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This page lists novels, short story collections and non-fiction by Eric Wright.

By Eric Wright:
- novels, story collections
- omnibus editions
- non-fiction / autobiography

Edited by Eric Wright:
- anthologies

The Night the Gods Smiled

Eric Wright

1984

A Charlie Salter novel.

"It is a puzzling case inspector Charlie Salter of the Metropolitan Toronto police is assigned to solve. Professor David Summers has been found in his Montréal hotel room while attending a conference. The only tangible clues are a lipstick-marked glass and whisky bottle - used to crush David's skull. Clues so banal they present a challenge in themselves."

Smoke Detector

Eric Wright

1984

A Charlie Salter novel.

"The death of an antique dealer seems an unlikely stimulus for the stalled career of Inspector Charlie Salter, of the Metropolitan Toronto police. The victim died in a fire deliberately set and that meant arson and murder. Charlie discovers plenty of suspects: the dealer's assistant, mistress, wife, and any number of other unfortunate people he might have swindled. All these promising leads seem to go nowhere, until chance points Charlie back forty years: to wartime Vancouver. Step by intricate step he works his way towards the truth."

Death in the Old Country

Eric Wright

1985

A Charlie Salter novel.

"Inspector Charlie Salter and his wife Annie were looking forward to a much-needed second honeymoon, enjoying the pleasures of the English countryside. What they didn't need was a murder dropped in their doorstep. That's what happens when they discover their innkeeper slumped in his office, stabbed. It's a case for the local constabulary but the Salters become caught up in a mystery that leads them to Italy, through London, and back to the inn."

A Single Death

Eric Wright

1986

A Charlie Salter novel. Published in the US as The Man Who Changed His Name.

"Inspector Charlie Salter considers Christmas shopping bothersome; until his ex-wife, Gerry turns up; determined to make trouble for the police department and Charlie. There's an unsolved murder involving a recently-separated woman, Nancy Cowell, who apparently met a killer through a 'Companion Wanted' ad. Gerry expects Charlie to solve it - a crime with too many suspects. Charlie finally uncovers new leads but not until he has been caught up in Nancy's lonely world of casual encounters, secret hatreds, and betrayal."

A Body Surrounded by Water

Eric Wright

1987

A Charlie Salter novel.

"Charlie Salter is on a family vacation with their sons, on his wife's turf in Prince Edward Island, where her family is socially-elevated. In fact her Father is arranging the retrieval of a long-lost provincial seal; partly for heritage and posterity, coincidentally aligning community favour with political pursuit. However murders occur that may or may not be connected with this failed transaction, whose Toronto dealer insists the goods were picked-up by one of the deceased locals."

A Question of Murder

Eric Wright

1988

A Charlie Salter novel.

"When a bomb kills a bookstore owner in the fashionable Yorkville section of Toronto, Police Detective Charlie Salter must determine whether the victim was the target, or the visiting Princess of Wales."

A Sensitive Case

Eric Wright

1990

A Charlie Salter novel.

"The murder of masseuse Linda Thomas was a sticky situation - her clients included big people in high places. It was a case for Special Affairs Inspector Charlie Salter and his chief investigator, Sergeant Mel Pickett. Once on the job, they delicately kick open a hornet's nest of hostile, secretive suspects, including a provincial deputy minister, a famous television host, the tenants of the woman's building, a nervous academic, a secret lover, and an unidentified man - the last person to see the victim alive. A lot of people had a lot to hide - and even more at stake than their careers. It's a sensitive case. Charlie's doing a lot of tiptoeing around... with a killer lurking in the shadow of every step!"

Final Cut

Eric Wright

1991

A Charlie Salter novel.

"Inspector Charlie Salter is working undercover as a police 'adviser' to a movie crew shooting in Toronto. A fake fire alarm, a missing can of film, a damaged sound machine, and a kidnapped actor are merely opening salvos in what appears to be an attempt to halt production on this ill-fated film. Yet who among the bickering cast and crew would want to see the movie fail? Could it be the Easter European actor who's made a name for himself playing villians; the arrogant, egocentric star; the flakey first assistant director; or the obnoxious screenwriter who's on everyone's hit list? It's a reel-life mystery that has Charlie Salter dreading the next scene. But when the leading man is mugged and a prime player is found with a dagger through his chest, Salter takes the lead in a homicidal drama that stretches from Toronto to Bucharest, on a trail steeped in blood, retribution, and corrosive memory."

