more intriguing, there is curse involved.  In this new and updated edition of Slumach’s Gold, the authors sift through facts and fiction leaving treasure hunters with some new hints and theories as to where Shumach’s gold may be.

Jack Shadbolt in His Words 

Edited by Susan Mertens

Born in England and raised in Victoria, abstract painter Jack Shadbolt, who died at his home in Burnaby in 1998 at age 89, is a giant among Canadian modernist artists. He represented Canada in the Venice and Sao Paulo Biennials, the Carnegie International at Pittsburg and at the Brussels and Seattle World fairs. His work is in private collections and institutions everywhere.

Article content

Article content

Introduced and edited by his friend of the art critic Susan M. Mertens, this book, through an edited collection of Shadbolt’s poems, letters, talks and journals, is a candid memoir that documents the highs and lows of the artist as he works and lives through the 20th century.

Bronco Buster: A “Hammerhead” Jed Mystery 

A.J. Devlin

Offering the perfect stocking stuffer and a great antidote to the stress of the holiday season Port Moody writer A.J. Devlin is back with the fourth instalment of his award-winning “Hammerhead” Jed mystery series. Devlin’s tales of pro wrestler-turned-PI “Hammerhead” Jed are always entertaining, fast-paced, funny reads that are packed with action and oddballs.  In this latest offering Jed and his rounder of a cousin Declan find themselves at the Colossal Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair trying to solve the untimely, but on brand, death from an axe in the back of the head of a lumberjack games competitor whom the city boys had been drinking with the night before.

Sonny Boy: A Memoir

Al Pacino

While the other books on this list come from B.C. authors it’s hard to pass up the big celebrity memoir when it comes to this time of year. And, whoo ahh, this celebrity memoir is big.