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WORK TITLE: Subverting Justice
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 12/7/1942
WEBSITE: https://jacktaggart.wordpress.com/
CITY: Victoria
STATE: BC
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
Former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born December 7, 1942; children: two sons.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Previously, served as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
WRITINGS
Has written books under pseudonyms.
SIDELIGHTS
Don Easton is a writer and former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He has written books under his own name and under pseudonyms.
Corporate Asset and Art and Murder
Easton is the author of the “Jack Taggart Mystery” series, which began with the volumes, Loose Ends, Above Ground, Angel in the Full Moon, Samurai Code, Dead Ends, and Birds of a Feather. The series’s titular protagonist is an undercover operative working for the RCMP. In 2013, he released the seventh installment in the series, Corporate Asset. This book finds Jack deals with a manipulative criminal named Virgil Cruikshank. Virgil has been changed with offenses involving drugs. In order to get a better deal with the prosecutors, he suggests he has information about insurance fraud committed by his brother, Oskar. Virgil also claims he was a serial rapist. Jack feels as though he is forced to make a deal with Virgil that would make him immune to punishment for the rapes in order to peg him with the more serious offenses, but he regrets it sorely. Jack learns more about Oskar’s insurance scheme and discovers that it involves killing numerous people. Oskar’s gang is operating in Asia, so Jack travels there in hopes of catching them in action. Working undercover puts him at risk of being one of the next victims. A Publishers Weekly writer suggested that the book offered “a standard action-film plot, complete with snappy Bond-like one-liners from Taggart.”
In the following installment in the series, Art and Murder, Jack stops a sadistic attack on a prostitute who also works as an informant for the RCMP. Her three attackers work for a person known as the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster is said to be the leader of a crime ring that operates in multiple countries. Kerin Bastion, a French cop working undercover, has been investigating the crime ring. He learns that members are targeting Jack and attempts to warn him. However, he is killed before he is able to do so. Jack uses a painting that was stolen from the Ringmaster to bring him to the bargaining table. A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted: “This intelligent cat and mouse game pits the fearless Jack and his team against seemingly impossible odds.” “Taggart is a well-designed character,” remarked David Pitt in Booklist.
A Delicate Matter and Subverting Justice
Jack faces off with long-time enemy, Damien Zabat, in A Delicate Matter. He uses information he has on Damien’s son, Buck, to persuade Damien to give him information on a group of criminals he’s been chasing. Pitt, the Booklist reviewer, noted that A Delicate Matter featured “the kind of precise, accurate detail that gives the series an authenticity rare in crime fiction.”
Subverting Justice finds Jack in trouble with the RCMP for using unauthorized methods to solve a case, including faking his death. He is also trying to find out who’s been killing off his informants. One of those dead is Damien Zabat. Jack learns that Damien’s killer may be part of Damien’s gang, and whoever it is may be after him, too. Jack suspects it may be a ruthless thug called Pure E. “The eleventh from Easton … is bluntly written but packed with action and juicy details of the volatile relationships among law enforcement professionals,” asserted a Kirkus Reviews critic. Writing on the Vancouver Sun Online, Aleesha Harris commented: “Easton’s latest release has a good cadence to it, carrying the reader seamlessly through administrative lulls straight into page-turning standoffs. And, the book’s final twist at the end is enough to make those few slow moments become a distant memory.” A reviewer on the Publishers Weekly website remarked: “This novel is perfect for readers who want a tense thriller and a realistic view.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 15, 2015, David Pitt, review of Art and Murder, p. 29; September 15, 2016, David Pitt, review of A Delicate Matter, p. 26.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2017, review of Subverting Justice.
Publishers Weekly, August 19, 2013, review of Corporate Asset, p. 47; September 7, 2015, review of Art and Murder, p. 49.
ONLINE
Jack Taggart Mystery Series website, https://jacktaggart.wordpress.com/ (May 23, 2018).
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (January 15, 2018), review of Subverting Justice.
Vancouver Sun Online, http://vancouversun.com/ (December 19, 2017), Aleesha Harris, review of Subverting Justice.
About the Author
don-easton
Do you like realistic, gritty crime novels? Hope so, because that is what I write!
I admit I have used many alias in my past, but my real name is Don Easton and I have written a murder mystery series, in part based on my life experiences.
I bring a very unique background to my novels in that I was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who worked undercover over a span of twenty years.