A Fine Italian Hand

Eric Wright

1991

A Charlie Salter novel.

"Actor Alec Hunter has been found knifed and strangled at the none-too-elegant Days 'R' Done Motel, the kind of place where drug deals and hour-long rentals are common and almost-famous clients are rare. What was Alec doing in such a sleazy place? And who was the Italian-looking gentleman who registered for the room? The police first assume that the mob has disposed of Alec to settle some gambling debts. But the mob denies the charge, and Italians in general are outraged at the suggestion. Charlie's job is to calm the community and find the killer. Alec had borrowed a thousand dollars from his girlfriend on Sunday night, and had next gone to visit his great-aunt at a nursing home. After that, the movements that led to his death at the seedy motel are a mystery."

Death by Degrees

Eric Wright

1993

A Charlie Salter novel.

"For a man who routinely encounters death in the course of his professional life, Salter has a surprisingly difficult time with mortality close to home. There are too many unresolved issues between father and son. Salter seeks a diversion, which he finds in investigating some anonymous letters relating to a recent homicide. Professor Maurice Lyall had been brutally murdered in his home shortly after his election as dean of Toronto's Bathurst College. All signs point to an ordinary robbery turned fatal, but the letters hint at something more. Salter assumes the letters were inspired by simple academic malice. There's no evidence that anyone at the college was in any way involved in the murder. When a suspect is arrested, however, Salter fears that the police have accepted too easy an answer. The deeper Salter delves into the case, the more he's convinced that no random stranger caused the professor's death."

Moodie's Tale

Eric Wright

1994

"When William Moodie takes a job teaching at the Van Horne Institute of Technological Education, the Young Englishman becomes an unwitting player in the frequently hilarious byzantine snakes and ladders games played in Canadian academia. Then, at the pinnacle of his administrative career, Moodie suddenly finds himself both unemployed and stranded in Canada. On the advice of a Canadian who, of course, has never been there, he sets out to discover the "real" Canada. Like his namesake Susanna, 140 years ago, William gets much more than his fair share of "Roughing It In The Bush." He finds himself somewhere North of Winnipeg, acting as a fishing guide to American tourists. When the bush plane in which he is a passenger, crashes in a remote area, Moodie finds himself once again stranded and face to face with a Canadian wilderness he never bargained for."

Buried in Stone

Eric Wright

1996

A Mel Pickett novel.

"Pickett is a widower and retired Toronto cop, he owns his city home free and clear, he has a good pension and enough savings in the bank, and he's just rebuilt a century-old log cabin in a rustic area north of the city. Life for Pickett seems almost idyllic as he settles in with his dog, Willis, to enjoy a peaceful existence in his cabin. He begins to build ties to the town of Larch River - to police chief Lyman Caxton, to the local dramatic society, and, most of all, to Charlotte Mercer, who manages a small cafe and gives him hope that he may not be too old for romance after all. Pickett's police days are supposedly over, but he can't help being an interested spectator when young Timmy Marlow is found mauled and shot to death near a wooded trail just a mile or two from Pickett's cabin. The death is a shock to the community. For Timmy's sister, Betty Cullen, it is a catastrophe. She suspects that her brother, a womanizer, may have been killed by a jealous husband, and the shame is enough to drive her from Larch River. But is the answer to the murder so simple? When an arrest is finally made, Pickett questions whether justice has been done. A twisted trail into the victim's past takes Pickett a thousand miles away to uncover the shocking information that brings him back to the truth."

Death of a Sunday Writer

Eric Wright

1996

A Lucy Trimble Brenner novel.

"Lucy Trimble Brenner, middle-aged part-time librarian, has sought refuge from a crumbling marriage by establishing a bed-and-breakfast in the sleepy northern Ontario town of Longborough. When a distant relative suddenly bequeaths her his ailing Toronto detective agency, Lucy soon enough finds reasons to suspect that David Trimble's death, despite appearances, may not have been natural or accidental at all. Throwing caution aside, she begins to investigate Trimble's operations and comes into contact with the raffish world of horse racing and its fringe characters, some quaint, others sinister. When finally brought to light, Trimble's journals prove to be part fact, part fiction, and it becomes progressively more difficult to determine whether or not their hints of danger are false or all too real. Meanwhile, to earn a living Lucy takes on as her first client a man who wants her to tail his agoraphobic wife on her occasional mysterious forays into Toronto's nightlife. And seasoned investigator Jack Brighton hires her to locate the missing legatee to a handsome fortune left him by his English mother, a case that leads to a squalid rural farmhouse and a fifty-year-old mystery. Wry and disarming, Death of a Sunday Writer is the story of Lucy's surprising self-discovery in the real world."

