Mister Jinnah: Securities: A Mister Jinnah Mystery [Paperback]

Vain, lazy, and tenacious to a fault, Hakeem Jinnah makes his debut as an irresistible comic sleuth in Donald J. Huaka's Mister Jinnah: Securities. "There is trial by judge, trial by jury... and trial by Jinnah," the jaded investigative newspaper reporter for the Vancouver Province frequently boasts. But another catchphrase of his is more revealing: "I am perfectly aware that the Prophet says wine is the blood of Shaitan. Fortunately, the Quran is silent on the subject of scotch."

Jinnah is assigned to report on the death by car fire of a questionable stock promoter. Was it murder by a fleeced investor or an insurance-fraud suicide? He's furious that one of the Province's business reporters is also working the case. But having sunk his life's savings into a dubious get-rich-quick scheme--Orient Love Express, a matchmaking service for Russian women and wealthy Chinese men--with his bankruptcy-prone cousin, Jinnah doesn't exactly do his best work on the story. He's too preoccupied with Orient Love Express's impending IPO, until a murder charge threatens to ruin his career.

Mysteries set in British Columbia typically revel in the province's beauty, but Huaka seems far more interested in leaky condos than mountain scenery, even as Jinnah crosses the Rockies in his satellite-guided Love Machine minivan en route to Calgary to dig into the dead man's shady past. To find a match for Huaka's gonzo cynicism and gleefully unrepentant political incorrectness you'll have to travel farther afield, to Carl Hiaasen's sleazy Florida or the East Anglian romps of Jonathan Gash. --Deirdre Hanna

"... one of this year's funniest debuts." (Charles Mandel The Calgary Herald )

"... a lighthearted romp through the madcap mayhem of daily journalism." (M.R. Carroll )

Hakeem Jinnah enjoys an ordinary life of working the Vancouver Tribune's crime beat, flirting with women, seeking interested investors in a mail-order-bride scheme, and driving around in his sattelite-guided Love Machine. But when he and another Tribune reporter begin competing to cover the story of a shady stock promoter's death, he finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation.

This entertaining and suspenseful debut introduces us to an unforgettable lead character. Mr. Jinnah, a politically incorrect but resourceful reporter, proves to be a wily and relentless investigator. Hindered in his pursuits by the police department, Mr. Jinnah searches out the truth in an increasingly bizarre investigation. Meanwhile, he and his cousin seek their fortune in a scheme to marry Russian peasant women to wealthy Chinese men.

(20010721)

Donald J. Hauka is a crime reporter with the Vancouver Province. Mister Jinnah: Securites is his first novel.