Let me explain what I mean when I say I worked undercover. Many people I meet tell me they know a police officer that is undercover. They are usually talking about a plainclothes officer, perhaps on a Drug Section, Major Crime Unit or someone specializing in surveillance duties. These officers may dress in grubby clothes or have long hair and beards, but they work out of an office. Generally these officers do not want people to know they are police officers so as not to jeopardize surveillance situations, but in reality they are not undercover operatives and their duties are not what real or deep undercover is about.
Undercover involves living and working out of apartment buildings in cities where only a handful of police officers in the whole city know your real identity. Out of fear of police corruption, your identity is kept strictly secret – even from the police.
In my role as an undercover operative I was often targeted and put under surveillance by those same officers I described above because they believed I was a high level criminal or thought I was with organized crime.
I carried fake identification. I have been arrested and have also eluded arrest on more than one occasion. Once I assaulted an officer who was trying to arrest me, putting him on crutches for weeks. I have also been assaulted myself (deservedly at the time), by police officers who did not know my real identity.
I have lived with contracts on my life where professional hit-men were hired to locate and murder me. I taught my children to lie as soon as they could talk about what their real names were and what our cover story was. Undercover is seeing the fear on my wife’s face and her grabbing our children and locking the doors when it is discovered that another new contract has been placed on my life. It is going to bed at night with a loaded gun under your pillow and teaching your children to call out to you in the night if they get up to go to the washroom.
This is what I call undercover. You often work alone and you seldom carry a gun when you are with the bad guys. Sometimes my assignments were in foreign countries like Mexico, the Caribbean or in the United States.
The Jack Taggart series depicts a realism that can only be achieved through real-life experiences. The novels are gritty, realistic and are not meant for children. (I wouldn’t let my own two sons read them until they were eighteen years old.)
As a series, I recommend you start at the beginning, with Loose Ends, followed in order by: Above Ground, Angel in the Full Moon, Samurai Code, Dead Ends and Birds of a Feather. Corporate Asset is to be released in September of 2013 followed by the release of The Benefactor in May 2014.
QUOTED: "The eleventh from Easton ... is bluntly written but packed with action and juicy details of the volatile relationships among law enforcement professionals."
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Print Marked Items
Easton, Don: SUBVERTING JUSTICE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Easton, Don SUBVERTING JUSTICE Dundurn (Adult Fiction) $11.99 11, 28 ISBN: 978-1-4597-3980-2
A maverick Canadian officer shatters the rules to stop a murderous motorcycle club.Veteran Vancouver
Mountie Jack Taggart is under a microscope for faking his own death to catch a perp and executing a
dangerous drug raid that should have been handed off to the local police. But this doesn't blunt his disgust
or fury over the torture and murder of his informant Damien Zabat and several others, presumably by a
local crime syndicate known as Satan's Wrath. Wrath's most volatile member, Pure E, already plans to take
Taggart out. There's plenty of turmoil within the Mounted Police Unit as well. Taggart's partner, Laura, is
having a meltdown over his latest daredevil move, and his supervisor, Rose, feels the strain of being caught
between wild-card Taggart and the two Assistant Commissioners, Isaac and Mortimer. Still, she gives a
tentative go-ahead to his pursuit of Satan's Wrath. Taggart's long-suffering wife, Natasha, a doctor, can only
fret privately and try to keep the danger away from their sons, Mike and Steve. Taggart and Laura lean hard
on another informant, Lance Morgan, a close confidant of Pure E, but his reliability is questionable. Taggart
also confronts the syndicate head-on. When he refuses to play by the rules, he's called on the carpet again,
but this doesn't stop him. The 11th from Easton (A Delicate Matter, 2016, etc.) is bluntly written but packed
with action and juicy details of the volatile relationships among law enforcement professionals.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Easton, Don: SUBVERTING JUSTICE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217657/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2da1ed63.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217657
QUOTED: "the kind of precise, accurate detail that gives the series an authenticity rare in crime fiction."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526603765947 2/5
A Delicate Matter
David Pitt
Booklist.
113.2 (Sept. 15, 2016): p26.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
A Delicate Matter. By Don Easton. Oct. 2016.408p. Dundurn, paper, $11.99 (9781459734272); e-book,
$8.99 (9781459734296).
