Stanley Evans Books In Order

Publication Order of Sergeant Decker Mystery Books

Publication Order of Silas Seaweed Mystery Books

Stanley Evans is a reputed author from Canada, who is famous for writing thriller and mystery books. He is particularly well known for his Silas Seaweed Mystery book series and the Sergeant Decker Mystery series. Prior to becoming a writer, Stanley has worked as a soldier, deep-sea fisherman, and a surveyor. Now, he has given up all the other professions and writes full time. Stanley was born in 1931 in England. In 1954, he moved to Canada at 23 years of age and has been living in Victoria, British Columbia since then. Stanley started his career in the writing field by penning articles for magazines and newspapers. He has also written a couple of plays. Stanley’s plays were produced at Vancouver’s Arts Club. Starting from 2005, Stanley has written and published one novel every year. His creation of chief protagonists, a Coast Salish police investigator named Silas Seaweed and a frontier lawman from British Columbia named Sergeant Decker, is highly appreciated by one and all.

Stanley is of the Welsh descent and has worked as a college instructor for some time immediately after graduating from college. On one occasion, Stanley traveled up & down the Amazon as well as its tributaries for a few months. During his spare time, Stanley likes to take up hobbies like carving wooden toys, reading, and indulging in healthy conversations. Stanley’s stories are widely praised for being uniquely Canadian and reminiscing Tony Hillerman and Raymond Chandler. The critics have praised Stanley for wrapping his stories in the native lore’s richly evocative portrait. His writing is regarded as wonderful storytelling. Stanley’s characters are rich and entertaining. His novels have received many more positive reviews on the websites of the mystery genre and in the Canadian press. Silas Seaweed is described as a 40-year-old hard-boiled street police investigator of the Coast Salish ethnicity. He appears to have a lot of common traits of other police investigators like having a taste for sauce, interest in babes, liking for rough justice, having sympathy for underdogs and disdain for bureaucrats from the police department.

Silas Seaweed likes to work independently and shares his office with his feral cat named PC. Seaweed appears to stand apart from others because of his heritage of First Nation and being surrounded by offbeat characters. Silas Seaweed has the ability to look into the traditions of the distant past of his people in order to solve the present day crimes. Author Stanley has said that the place where Silas Seaweed lives, Warrior Reserve, and the Mohawk Band, of which he is a member don’t exist in reality. But, every novel of the series possesses an authentic ring that makes the characters, stories, and the settings significantly entertaining to read. The Globe & Mail has said that Stanley has made great use of the aboriginal religion and mythology of the West Coast. A number of other magazines have reviewed the series positively and have spoken highly of the crisp prose, engaging characters, and mind-blowing settings. Stanley hopes to continue his success with other mystery novels. Even though he has not published a novel in a long time, he has said that he is about to finish a new novel and expected to release it soon.

The Silas Seaweed Mystery series written by author Stanley Evans is comprised of a total of five books released between 2005 and 2009. Each of the books of this mystery series features the chief character in the role of a Coast Salish detective named Silas Seaweed. The settings are done primarily in Victoria, British Columbia. Stanley has mentioned other essential characters in the novels in the form of Jane Colby, Lawrence Trew, and several others. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘Seaweed on the Street’. It was released by the TouchWood Editions in 2005. The book opens by depicting that the daughter of a billionaire having an unsavory past disappears mysteriously.

When she is not found anywhere even after looking for her at every possible place, the billionaire father decides to take Silas Seawood’s help. Being a street-smart, savvy investigator in Victoria, Silas is accustomed to dealing with such cases. The search for the missing girl takes Silas Seaweed on the trail of greed, obsessive violence, and murder. Silas overcomes several obstacles in his path to solving the case of the missing young woman. He deals with a couple of ruthless drug dealers, a failed attempt to murder him, and the killing of a key witness. After overcoming these hurdles, Silas Seaweed continues on his quest to catch a criminal mastermind and bring him to justice. The journey takes Silas Seaweed from Victoria’s dark downtown to the glittering casinos of Nevada. This novel seems to be a mixture of modern day crime detection and the age-old ritual of Coast Salish. It is a suspenseful, absorbing, and fast-paced page-turner that keeps the readers intrigued from the start and up to the last page.

Another excellent book of this series is called ‘Seaweed Under Water’. It was also published by Touchwood Editions in 2007. Once again, the main character is shown as Silas Seaweed. Another important character is depicted in the role of Jane Colby. Just like in the previous novels, it is depicted that Silas Seaweed begins a missing person investigation and goes on to get entangled in a deadly chase. The missing person case takes an unexpected turn when the dead body of Jane Colby is discovered drowned. Jane Colby was known to be a happy-go-lucky party girl. When Silas Seaweed examines her body, he discovers strangulation marks around Jane’s neck. This makes it clear that she was murdered and then thrown into the water. Silas Seaweed’s search for the culprit brings him in contact with Jane’s close friends. He learns that many of them have benefitted by Jane Colby’s death and suspects that one of the beneficiaries is the murderer. Silas continues to tackle the investigation with his usual wit, compassion, and intelligence. As Silas digs deeper, he is lead to a dangerous family that has disturbing secrets. It is only after uncovering those disturbing secrets that Silas Seaweed succeeds in finding the killer. This book also offers an intriguing story with excellent characters and an interesting setup.