A larcenous lingerie salesman, a pugilistic lady barkeep, a scrawny hooker, a five-year-old hellion, corrupt cops and two doctors in search of a cadaver. Betty Keller throws 'em all in the path of a con-man-cum-evangelical preacher who's the central character in her picaresque novel, Better the Devil You Know (Caitlin $18.95), set in Vancouver in 1907. As well, she has published a light-hearted look 'at the seamier side of early Vancouver' called On the Shady Side. "I find that period from the 1860s to about the First World War the most interesting,"; she has said. "There was such a revolution in social behaviour and values. Women changed from 1860 on. You can see the growth of women coming to the forefront, pushing forward, until women started getting the vote."; 0-920576-88-5

[BCBW WINTER 2001]