In the latest Jack Taggart mystery, Easton reintroduces a character from 2007's Above Ground. Damien
Zabat, leader of the notorious biker gang Satan's Wrath and one of Taggart's worst enemies. The aging
Zabat is grooming his son, Buck, to take his place as leader of the gang, and this gives undercover cop
Taggart an idea. Armed with evidence that could put Buck behind bars for a long time, he gives Zabat an
ultimatum: cough up information about a global drug ring, or say goodbye to his boy forever. The plan
doesn't go the way Taggart thought it would; he thinks well on his feet, and unexpected complications are
opportunities for improvisation and right-angle thinking. Easton, a former undercover cop with the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, fills the Taggart books with the kind of precise, accurate detail that gives the
series an authenticity rare in crime fiction. Another fine entry in a series that's been running since 2005 and
shows no signs of tiring. --David Pitt
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Pitt, David. "A Delicate Matter." Booklist, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 26. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A464980828/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f8ef6c16.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464980828
QUOTED: "Taggart is a well-designed character."
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Art and Murder
David Pitt
Booklist.
112.6 (Nov. 15, 2015): p29.
COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Art and Murder. By Don Easton. Nov. 2015.400p. Dundurn, $11.99 (9781459730694); e-book,
$8.99(9781459730717).
The ninth Jack Taggart mystery finds the Royal Canadian Mounted Police undercover operative pulled into
an international crime ring. A fellow cop, an Interpol agent, has been murdered, and Jack will do whatever
it takes to bring the killer to justice. The author, a veteran undercover cop, brings a high level of realism to a
story that many writers would have difficulty matching. Taggart is a well-designed character, too, an
experienced police officer whose dedication to solving his cases often borders on self-destructive obsession.
Crime-fiction readers who haven't yet discovered the Taggart series would be well advised to plug that hole
as soon as possible.--David Pitt
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Pitt, David. "Art and Murder." Booklist, 15 Nov. 2015, p. 29. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A436233093/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7e51e43d.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A436233093
QUOTED: "This intelligent cat and mouse game pits the fearless Jack and his team against seemingly impossible odds."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526603765947 4/5
Art and Murder
Publishers Weekly.
262.36 (Sept. 7, 2015): p49.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Art and Murder
Don Easton. Dundurn (IPS, U.S. dist.; UTR Canadian dist.), $11.99 trade paper (400p)
ISBN 978-1-4597-3069-4
This is the ninth Jack Taggart mystery by Easton (The Benefactor), whose 20 years as an undercover agent
with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) lend his books a gritty authenticity informed by the dark
realities of his experience. This installment opens as RCMP operative Jack rescues a call girl informant
from the hands of three sexual sadists. He discovers that the thugs are linked to an international crime ring
led by the mysterious "Ringmaster," but in the process, a French undercover policeman, Kerin Bastion, is
murdered when he tries to warn Jack that the criminals are on to him. The story charts Jack's extended chase
over several countries to seek revenge for Kerin's death and expose the Ringmaster's operation. Fortunately,
he has something the Ringmaster wants back: a stolen painting. This intelligent cat and mouse game pits the
fearless Jack and his team against seemingly impossible odds. How does a naked agent in the wilds of
southern Italy overcome six assailants? The answer, and the whole tale, will keep readers on the edge of
their seats. (Nov.)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Art and Murder." Publishers Weekly, 7 Sept. 2015, p. 49. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A428752526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c1cf068f.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A428752526
QUOTED: "a standard action-film plot, complete with snappy Bond-like one-liners from Taggart."
5/17/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1526603765947 5/5
Corporate Asset: A Jack Taggart Mystery
Publishers Weekly.
260.33 (Aug. 19, 2013): p47.
COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Corporate Asset: A Jack Taggart Mystery
Don Easton. Dundurn (UTP, Canadian dist.; Ingram, U.S. dist.) $11.99 mass market (392p) ISBN 978-1-
4597-0821-1
When Virgil Cruikshank tries to buy his way out of drug-related charges with a wild tale about his brother
Oskar's murderous insurance scam, undercover cop Jack Taggart is skeptical and then outraged as the
criminal proves his bona tides by implicating himself in a lesser crime--a series of brutal rapes. Taggart is
disgusted at being forced to give Cruikshank immunity for the rapes in exchange for the chance to end a
cold-blooded murder-for-profit spree going back almost a decade, but he sees no reasonable alternative.