Death on the Rocks

Eric Wright

1999

A Lucy Trimble Brenner novel.

"When private detective Lucy Trimble is retained by Greta Golden to find the identity of the ominous lurking stranger who Greta is certain is following her, it doesn't appear to be too challenging a mystery. Lucy has no trouble learning who her client's pursuer is: a British investigator has been engaged to probe into Greta's life. But the question of what he is trying to discover about Greta, and why, begins to truly complicate the case. This revelation soon opens up further questions about Greta's own identity and, more specifically, the identities of her mother and father. Lucy's investigation leads her to Cornwall, England, where there still live witnesses to Greta's birth and her father's death. Lucy slowly begins to put the fragments of the puzzle together, but it is only when Greta joins Lucy in England that she is able to find the missing piece, and begins to confront her own rapidly evolving and more complicated personal life."

The Kidnapping of Rosie Dawn

Eric Wright

2000

A Joe Barley novel.

"Joe Barley, a part-time lecturer in English Literature and part-time security guard, is alerted by his maid to the disappearance of another of her employers, Rosie Dawn, a student of classics who is working her way through school by being an exotic dancer and the mistress of a fast-food entrepreneur. The novel also involves campus politics - a student tries to exploit the nervous administration over its minority policies."

Death of A Hired Man

Eric Wright

2001

A Mel Pickett novel.

"The day shift at the Ontario Provincial Police Station had just come on duty when they received a disturbing phone call--a homicide in a log cabin on Larch River. Sergeant Wilkie fears it's Mel Pickett who has been killed and is almost relieved when he sees that the victim is Norbert Thompson, a local 'hired man' who had been renting Pickett's cabin. Just as Wilkie starts looking for a motive, Pickett arrives in town and learns of the murder. His immediate though is, was he the intended victim? Sergeant Wilkie and ex-Sergeant Pickett pursue their investigations separately, but each keeps a watchful eye on the other. Wilkie's lead brings him to rural Ontario, where Thompson used to work as a 'hired man' on his brother's farm. Pickett looks for the killer among all the violent men who have threatened to get him as they were led off to jail. Will they be able to catch the killer before he or she strikes again?"

The Last Hand

Eric Wright

2001

A Charlie Salter novel.

"Charlie Slater is sixty - the age limit for active police work. Lately, he's been a glorified receptionist for the deputy chief. But then a Toronto lawyer is murdered, and the prime suspect is a prostitute in a pair of silver boots. The case doesn't ignite any interest until high-powered lawyer Calvin Gregson shows up, supposedly on Flora's behalf, insisting the police solve the case quietly. Deputy Mackenzie figures the assignment will keep Salter temporarily occupied, and puts him on the case with a young Scotsman new to the force and city. Salter is thrilled. As he searches, he meets the law profession's elite and, among others, the victim's sister, MPP Flora Lucas. But it's the lawyer's book group that brings Salter the clues he needs to solve the case - and to discover why Gregson is so eager to wrap the case up quickly and quietly."

My Brothers Keeper

Howard Engel & Eric Wright

2002

"This short, engaging mystery brings together two of the great crime solvers of Canadian literature: Howard Engel's somewhat bumbling private investigator, Benny Cooperman, and Eric Wright's smooth, retiring police detective, Charlie Salter. When Dr. John Davidson Horner, the chief of staff at Toronto's Rose of Sharon Hospital, disappears, Benny Cooperman is brought into the case by his brother Sam, a surgeon at the hospital, who feels he might be implicated in a yet-to-be-published memoir Horner has written that exposes the sins of a number of staff."

The Hemingway Caper

Eric Wright

2003

A Joe Barley novel.

