The book was okay. I understand that this is a slim volume. The unfortunate thing is that each chapter is a new case, and the facts are so hastily put before one, and then it is over. You then have to reset for each chapter. It is likely that this is one of my peccadilloes.

This book is great for those who don't know if they like true crime or mysteries. I did like learning something about cases that I had never heard of before. ( )

As part of the Amazing Stories series by Heritage House, this slim volume showcases six notorious cases and unsolved mysteries from British Columbia's history. Written in the style of investigative journalism and covering cases that span over 100 years, McNicoll examines an interesting mix of cases - some I remember reading about and others that were new to me:
- 1904 murder of a Chinese theatre manager in Victoria's Chinatown
- 1915 suspicious death of a pre-emption homesteader near Fort St. James in Northern British Columbia
- 1924 murder in Vancouver's wealthy Shaughnessy Heights of a Scottish nursemaid
- 1943 attack and subsequent death of Molly Justice in a Saanich park as she was walking home which received a great deal of press 53 years later when hints of impropriety prompted a provincial investigation into the conduct of the authorities involved in the case
- A Vancouver radio personality's poisoning of his wife with arsenic in the 1960's and the subsequent court cases
- a cold case from 1991 which became the first case for British Columbia's provincial Unsolved Homicide Unit and was solved through unusual DNA analysis.

At a mere 120 pages to cover the six cases it is easy to understand that McNicoll focuses on hitting the key facts and presenting information where her research indicates errors were made, key evidence was ignored, prejudices influenced decisions and perjury occurred. Whether these are in fact British Columbia's most notorious cases is subjective and open to debate. What I really liked about these stories is the interesting historical facts and unusual twists that McNicoll brings to the reader's attention - in 1904 three separate oaths were allowed when Chinese witnesses testified under the Canada Evidence Act (the Paper Oath, the Saucer Oath and the Chicken Oath), in 1943 the Coroner's Act still called for "male British citizens" to sit on the jury of a coroner's inquest (meaning three women jurors chosen had to be replaced by substitute jurors from among the spectators) and how a hatred and mistrust of Orientals in the 1920's played an influential role in the case of the Scottish nursemaid.

Not stellar writing but for me it has the right balance of facts and enticing information to keep me reading, without bogging me down in an overload of evidence and court transcriptions. This may appeal to readers with an interest in true crime stories that are easy to read in a quick sitting. ( )