As well as being a novelist, John is a many times award-winning
writer and composer
for stage, film and television, including the phenomenally successful
Billy Bishop Goes to War.
He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
In
Gray's highly praised historic thriller, The Fiend
in Human (2003), Journalist Edmund Whitty knows
how to feed the public's appetite for lurid sensationalism. His
latest success is Chokee Bill, "The Fiend in Human Form,"
a diabolical caricature of the serial strangler who's been attacking
"women of low character" in 1852 London, ending their
lives with white silk scarves. However, the arrest of coiner William
Ryan for these crimes threatens to cool demand for Whitty's work--and
thus deprive him of the income he needs for lodging, gin, and
opium. So when he's approached by Henry Owler, an impoverished
but proud balladeer, who hopes to ring a "last confession"
from Ryan before his hanging, Whitty sees the chance again to
best his competitors. What he doesn't expect, though, is for the
stranglings to continue, raising doubts about Ryan's guilt and
leading him--in the interests of his own pocketbook, of course--to
turn detective in search of the factual fiend.
This thrilling Dickensian tale offers galvanizing suspense and
an evocative and witty vision of life in Victorian London.
"A smart social commentary and
a ripping good tale, it's clearly the work of a bona fide novelist
firmly in control of his craft."
The National Post
"A wonderfully atmospheric thriller…it
is a splendidly dark Victorian world and a novel that is hard
to put down."
Publishing News
Random House, Canada and UK St. Martin's Press, US
Heyne, Germany
John is currently working on his latest novel, A
White Stone Day.
Random House, Canada St. Martin's Press, US
Heyne, Germany
He is the recipient of many awards, a Golden Globe,
the Governor General’s Medal, and most recently, the Order
of Canada.
In
Gray's highly praised historic thriller, The Fiend
in Human (2003), Journalist Edmund Whitty knows
how to feed the public's appetite for lurid sensationalism. His
latest success is Chokee Bill, "The Fiend in Human Form,"
a diabolical caricature of the serial strangler who's been attacking
"women of low character" in 1852 London, ending their
lives with white silk scarves. However, the arrest of coiner William
Ryan for these crimes threatens to cool demand for Whitty's work--and
thus deprive him of the income he needs for lodging, gin, and
opium. So when he's approached by Henry Owler, an impoverished
but proud balladeer, who hopes to ring a "last confession"
from Ryan before his hanging, Whitty sees the chance again to
best his competitors. What he doesn't expect, though, is for the
stranglings to continue, raising doubts about Ryan's guilt and
leading him--in the interests of his own pocketbook, of course--to
turn detective in search of the factual fiend. 
