The Weird World of Wes Beattie and Hair of the Dog

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Harris was one of the first mystery writers to use a recognizably
Canadian setting: downtown Toronto. His Weird World of Wes Beattie,
first published in 1962, introduced Sidney Grant, the “Gargoyle,” a
young lawyer who looked “like some evil figure leering down from a
Gothic cathedral,” according to his classmates.

Grant championed the cause of the unprepossessing Wes Beattie, a
dreamer and chronic liar accused of murdering his uncle over a disputed
inheritance. It seemed a cut-and-dried case, with Wes certain to be
institutionalized, but his story was so feeble that Grant was intrigued.
The lawyer’s suspicions proved well founded: the young man had been
set up. His reputation as a liar had made it unlikely anyone would
believe his peculiar alibi; but this time, at least, Wes was telling the
truth. Could Grant find the real killer?

This excellent “whodunit” was well received, and mystery fans
waited expectantly for more, only to learn with dismay that Harris had
died suddenly, and with him, apparently, Sidney Grant. Not so. Recently,
a second Grant mystery, Hair of the Dog, was discovered in manuscript
among the author’s papers. It is here published for the first time,
and it is every bit as fast, funny, and exciting as its predecessor.
This time, alas, it really is farewell to Sidney Grant, and to his
creator, a gifted mystery and suspense writer.