The Exterminated Angel by Gerard Godin (Guernica Editions) is an eighteenth-century satire dressed up as a twentieth-century murder mystery in the manner of Chandler and Hammett, and great fun to read. The real subject of the book is Montreal in the early seventies, a time and a place that Godin, who sports a beret in his mug shot, lays out quite mercilessly in a mere 128 pages. Beautiful cover too, by Nick Palazzo.