Bottom Bracket
A Sumach Mystery
by Vivian Meyer

In her gritty off-the-wall mystery Bottom Bracket , Vivian Meyer gives us an inside look at alternative lifestyles in Toronto's colourful Kensington Market neighbourhood. Feminist and urban-space activist Abby Faria bike-couriers packages around downtown Toronto to support her expensive bicycle habit. When a brutal murder takes place in the Market just a few houses down from her own apartment, Abby decides to enlist the help of her Market friends: together they protect a frightened young prostitute, fight gentrification in the Market and stand up for the rights of the dispossessed. Along the way, Abby indulges in great coffee, fine bicycles and one or two good men.

Never one to mind her own business, she runs into trouble when she comes up against the world of organized drug and female sex trafficking. Between dodging homicidal cars and attending Save the Neighbourhood meetings, it's all Abby can do to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Then it all becomes personal when Abby discovers that the very people she is pursuing may have had a hand in a past misfortune of her own.

Meyer draws on her own savvy experience of Market life and youth culture to imbue her characters with authenticity and spice. Full of unexpected plot twists, memorable characters and down-and-dirty detail, Bottom Bracket is also a thought-provoking exploration of inner-city issues in contemporary times.