Crang
Created by Jack Batten
 Shades of Perry Mason!
The notion of a criminal lawyer acting like a private detective was alive and well -- in Toronto of all places for a few years! CRANG (one name, please) also shows a definite Spenser influence, albeit in a Toronto/CBC/yuppie kinda way. He's an struggling, rather quirky criminal lawyer working out of downtown Toronto, dropping (brand) names left and right, partial to Wyborwa vodka, Rockport Walkers and jazz. He also enjoys palling around with his clients, and other friends in low places, much to the dismay of his very smart and very sensible girlfriend, Alice B. Cooke, a movie critic for the local CBC station.
Author Jack Batten has written several non-fiction books about the Canadian legal system, Toronto and the Leafs, among other topics, and he's a lawyer himself. He seems to have had a lot of fun with the series. My guess is that you will too. They're light, to be sure, but Crang is an appealing hero, rough around the edges (but not too rough), pleasingly fallible and none too swift at times.
World Class!
NOVELS
SHORT STORIES
- "Snapshot" (1992, Criminal Shorts)
RELATED LINKS
Brief interview, circa 2009, with Crang's creator.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
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