Death by Triangulation
John Oughton
About the Author
John Oughton was born in Guelph, Ontario, a block away from the home of John McCrae (author of “In Flanders Fields”). When his father was seconded to the World Health Organization, John spent two years living in Egypt and Iraq. He completed a BA and MA in English at York U., where he studied with Irving Layton, Eli Mandel, Miriam Waddington and Frank Davey. After a half-year stay in Kyoto, Japan, he worked at Coach House Press and as a journalist and corporate communicator. He attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, and served as a research assistant to Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman. John began teaching English in community colleges, and is now Professor of Learning and Teaching at Centennial College.
He has published five books of poetry, most recently Time Slip (Guernica Editions), several chapbooks, and over 400 articles, interviews, reviews and blogs. John is a long-time member of the Long Dash writing workshop. He is also a photographer with three solo shows and several book and magazine covers to his credit. For fun, he plays guitar and drums. Until recently, he did ride an old Yamaha motorcycle.
Motorcycle-riding poet Aaron Miles makes some of his daily bread as a cultural investigator. He likes nice little cases with an element of art or literature, and no violence, thank you very much. But a wealthy Toronto family hires him to wrap up the affairs of their recently deceased black sheep uncle, a notorious anti-Papist and man of letters. In particular, they want him to erase any traces of a past conspiracy the uncle had alluded to. Rich families hate scandal. Against his will, Miles uncovers a plot, both large in scope and decades old, to keep the lid on the truth about a major mystery of the 20th century. Set mainly in Prince Edward County, the story accelerates to Toronto, upstate New York, and the Dominican Republic as Miles tries to stay ahead of the secret's shadowy enforcers.
ISBN 978-0-9903565-0-9
168 pages
$16.95
5.5"x8.5" perfect bound, paper
Reviews
“Hunker down on the back of Aaron Miles's motorcycle and hang on. This fast paced mystery is a witty and rollicking ride to the heart of the crime of the last century, peopled with enough funny and fascinating characters to keep you turning the page. Think Raymond Chandler meets Robert Pirsig with a bottle of brandy on the grassy knoll. A delightful read.”
—Seamus McGraw, journalist and author of The End of Country: Dispatches from the Frack Zone, and Betting the Farm on a Drought: Stories from the Front Line of Climate Change
"Oughton gives crime writing a hot new twist balancing a private eye's jaundiced view with the accomplished poet's sure-handed voice and easy charm. Add the fact our man Aaron Miles rides a cool old motorcycle and digs bands like The Fugs, and D by T is a funny, smart, addictive read."
—Basil Papademos, author of Mount Royal, winner of the BiLines Book Award
“When the profession becomes a metaphor for how to be, the crime novel can investigate the very questions of how to conduct one’s life while entertaining the reader with true history, conspiracy theory, Canadiana and international travel, the occasional gun, a snaky plot, and yes—even poetry. The motorcycling private eye is also a poet who can declaim and “frag” at the same time. John Oughton’s first novel, Death by Triangulation, is a seriously hilarious fictional romp inspired by history. The clues are in the humour and the solution is an existential twist.”
—Elana Wolff, author of four poetry books including You Speak to Me in Trees, winner of the F. G. Bressani Prize
