Tony Vicar is wrestling against the ordinary patterns his life has fallen into, until dark secrets and a dangerous woman from the past threaten to upend it all.
After the devastating fire that nearly destroyed his hotel and pub, Tony Vicar has rebuilt both Hotel Valentine and The Vicar’s Knickers once again. But the glamour of being a barman has lost some of its lustre and the responsibility is incessant. Even a couple of famous television mediums determined to uncover the truth about the hotel’s mysterious ghost can’t seem to stir Vicar from the unwelcome state of “normality” his life has settled into.
But life in Tyee Lagoon has a way of veering away from normal, as proven when femme fatale Serena, unexpectedly freed of criminal charges, returns to town to steal back baby Frankie — who she abandoned on Vicar’s doorstep two years before — and hopefully ensnare Tony in the process. Serena hits a new high in outrageous and dangerous behaviour, allowing no one, especially not Tony’s girlfriend Jacquie O, to get in her way.
On the defensive, Vicar tries to protect his little family, while simultaneously attempting to stop the endless circles of his life and learn lessons about authenticity, caring, and the surprising power of his effect on others … including his mother-in-law.
Authors
- Pages
- 304
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title 7
- Copyright 8
- Dedication 8
- Prologue / Aftermath 11
- Part I 19
- One / More or Less than Meets the Eye 21
- Two / Crash Course 36
- Three / Goat Story 41
- Four / The Geneva Convention 51
- Five / Black Hole and Tweed 60
- Six / Bottles, Cans, Mooses 76
- Seven / Oh Brother, Mother 83
- Eight / Secret Chimp 92
- Nine / Wise Balthazar 102
- Ten / Overheated 110
- Part II 119
- Eleven / Extra-Large Mediums 121
- Twelve / Turbo Bust 132
- Thirteen / Ray of Light 144
- Fourteen / Pound of Flesh 148
- Fifteen / Masters of Communication 154
- Sixteen / Vicar⠒s Interview 162
- Seventeen / Beanie Boy 172
- Eighteen / Women of the Cloth 177
- Nineteen / Quitters and Spies 183
- Part III 191
- Twenty / The Heads-Up 193
- Twenty-One / Camera Shy 198
- Twenty-Two / Farley Pulls a Farley 203
- Twenty-Three / Brave Hotchy-Coochie 216
- Twenty-Four / Special Delivery 227
- Twenty-Five / Here She Comes 233
- Twenty-Six / Extremely Improbable Giraffe 236
- Twenty-Seven / Serena⠒s Ladder 245
- Twenty-Eight / A Fall from Gracelessness 251
- Twenty-Nine / A Quintet of Trios 255
- Thirty / Unknotted 265
- Thirty-One / Ashes of Defeat 270
- Thirty-Two / No Kill I 281
- Thirty-Three / Mountain of Love 292
- Acknowledgements 300
- About the Author 305
