Patrick Bird meets Dave Wakeland, both PIs, but one’s a naive rookie, the other a battle tested veteran, separated by over six decades and thousands of hard miles, yet cut from the same shadowed cloth. Join Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson and Sam Wiebe in conversation with Antonio Michael Downing as they delve into their new crime novels, Opposite Sully’s Gym and Guns Across the Water.
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. The second book in the Patrick Bird Mystery Series, Opposite Sully’s Gym, was published in March 2026.
https://www.alexisstefanovichthomson.com
Sam Wiebe is the author of the bestselling Ocean Drive as well as the Wakeland novels, one of the most authentic and acclaimed detective series in Canada, including Sunset and Jericho and The Last Exile. Guns Across the River is the latest in the series. His work has won the Crime Writers of Canada award, the Kobo Emerging Writers prize, and a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and been shortlisted for the Edgar, Hammett, Shamus and City of Vancouver book prizes. The Last Exile is a finalist for the 2026 BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Wiebe lives in New Westminster, BC. Visit samwiebe.com.
Antonio Michael Downing is the author of the acclaimed memoir Saga Boy and children’s book, Stars in My Crown. Antonio Michael is the current host of the CBC Radio program The Next Chapter where he discusses books with authors and columnists. He spends his time writing books, singing songs, and trying to make his grandma proud. Black Cherokee is his debut novel.
https://www.antoniomichaeldowning.com
