The Goldfish Bowl (A Willows & Parker Mystery)

By Laurence Gough

Book Overview

An elusive serial sniper is on the loose in the dark, rain-swept streets of Vancouver. Maverick veteran detective Jack Willows and his new partner, the beautiful Claire Parker, are assigned to bring... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014011596X
• ISBN13: 9780140115963
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Satisfying noir novel

This was the debut novel for its author Laurence Gough ,who deployed the same characters and setting in numerous other books .The setting is Vancouver ,a city afflicted ,if we are to believe the book ,with a permanent rain storm.(Most scenes take place against a background of rain swept streets and/or somewhat dingy warehouse or apartments ) The book opens with a murder -a sniper ,male but dressed in drag,shoots a woman, Alice Palm ,as she rides a bus downtown ready for a night on the tiles .Soon there is another victim -A greek widow walking home after closing down the bar she owns. The next victim is the lead detective assigned to the case by the Vancouver PD ,but matters do not halt there as a gay cab driver ,a group of men returning from a night on the town and a female black psychologist all die under the gun of the killer The detectives leading the hunt are Jack willows and his new partner ,the aspiring Claire Parker and they patiently seek to build a case ,the solution of which reflects that used in the Agatgha Christie classic ,The ABC Murders--the killings are designed to disguise the fact that there is one key victim ,the others being either red herrings or a sign of the killer's mental instability The identity of the killer is not hard to discover but this is a novel of atmosphere and mood ,rather than a pure puzzle and on this level it is a very satisfying and well crafted work that should lead readers to seek out other books by this very capable writer

I'm Laurence Gough too...

My brother Joe bought this book for me as the author is my namesake- or I'm his namesake. Either way I thought it was a great read and no we're not related, have never met and he's not paid me to say this!

Fantastic Debut!

This is a police procedural with interesting detective work, believable characters, great dialogue and a plot full of twists and turns. The cops are interesting and the bad guy is creepy, just the way it should be. It's no surprise that it won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel.

The Goldfish Bowl

The Goldfish Bowl is one of the best mysteries I've ever read. It combines real detective work, a complex network of clues, believable characters and realistic dialouge. In the book, an elusive sniper kills eight people in the dark, rain-soaked streets of Vancouver, Canada. At the scene of each crime, the shooter leaves an object that is a clue that points towards the next victim. Laurence Gough has done a superb job on the Goldfish Bowl. The book is, truly, as tense and tight as a trigger. When you read it, you will be hanging on every delicious word, as did I the first time I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Gough's book.