Another case for Levine’s detective
Sam Klein returns in The Bootlegger's Confession
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This article was published 07/11/2016 (3472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Author Allan Levine has brought one of his most beloved characters out of retirement.
Levine recently released the latest instalment in the Sam Klein mystery series, titled The Bootlegger’s Confession.
The Tuxedo-based novelist chose to bring Klein, a Jewish detective working in 1920s Winnipeg, back to the page after more than a 10-year hiatus. The last Sam Klein novel, The Bolshevik’s Revenge, was published in 2002 and was the final chapter to a trilogy that captured the imaginations of people across Manitoba.
“I thought I was sort of done with it actually,” Levine admitted. “I mean people in Winnipeg liked the books, so in the back of my mind I thought about doing another one.”
Levine stayed away from the mystery genre for a number of years, choosing instead to focus on non-fiction and biography, publishing a number of works. However, the appeal of continuing Klein’s story was too great.
“I’ve created all these characters and have their back stories so it’s my creation and I wanted to do another one,” Levine said.
In his latest adventure, Klein is called to investigate after a man related to two known bootleggers is found dead in his border town store. As with previous Sam Klein stories, Levine has loosely based the novel on true events, taking inspiration from the 1922 unsolved murder of Paul Matoff in Bienfait, Sask. and Manitoba’s ties to the bustling booze industry of the prohibition era.
A stickler for historical accuracy, Levine said he has researched the period and cultural climate of 1920s Winnipeg extensively to get the setting of his novel correct.
“When I first started writing mystery novels I did so more haphazardly, probably. Over the years I started treating it like a non-fiction project,” he said.
Relying on old newspapers, books, postcards, and pictures, Levine paints a landscape that’s complex, dramatic, and characterized by morals, or lack thereof. Throughout the novel, Levine also weaves Jewish history and culture into his narrative, offering a commentary on the community and its political, racial inclinations of the time.
“I’ve always been drawn to that pre-World War One period in which there was so many dynamics,” Levine said. “Canada was dramatically changed by immigration and the country was not at all tolerant. People have very short memories about what Canada was really like.”
Levine said at least two more novels to carry the detective into the mid-20th century will follow the Sam Klein reboot.
“I want to take him into the Great Depression and up to World War Two. The 1930s you can also have fun with because it was so traumatic and the turmoil was so great,” Levine said, grinning.
On Nov. 13 at 2 p.m., Levine will be at Tarbut: Festival of Jewish Culture at the Rady Jewish Community Centre to read from The Bootlegger’s Confession. For tickets, call 204-477-7510. The book is available online and through local booksellers for $16.95.