Ronald J. Cooke's second novel, The Mayor of Côte St. Paul, is the
tale of a struggling writer living in Depression-era Montreal.
Winnipegger Dave Manley, arrived in the city thinking that its rich
atmosphere will inspire his fiction, but was met by a stream rejection
slips. His luck turns, for good and bad, when he meets Cherie, a looker
from Lunenberg who does dirty work for a crime boss known as The Mayor.
It isn't long before Dave is running booze between Montreal and Windsor,
learning all there is to know about the slot machine and liquor rackets.
Dave wants out, Cherie wants out--but there is no easy escape from The
Mayor, a man who lives in luxury--through vice and murder--surrounded by
the squalor of Côte St. Paul. Published in 1950*, The Mayor of Côte St.
Paul* enjoyed the month of June on newsstands, never to be seen again.
This edition is the first in 64 years.