Book Details

The Concrete Vineyard by Cam Lang | Review | Powerful 5-Star Mystery

The Concrete Vineyard by Cam Lang
Published by Tellwell Talent on 12/02/2020
Genres: Amateur Sleuth, Educational, Fiction, Detective/Sleuth, Mystery, Thriller, General, History
Format: eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 468

Why would anyone want to murder the most respected senior citizen, Niagara-on-the-Lake has ever had?

Retired history professor Edward Mitchell was surely not long for the grave, so why would someone risk life in prison to kill him? Picking up the clues is the reluctant Homicide Chief Detective, Bryan Dee. Thinking he might be out of his depth he is happy to enlist the aid of his friend, Kris Gage. But when Dee reads the deceased's last entry in his diary, 'time to take care of K. Gage', he becomes torn between investigation and friendship.

As an urban planner, Gage understands real estate and the bureaucracy of planning. Following the money, he soon finds himself in the middle of corrupt developers who seek to take all the charm out of the area. Over two hundred years after the War of 1812, is Niagara-on-the-Lake, once again, on-the-Take?

The Concrete Vineyard is an intriguing and unique whodunit. Packing an intellectual punch, this smart murder/mystery will have you guessing and gripped! If you like great characters, clever plots, and intelligent storytelling, then you'll love this creative and thought-provoking novel.

Source: Amazon Purchase

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Purchase Links for The Concrete Vineyard

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My thoughts on The Concrete Vineyard

This story is quite a wild ride. I was a little unsure what to expect when I looked at this on Amazon. The blurb sounds fascinating. The cover gave me a bit of a middle-grade vibe. For some reason, Amazon categorized this as an urban planning novel. Now urban planning does play a large and informative role in the plot, but there is no way this is just an urban planning book. Read on, my friend, while I explain this as best I can.

First off, The Concrete Vineyard is a thrilling mystery. It has every aspect needed to be solidly put in that genre. However, it also has so many elements. Organized crime, murder, shady planners, crooked business people, family, and more make up this intriguing tale. And the history lessons on The War of 1812 and the Niagra-on-the-Lake area are enlightening and add so much depth to the story without coming off as a dry-filler. Every chapter of this book screams, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t pass me by?”

The characters and their backstory are well-developed without feeling like I was reading an information dump. The pacing was perfect throughout the book. It kept me turning the pages, always seeking the next clue to the mystery.

Secondly, I am amazed at the detail put into the book. The author melds his theories on urban planning and the history of the area into the general fiction of the story. This is a book that will leave you ready to learn more about the facts in the tale. I admit the characters became very real to me. I had a difficult time remembering they belonged to the fictional part of the novel.

My third point is the reason why I labeled this as a powerful 5-Star story. A book is always worth an extra point or two if it leaves me pondering about the tale after I have moved on to the next book. I am putting this one on my “re-read” shelf. I feel like I missed clues and bits that would have even more meaning now that I know the full story. I would love to re-read it from this new perspective.

Overall, I found The Concrete Vineyard to be an excellent read and well worth the investment of time and money to be this highly entertained. History buffs to fans of “whodunits” will adore this tale.

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About Cam Lang

Cam Lang is an urban planner, designer, development manager, and a firm believer of the Cobra Kai philosophy. I grew up working in the fruit orchards and vineyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario - a setting which confirmed how utterly useless a farmer I was but which also piqued my interest in land use, active transportation, road safety, architecture, culturally significant landscapes, built heritage, tourism planning, and sustainability.

I have practiced in both urban and rural settings across Canada on projects ranging from master-planned communities and municipal sustainability plans to rural strategic and official plans. As a junior planner, in the earliest part of my career, I was responsible for preparing justification reports and processing development applications for some of the gaudiest high-rises, monoliths, and poorly designed sites and subdivisions you could possibly imagine. I used to take pride in saying that I got (insert name of a multi-national retailer, fast-food restaurant, etc.) approved. I was pretty darn good at interpreting and wordsmithing policy, and part of me relished the challenge of being able to get a 'poor design' approved through the art of delicately written persuasion. Many of these proposals were auto-centric and unlivable: sometimes, they made me cringe. Twenty years ago, I often wondered if I was the only "liberal" development planner in the world as my ideals conflicted with entrenched, powerful agendas and processes that I could not seem to reconcile. Far too often, this was/is the nature of the land development industry. Unfortunately, many young planners never receive the necessary mentorship required to become the civic-minded leaders we need them to be in every one of our communities. I'll be frank - most people will do anything to get paid!

Although the dinosaurs in the planning and development industry continue to roam free, thankfully, they are decreasing in number. If we all push hard enough, we can drive them to extinction. Notwithstanding, naivete and laziness (i.e., an unwillingness to change) know no bounds, and there is, and likely always will be, corruption in every single municipality in North America. I've been in many closed-door meetings; I've set some of them up. I now write about those experiences and pull no punches on those who put greed above decency and self-service above community. (What is the Cobra-Kai philosophy? - Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy).

In the mid-to-later part of my career, I had the fortune to be aligned with some of the best planners and urban designers in Canada. They preach and practice, unabashedly, about better place-making, seeking inclusivity, equality, and opportunity in all of our neighbourhoods, demanding transparency and accountability in our decision-making processes, and best of all, prioritizing humans over automobiles. If we all do that, everything gets better.

I occasionally swear in my writing, but don't fret - it's nothing you wouldn't hear in my office.

I am an avid runner and cyclist. I practice what I preach.

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