Books like The Canadian Connection — picked by fans

How does one capture and transmit what the mixture of boredom and abject terror that is often a soldier’s life does to the psyche most effectively?

I had read a number of fictionalized reportages and Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut, which added science fiction. Still, it wasn’t until I powered through this book that I felt I could know how difficult it is for young men to try and make sense of it. The book was a puzzle with pieces that were hard to place next to each other into a coherent picture, and that felt to me like what Vietnam did to those in my generation who fought there.

Linda Wolfe is a throwback to the way true crime used to be written and should continue to be written. She was an old-school investigative reporter with an endlessly inquisitive mind and a keen sense of storytelling. Wolfe died just before the Covid pandemic broke, her passing went largely unnoticed. She’s chiefly known for her book about Robert Chambers, Wasted: The Preppie Murder about the 1986 Central Park strangulation murder of Jennifer Levin. The Professor and the Prostitute is a great, lurid title, and this series of essays are fascinating portraits of behavior and psychology. Included is one of her most famous pieces originally penned for New York Magazine, The Strange Death of the Twin Gynecologists about Stewart and Cyril Marcus, made famous in the David Cronenberg film, Dead Ringers.

You’re probably picking up a theme here - I love an underdog, books that go largely unnoticed. Ron Rosenbaum spent most of his career writing for The Village Voice, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and many others. The Secret Parts of Fortune is a collection of some of his best stuff. Someone described Rosenbaum as “one part intellectual and one part private eye,” and these essays will definitely lead you down a rabbit hole, taking you places you’ve never even considered to venture. My point of entry was A Killing in Camelot, about the unsolved murder of Mary Meyer, an artist and Washington socialite who turned up murdered on a D.C. canal towpath in 1964. As the title suggests, there is a Kennedy connection – isn’t there always.

That’s right, a cookbook. Julian Armstrong was the long-time food editor for The Montreal Gazette, Quebec’s largest English-language newspaper. I lean heavily on this book to re-connect with my French heritage. What I love about A Taste of Quebec is its economy – one page, a short description, a list of ingredients with measurements, and a small insert telling you where the recipe originated and a little about that region. That’s it, on to the next page. Unlike online recipes – which can be convenient – there are no ads or long narratives about the author’s personal and complicated relationship with fennel. 

This is a different story about a different kind of woman. And no, it's not about the Mafia; that's only a peripheral theme.

The typical novels written in English about Sicily by women are built around themes like a foreign girl going to Italy to find love. This one breaks that mould into a thousand pieces, dealing with familial history and tradition in the context of Sicilian and American society. It actually held my interest.

Leigh Esposito's complex story eclipses most of what came before.

Over the years a legend was built up around Meyer Lansky. A succession of books with questionable sourcing described him as the “chairman of the board” of organized crime, and made him out to be a great deal more than he actually was.

This book strips away the false hype that has surrounded Lansky and debunks many of the myths that have surrounded him. It also debunks a lot of the bad journalism that distorted his image in his later life. It shocked and astounded me, and I thought I knew all about Lansky.

This mafia story pulled me right in with its intense mix of danger, passion, and vulnerability. The story follows Damiano, a feared mafia boss, and Gabriella, a resilient woman drawn into his deadly world.

What really got me were the characters—Damiano’s ruthless exterior hides a fiercely protective side, while Gabriella’s strength and courage make her so easy to root for. Their chemistry is electric, and watching their relationship grow from wary strangers to something deeper was both thrilling and emotional.

With just the right balance of suspense, action, and steamy romance, God of Vengeance kept me turning pages late into the night—and I loved every second of it!

Even though it’s not all that old, this is what I think of as the classic mafia romance and one that puts the romance front and center. It has all the classic elements: Cosa Nostra (Sicilian rather than Russian or Irish Mafia), a forced marriage, an innocent heroine, and a cold-hearted hero who melts for her.

I took to Tori immediately: she’s very relatable and I could imagine her as a friend. I loved the sweetness of the romance, especially when this is a genre that often leans towards the dark, and I just ate up Angelo’s big, bold statements of love. This is the book I often recommend as a first mafia romance, especially for romance readers who aren’t sure if they’ll like the genre. 

This book intrigued me from the start, as it has an arranged marriage trope involving the Bratva and the Cosa Nostra mafia. As soon as I read the blurb, I was like, ‘Won’t they just kill each other and be done with it?’ But alas, no. The main character is a pawn between the two entities and the author intertwines the plot beautifully, creating one amazing book.

I’m a fan of gangster books and movies, but there’s nothing quite like learning about the real brutality and power of the original Sicilian mafia.

Dickie’s book takes a historical view, showing why that kind of organization developed in Sicily of all places, and how the Sicilians have protected it, and fought against it. The anecdotes are sometimes funny and sometimes truly chilling.

If you’re as interested in the history of organized crime as I am, this is a must read.