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Charlie Salter #2
Smoke Detector
Toronto Police Inspector Charlie Salter investigates the death of an antiques dealer who died in a fire later proven to be arson. Who set it? For what reason?
Between the well-drawn plot and Charlie's problems at home, including trying to keep his fourteen-year-old son away from girlie magazines, you will find this one hard to put down.
Librarian's note: all the characters, settings, description updates, etc. have been done for the Charlie Salter 11 volume + one novella series: 1. The Night the Gods Smiled, 1983; 2. Smoke Detector, 1984; 3. Death in the Old Country, 1985; 4. A Single Death, 1986; 5. A Body Surrounded by Water, 1987; 6. A Question of Murder, 1988; 7. A Sensitive Case, 1990; 8. Final Cut, 1991; 9. A Fine Italian Hand, 1992; 10. Death by Degrees, 1993; 11. The Last Hand, 2001; and 11.A. My Brother's Keeper, a novella with Howard Engel featuring both Salter and Benny Cooperman, 2001.
Between the well-drawn plot and Charlie's problems at home, including trying to keep his fourteen-year-old son away from girlie magazines, you will find this one hard to put down.
Librarian's note: all the characters, settings, description updates, etc. have been done for the Charlie Salter 11 volume + one novella series: 1. The Night the Gods Smiled, 1983; 2. Smoke Detector, 1984; 3. Death in the Old Country, 1985; 4. A Single Death, 1986; 5. A Body Surrounded by Water, 1987; 6. A Question of Murder, 1988; 7. A Sensitive Case, 1990; 8. Final Cut, 1991; 9. A Fine Italian Hand, 1992; 10. Death by Degrees, 1993; 11. The Last Hand, 2001; and 11.A. My Brother's Keeper, a novella with Howard Engel featuring both Salter and Benny Cooperman, 2001.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Eric Wright
90 books11 followersThere is more than one author with this name in the database. Not all books on this profile belong to the same author.
Eric Wright was born in London, England and immigrated to Canada in 1951. He is the award-winning author of seventeen crime novels, including his first novel, The Night the Gods Smiled, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the Crime Writer's Association's John Creasey Award, and the City of Toronto Book Award. His memoir, Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man, about growing up poor in working-class London, was published in 1999.
Eric Wright was born in London, England and immigrated to Canada in 1951. He is the award-winning author of seventeen crime novels, including his first novel, The Night the Gods Smiled, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the Crime Writer's Association's John Creasey Award, and the City of Toronto Book Award. His memoir, Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man, about growing up poor in working-class London, was published in 1999.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 2, 2025
4 Stars. I read the first Charlie Salter and had trouble putting it down. The same for #2. Unexpected and a pleasant surprise. Inspector Salter of the Metro Toronto Police Department grows on you. In his mid 40s, he's a bit of a hypochondriac. This time he's certain his extra visits to the hospital as directed by his doctor for a few cautionary flags in a urinalysis mean early death! He's also confronting, with his wife Annie, the looming spectre of teenage sons - his firstborn Angus is now 14 and has been caught looking at porn, 1984 style. You can feel the anguish as Charlie tries to avoid dealing with it. He's still on administrative duty at work, but the guys in Homicide are busy with a Jamaican case when a fire breaks out in the basement of an antiques store on Bloor Street. The owner, Cy Drecker, was still inside and dies from smoke inhalation. Superintendent Orliff assigns the investigation to Charlie. Could it be insurance fraud? Or something else? Drecker had a poor reputation in the business world. With Dennis Nelson, his gay employee, too. Charlie has too many suspects and too many questions. (No2023/De2025)
September 2, 2018
Eric Wright’s introductory set is a bargain discovery I’m enjoying enormously. I sailed through three volumes, will top off the quartet this week, and am already including the author in used book-hunting. Charlie Salter is garnering rejuvenated praise as a policeman, paying attention to his sons, but baffled by household puzzles like their dislodged screen door. These are cruder novels and happily, not "cozy mystery" offshoots. Eric doesn’t censor men’s inclination to swear and some tertiary characters are unfaithful spouses. This volume centers on home. The boys habitually turn to Annie but when the eldest buys ‘skin magazines’, she urges Charlie to acquaint their kids more closely. A fishing trip the duo take at the end is uplifting.
Charlie’s Dad is mellowing and Toronto streets I have visited are fun to recognize. He considers his wife a great beauty who hasn’t aged at forty; a decade I know is not ‘old’, as society once perceived. Home juxtaposes nicely as respite from death and arson: a seedy junk-dealer perished in his store. We question a weird, open relationship with his wife and a mistress admitting to having another beau. The crime did not by nature create intrigue. It was the impossibility of establishing a starting point. The nearest suspects all had alibis.
One flimsy lead flags the purchase of a wooden box at the junkshop, linked to Japanese paintings at an upscale boutique. Charlie manages to glean the name of a gentleman who can’t be found. Connected with him is a retired plumber. Information painstakingly pieces together, by interviewing anyone who knows the Japanese gentleman. War history is examined, when Japanese were ejected from British Columbia. The Asian tones are lovely. This is a multidirectional case delving fascinatingly into Canada's past, which readers wouldn’t sort out and simply need to read.
Charlie’s Dad is mellowing and Toronto streets I have visited are fun to recognize. He considers his wife a great beauty who hasn’t aged at forty; a decade I know is not ‘old’, as society once perceived. Home juxtaposes nicely as respite from death and arson: a seedy junk-dealer perished in his store. We question a weird, open relationship with his wife and a mistress admitting to having another beau. The crime did not by nature create intrigue. It was the impossibility of establishing a starting point. The nearest suspects all had alibis.
One flimsy lead flags the purchase of a wooden box at the junkshop, linked to Japanese paintings at an upscale boutique. Charlie manages to glean the name of a gentleman who can’t be found. Connected with him is a retired plumber. Information painstakingly pieces together, by interviewing anyone who knows the Japanese gentleman. War history is examined, when Japanese were ejected from British Columbia. The Asian tones are lovely. This is a multidirectional case delving fascinatingly into Canada's past, which readers wouldn’t sort out and simply need to read.
July 24, 2015
Clever and lovely ... a bit like time-travelling back to the 80s, in a good way.
June 29, 2020
This is just a great detective story that tells of another investigation by Inspector Salter. This time, the antique dealer is killed and a fire occurs. This book impressed me a lot and I decided to choose for myself the best smoke detector on homemakerguide.com. To protect yourself and your family. I definitely advise reading this book.
February 2, 2023
I expected this to be bad. But it was a delight in Canadian Crime Fiction. I’ve been looking for books by this author for a long time (they are out of print) and I finally found them at Attic Books in London, ON. The writer captured Toronto well and the story was engaging, interesting, and kept me guessing. Can’t wait to read another.
March 31, 2011
A series? Decent police detective novel
September 30, 2025
Charlie Salter #2
Smoke Detector
Eric Wright
Charlie is my kind of cop. Approachable, non-intimidating, unpretentious. But easy to take for granted.
For all that no one is equipped to raise children. There are no experts only loving souls who blunder through.
Father and elder son Angus go on a fishing trip.
Smoke Detector
Eric Wright
Charlie is my kind of cop. Approachable, non-intimidating, unpretentious. But easy to take for granted.
For all that no one is equipped to raise children. There are no experts only loving souls who blunder through.
Father and elder son Angus go on a fishing trip.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews