"July, 1947. And hotter than hell in Hamilton."

Max Dexter is a former RCMP officer who served as a Sergeant in the Canadian Army Provost Corps when he was wounded during the D-Day landing in WWII. When Max returns to his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario after the war, he is unable to rejoin the RCMP because of his serious limp. And the Hamilton Police Service also turn him down.

Undaunted, he opens his own private detective agency and takes on Isabel O'Brien as his assistant, one of many strong, post-war women he encounters in his home town of Hamilton.

On their first case, they're hired to find a missing accountant who's accused of embezzling 50 thousand bucks from his employer.
Soon, more than the weather is making things hot for Max and Isabel. They become involved with arson, art theft, murder and money laundering. The trail leads through the mansions of high society and along the gritty streets of Hamilton to a rip-roaring climax in Niagara Falls.

"There's a secret ingredient added to the polished story, character and dialogue: Laing has made the local setting a fully-fledged character ... 'A Private Man' is a top-shelf winner." Don Graves in 'The Hamilton Spectator'.

'A Private Man' was a Finalist for Best First Crime Novel, 2013 awarded by Crime Writers of Canada.

The Max Dexter Mystery Series includes: 'A Private Man' (2012), 'A Deadly Venture' (2014), 'A Family Matter' (2017) and 'A Devious Dame' (2019).