"Joe Barley, full-time English professor and part-time private detective, is given a simple case: to track Jason Tyler and find proof of his adultery. But as he's investigating, Barley stumbles across the story of a missing manuscript containing writings by a young Ernest Hemingway. What is Tyler's connection to the Hemingway papers? And why does Tyler's wife insist that Barley stay on the case, long after he's come up with the required evidence of Tyler's infidelity? While these questions hang over Barley, his own life is complicated by academic politics, and challenges to his monogamous relationship with his longtime partner, Carole."

A Killing Climate, Collected Short Mysteries

Eric Wright

2003

"A Killing Climate contains all of Eric Wright’s short stories in the mystery field, including a locked-room mystery (An Irish Jig), espionage in the Far North (Caves of Ice), a comic caper story (Two in the Bush), and other exercises in ingenuity, character, and atmosphere. Many of the stories are set near Canada’s Hudson Bay area, but a few (especially Hephaestus with its Caribbean vactioners) are in more temperate regions. The book concludes with the first short tale about Charlie Salter, a novella, The Lady of Shalott, written especially for this volume."

Finding Home

Eric Wright

2007

A Likely Story

Eric Wright

2010

A Joe Barley novel.

"As if Joe Barley doesn't have enough on his mind. His job as a part-time instructor at Hambleton College is likely to be eliminated, and his partner, Carole, is expecting their first child. He's also been assigned to find the identity of a mole in the English Department who is part of a nasty and embarrassing letterwriting exchange in a student newspaper. But the stresses of his job and personal life are compounded by the disappearance of a member of the Hambleton faculty, and Joe begins to hear rumours that the teacher was involved with a drug ring run by the Russian mob."

Dempsey's Lodge

Eric Wright

2013

"Dempsey’s Lodge is the perfect getaway for families and young couples: the fishing is good, the air is fresh, the scenery is breathtaking. But beyond its pristine beauty and simple pleasures seethes the complexity of life: prejudice, love, lust, and betrayal … not to mention murder."

The Land Mine

Eric Wright

2016

"London, 1943. Despite the deployment of his father to North Africa, the near constant threat of Nazi air raids, and the day-to-day hardships caused by rationing, thirteen-year-old Derek has managed to withstand the worst of World War II more or less unscathed. The war finally hits home, literally, when a German 'land mine' destroys the roof of their house, and Derek and his mother are forced to live with his grandparents. Then Derek discovers that his backyard air raid shelter has been taken over by a suspicious man who claims to be a British double agent. The visitor’s true identity and intentions prove to be an irresistible mystery to the schoolboy and his friends."

A Charlie Salter Omnibus

Eric Wright

2003

A Charlie Salter omnibus.

An omnibus edition that combines the first three Charlie Salter novels: The Night the Gods Smiled; Smoke Detector; and Death in the Old Country.

Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man

Eric Wright

1999

"A charming and engaging memoir about growing up poor in an English working-class family during the Depression. Wright was born into a family of ten children. His father was a carter who drove horses and his mother worked as a tailoress. With no hot water, baths once a week and often short of food, life was hard but the family got by with resourcefulness and tenacity. Wright was able to win a scholarship and this enabled him to get an education which eventually helped him rise above his circumstances. After working in 1950s England, he decided to emigrate to Canada. The story culminates with his experiences as a young man working in the Canadian North. A superbly written memoir, Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man paints invaluable portraits of British working-class life and the quintessential Canadian immigrant experience, circa the 1950s."

Criminal Shorts: Mysteries By Canadian Crime Writers

Editor: Eric Wright and Howard Engel

1992

The contents are:

• The Grand Plan (Jas R Petrin)
• Custom Killing (Howard Engel)
• The Greenhouse Dogs (James Powell)
• Horse Show (Edward O. Phillips)
• Something for Everyone (Anthony Hyde)
• Beach Sights (Bruce Blackadar)
• The Dastardly Dilemma of the Vicious Vaudevillain (Charlotte MacLeod)
• Not Safe After Dark (Peter Robinson)
• Snapshot (Jack Batten)
• What happened to Baby Roo (Tim Wynne-Jones)
• Murder at Angels One Niner (Ted Wood)
• The Debt (Alberto Manguel)
• Licensed Guide (Eric Wright)
• Wade in the Balance (William Bankier)
• Whistling past the Graveyard (Peter Sellers)
• The Mouse in the Mattress (Medora Sale)