Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, (2002) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The author's first novel, a finalist for the Giller prize. "Aspiring young chef Jeremy Papier will do almost anything to keep his Vancouver restaurant afloat. Jeremy, who views cooking as gang warfare, is a self-styled "Blood" - a believer in preparing innovative dishes from fresh, local ingredients. He has only contempt for the "Crips" who bend to every passing food fad. But when his latest financial scam fails, Jeremy is forced to strike a deal with the devil in the form of a powerful coffee-shop magnate who transforms his beloved bistro into a pretentious "Crip" palace. Mix in Jeremy's eccentric professor father, a group of homeless men with a taste for stewed raccoon, and the decades-old mystery of two children murdered in Stanley Park, and you have a tantalizing concoction of satire and suspense." SIGNED on the title page and dated in the year of publication. 423 pp. ISBN: 1-582432074.