Opposite Sully’s Gym by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson
A Patrick Bird Mystery
I was one day shy of my 7th birthday when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, so I wasn’t aware of the significance of it at the time. The name James Earl Ray, his alleged killer was on the news of course because he was on the lam, and at one point, was actually living (under an alias) in a rooming house in Toronto just days after the fatal shooting. This when Opposite Sully’s Gym begins, with his Canadian contacts waiting in Windsor for Ray to arrive on the Canadian side of the border by cab. Needless to say, border security and communication systems were quite different from today’s.
The rooming house in question is directly across from Sully’s Gym, hence the title. Sully’s only gets a passing mention in the book, as none of the story actually takes place there. The rooming house is owned by Patrick Bird’s Italian mother-in-law, Flavia Gentilini, and it is to him, she turns to find out about a boarder that skipped out owing back rent. You see, Patrick is an ex-private investigator, and as he is currently unemployed and has nothing else to do, he agrees to help Flavia. Upon arriving and going into his rooms, they find that the place has been turned upside down, obviously by someone looking for something. Just what, Patrick has no idea, and Flavia is distressed over the mess and the missing rent this person Jack Turner owes her. The house has three other tenants, Yusef, who is studying to be a doctor, Shirley, a nurse, and Danny, a taxi driver. Another tenant, Paul, had paid and left around the same time as Jack went missing, it seems.
So, we have the setting, a list of suspects, a trashed room, and Patrick, a hapless ex-PI with a moody pregnant wife. How does James Earl Ray figure into the story? Was he “Paul” the nice, quiet rent-paying tenant? It would seem so, but arriving at that conclusion isn’t easy and when two Toronto Police detectives come calling, Patrick gets swept up into situations he can’t seem to avoid.
The metal frame of the mail slot made a few clicks, a clank, and a dead final clunk; I watched with horror, from my spot in the kitchen, as fingers pushed the aperture wide They reached inside and were less than twelve inches from the door's interior knob. The wrist looked too thick to squeeze its way through, but I didn't want to wait to find but. I grabbed a knife out of the drawer and started down the hallway. (Pg. 208)
This is the second Patrick Bird mystery, the first being The Road to Heaven (Dundurn, 2024). I didn’t read that that one, but I wouldn’t say that you would need to, as some of Patrick’s backstory is supplied throughout the novel. I especially liked that this one was set in an area of Toronto that I once lived in, back in the 90s. Not only that, but I could picture the area and the style of houses that Flavia and Patrick lived in. Other than that, I didn’t find much that situated the storyline in late 60s Toronto. I think including a few little Toronto timeline details would have enhanced the story, but that that is a minor quibble. Patrick Bird is no hard-boiled detective; he’s not old enough to have developed that much world-weary cynicism, nor is he experienced enough. This story, told by Patrick, puts the reader in his shoes, which is an effective way to keep the reader involved. The author saves the hard-boiled roles for Danny the belligerent cabbie and the two police detectives Cull and Rice, particularly Rice.
"All right, Mrs. Gentilini," said Cull, "maybe you can take us upstairs and show us around. Bird: your services wil no longer be needed. We'll take it from here.”
There it was: the big brush-off. It appeared that my second go-round as a PI was coming to an end. But I'd been wrong before - so often that I worried it was becoming a habit. (Pg 56)
It's difficult to predict whether a third Patrick Bird mystery instalment will be released given the direction of the story. Overall, this was an interesting read, and because it concentrated on James Earl Ray's brief stay in Toronto, it was especially educational.
About the Author
Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson is a writer living in Toronto. His novella, The Man Who Went Down Under, won the Black Orchid Novella Award and the Crime Writers of Canada Best Novella Award. His first novel, The Road to Heaven, was nominated for an Edgar Award and a Shamus Award.
About the Reviewer
James M. Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of The Seaboard Review of Books. He resides in Miramichi, New Brunswick, with his wife, Diane, their tabby cat, Eddie, and Buster, their Border Collie. James also works as an MRI technologist at the Miramichi Hospital.
Book Details
Publisher : Dundurn Press
Publication date : March 31 2026
Language : English
Print length : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 145975588X
ISBN-13 : 978-1459755888