Trusting fellow police in Vancouver to catch Virgil without his direct help, Taggart heads to Asia to offer
himself up as live bait to the insurance-scam killers. What begins as a Coventry-esque fable about the
conflict between worthy goals--stopping one rapist versus stopping a gang of ruthless killers--and the
subsequent uncomfortable moral decisions forced on law enforcement develops into a standard action-film
plot, complete with snappy Bond-like one-liners from Taggart. Having set up a potentially interesting
conundrum in the seventh book in this series, Easton proves unequal to the task of actually exploring it,
turning instead to the comforts of thrilling action and familiar cliches. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Corporate Asset: A Jack Taggart Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 19 Aug. 2013, p. 47. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A340422621/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=76a0b113.
Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A340422621
QUOTED: "Easton’s latest release has a good cadence to it, carrying the reader seamlessly through administrative lulls straight into page-turning standoffs. And, the book’s final twist at the end is enough to make those few slow moments become a distant memory."
Book review: Subverting Justice by Don Easton
Novel highlights gangs, crime in the Lower Mainland.
Aleesha HarrisALEESHA HARRIS
More from Aleesha Harris
Published on: December 19, 2017 | Last Updated: December 19, 2017 12:45 PM PST
Subverting Justice by Don Easton
Subverting Justice by Don Easton. HANDOUT
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Subverting Justice
By Don Easton
Dundurn | $11.99; 408 pages
It can be tough for a reader to drop into a series on book No. 11. But, thankfully, Don Easton makes it an easy feat.
The Victoria-based author and former undercover Mountie penned his latest mystery novel starring Jack Taggart in a way that will please both newcomers and faithful fans, alike. No long, drawn-out backstory required.
Subverting Justice details the latest drama in the life of Vancouver-based detective Taggert, a headstrong man of the law who isn’t above operating in a few grey areas. Sometimes, very grey areas.
After being taunted and targeted by Purvis Evans (somewhat comically referred to as Pure E after the first few references), who is the newly elected leader of the fictitious motorcycle gang Satans Wrath, Taggert makes it his personal mission to bring down the violence-prone bad guy. With his 20-year history in law enforcement, Easton clearly draws on his experiences to add authenticity to his characters’ work, taking readers through surveillance runs, meetings and informant-officer relationships, to name a few.
While it’s easy to be entertained by the crime-fighting drama detailed in the book, it’s particularly fascinating to get an inside look at the inner workings of a gang as seen by the various members of Satans Wrath. With drug trafficking, murder, and battles with rival gangs, Subverting Justice provides a chilling glimpse into what life is like for those who choose to pledge their allegiance to a gang.
The book’s setting in the Lower Mainland — highlighting areas such as Stanley Park, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Chilliwack — proves to be another unexpected treat for readers, serving to further increase the authenticity of this mysterious read. Especially given the real gang activity occurring in the area.
But it’s not all cops-and-gangsters action. Subverting Justice also provides a sobering look at what day-to-day life is like for the men and women (and their families) who serve as officers in the line of duty. And the picture isn’t always pretty.
Easton’s latest release has a good cadence to it, carrying the reader seamlessly through administrative lulls straight into page-turning standoffs. And, the book’s final twist at the end is enough to make those few slow moments become a distant memory.
Aharris@postmedia.com
QUOTED: "This novel is perfect for readers who want a tense thriller and a realistic view."
Subverting Justice
Don Easton. Dundurn (IPS, U.S. dist.; UTP, Canadian dist.), $11.99 trade paper (408p) ISBN 978-1-4597-3980-2
MORE BY AND ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
The high-adrenaline 11th installment (following A Delicate Matter) in Easton’s gritty series featuring Cpl. Jack Taggart, an undercover agent for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, begins just after the murder of Damien Zabat, the head of the Satans Wrath motorcycle gang operating in Vancouver, B.C. Purvis Evans or “Pure Evil or Pure E,” the new leader of the gang, is suspected of being responsible for his death, as well as of ordering the torture and murder of three other people. A message written in blood at the triple-murder scene threatens Jack. Aside from the dangers of trying to bring down Pure E, Jack must also deal with a clueless assistant commissioner who disapproves of his methods and is about to become his new boss. Easton ramps up the action in this installment, with Jack enlisting Mack Cockerill, a Satans Wrath insider, to help him track Pure E’s drug shipments. This is an exciting cat-and-mouse game involving high-level Russians, cocaine traffickers, and local drug gangs. This novel is perfect for readers who want a tense thriller and a realistic view (Easton spent 20 years as an RCMP undercover agent) into the dark mazes where gangs, informants, and undercover cops try to trap each other. (Dec.)