If you go to Café Montmartre (4362 Main Street) at 7 p.m. Thursday (May 5), order yourself a double rye straight up. That’s probably the best way to get in the right frame of mind for a reading from Vancouver author Fraser Nixon’s debut novel, The Man Who Killed (given that Webley revolvers aren’t welcome at the event). The Man Who Killed is a detail-rich depiction of Montreal during the Prohibition era, starring a failed McGill med student who sinks into a criminal underworld of booze-smuggling, cheap violence, and heroin binges.

But maybe keep it to a couple of hard drinks, as you’ll also want to focus on a reading by acclaimed Fernie-based novelist Angie Abdou, from her just-released The Canterbury Trail, a tragicomic tale set in B.C.’s jagged backcountry. John Burns, former Georgia Straight books editor, hosts the evening.